I think there is some confusion about the Protege 4wd systems. I hope I can clear this up a little bit with a background on how the Protege 4wd system works.
The US '90 and '91 Protege came with a 4wd option. The cars equipped with this option are full time 4 wheel drive, meaning that at all times all 4 of the cars wheels are turned by the engine. These cars have a 4wd drive switch on the dashboard. This does not mean the car is normally front wheel drive and the switch activates the four wheel drive. The car is always four wheel drive.
The Proteges with the 4wd option all have a center differential, which just distributes the cars power to the front or rear wheels as they need it to get traction. There are also open differentials at both axles, these are essential in going around turns where the wheels on the inside of the corner need to spin faster than the outside wheels. Oh for clarification LSD = limited slip differential, which a specific kind of differential (the kind in the GTX/GTR transmissions).
However a regular differential is not perfect and say the car is stuck in snow and one wheel has no hope of getting traction, because of the differential the one wheel without traction is giving the most power and will continue to correct this. There are 2 ways of avoiding this, a LSD (like the one featured in a GTX/GTR) is more advanced and will help prevent this, or you can lock the differential. The 4wd switch in the Protege locks the center differential. Therefore you use the switch when you are stuck and need better traction to get out.
A warning: Do not drive the car with the 4wd switch depressed, this feature was designed only to help get the car out when stuck. Driving with the differential locked under normal circumstances will damage your car, most likely severely (keep in mind parts for these like differentials and axles are hard to find and expensive). It is possible to drive with the center differential locked, it is however strongly recommended against.
I'm not too sure on the whole 4wd vs. AWD differences. I think usually American manufactures call full time systems AWD and part time engagement systems 4wd/4x4. Example: the 4x4 Bronco my family used to have we had to press a switch to turn the 4wd system on. Japanese manufacutes don't care about American naming schemes and call it whatever they want. I could have sworn I've heard the Protege setup called Full Time 4wd (might have only been in the manual. This is basically an AWD setup but I believe these cars were developed before the AWD naming system became common.
Most of this information is what I recall from the 1991 Mazda Protege owners manual.
The US '90 and '91 Protege came with a 4wd option. The cars equipped with this option are full time 4 wheel drive, meaning that at all times all 4 of the cars wheels are turned by the engine. These cars have a 4wd drive switch on the dashboard. This does not mean the car is normally front wheel drive and the switch activates the four wheel drive. The car is always four wheel drive.
The Proteges with the 4wd option all have a center differential, which just distributes the cars power to the front or rear wheels as they need it to get traction. There are also open differentials at both axles, these are essential in going around turns where the wheels on the inside of the corner need to spin faster than the outside wheels. Oh for clarification LSD = limited slip differential, which a specific kind of differential (the kind in the GTX/GTR transmissions).
However a regular differential is not perfect and say the car is stuck in snow and one wheel has no hope of getting traction, because of the differential the one wheel without traction is giving the most power and will continue to correct this. There are 2 ways of avoiding this, a LSD (like the one featured in a GTX/GTR) is more advanced and will help prevent this, or you can lock the differential. The 4wd switch in the Protege locks the center differential. Therefore you use the switch when you are stuck and need better traction to get out.
A warning: Do not drive the car with the 4wd switch depressed, this feature was designed only to help get the car out when stuck. Driving with the differential locked under normal circumstances will damage your car, most likely severely (keep in mind parts for these like differentials and axles are hard to find and expensive). It is possible to drive with the center differential locked, it is however strongly recommended against.
I'm not too sure on the whole 4wd vs. AWD differences. I think usually American manufactures call full time systems AWD and part time engagement systems 4wd/4x4. Example: the 4x4 Bronco my family used to have we had to press a switch to turn the 4wd system on. Japanese manufacutes don't care about American naming schemes and call it whatever they want. I could have sworn I've heard the Protege setup called Full Time 4wd (might have only been in the manual. This is basically an AWD setup but I believe these cars were developed before the AWD naming system became common.
Most of this information is what I recall from the 1991 Mazda Protege owners manual.
Comment