Should my 08 plate Vectra have traction control - help please

[Shajennat]

Hi
As some of you will already know (sorry for bending your ears already with all my problems!!!!), I have recently bought an 08 plate Vectra Sri which turned out to be a Cat C right off. I was very surprised to find out that it "apparently" doesnt have traction control, and before believing it to be true I thought I would ask you very helpful people. There is a chance of course that this is another thing that has been cobbled together wrongly after the rebuild of the car.
The other thing that I am surprised over is that there isnt a seat belt warning light of buzzer, I thought that would of been a must on all modern cars.
As always your help is appreciated.

Shaun

[Dippy-Vx-line Red]

I think it`s a wee bit hit and miss if you have it or don`t. Best way to tell is to take the blank that covers where the switch would be and check if the plug for Traction control is there. Even then it won`t mean that it`ll work if it is there.

[marc vectra sri]

Nope it don't vx cut a lot of things on the newr vectra in cost cutting go in a older vectra c and they have all the toys wiring foe everything etc. U can retro fit it tho like anything else.cars from 55 onwards lost everything

[Shajennat]

I think it`s a wee bit hit and miss if you have it or don`t. Best way to tell is to take the blank that covers where the switch would be and check if the plug for Traction control is there. Even then it won`t mean that it`ll work if it is there.

Just seems silly as even my old fairly basic mondeo had it. I am not saying that an SRI is a super sports car (like it possibly used to be) but I bet there are less sporty models that do.

[Shajennat]

U can retro fit it tho like anything else.cars from 55 onwards lost everything[/QUOTE]

Why am i thinking that it would cost more than the button for the dash lol

[marc vectra sri]

The button for switable Tc road be honest Tc is rubbish u got more control without it as just bogs the car down

[Z80]

Actually, the butterfly in the intake manifold (at least for some engines) is responsible for the car bogging down, as in addition to acting on the brakes, it also chokes the engine. Having dsconnected it (because it added unwanted lag when pulling away from idle), this effect has disappeared at the same time, as the ABS / ESP module can now only control the brakes.

Now I'm still hesitating to leave it unplugged, as it's also a security feature... The butterfly is driven by a vacuum solenoid, and I could power it off instead of disconnecting the vacum pipe... It would allow me to add a relay to reconnect it in case the ESP would trigger in... As you may know, it can still trigger in case of emergency, even with the TC cut off. I could then use the dash light to turn the relay on and reactivate the solenoid.

There's probably something similar on other engines, as for instance, CTDis have a throttle box, and the ESP probaly uses it too. Of course, this one can't be disconnected as we do on DTis, so using the TC button is still the best solution. BTW, you can easily add a monostable circuit to trigger TC on at startup, so you won't have to push the button each time...

In your case, Shajennat, the simplest way to answer your question is to remove the second lower right blank plug from your dash. If you can see a vertical female 6 pins connector behind, then your car is ready to receive the button. Else, you won't have the loom pre-wired, and your ABS module won't probably be the relevant type anyway.

[Rebellion]

I think it`s a wee bit hit and miss if you have it or don`t. Best way to tell is to take the blank that covers where the switch would be and check if the plug for Traction control is there. Even then it won`t mean that it`ll work if it is there.

No, the plug tells you that you MAY be able to switch the TC on and off, not whether you have it or not. My Signum has TC, but no blue plug, like many others.

[Z80]

The plug still means you have the loom.

It lead directly to the ABS module, so its then all about having the relevant variant...

If you have the plug, then have look at your ABS module from inside the bonnet :



Try to see the two large white letters printed on this side, and tell us what they are, so we can tell you if it's OK or not.

(Don't care about the red arrows, they're just showing a brake pipe I had to change. The ABS block is just behind, The letters are printed on the face you can see from here).

[babybluemaxer]

I have traction control as found out in the snow, lol.

Is it as simple as seeing if the plug is behind the blank & fitting the button to get it to work?