2012 tacoma a trac not working

Ok so I just got this truck and was excited it had a trac. Its a 2012 tacoma double cab 4x4 long bed with a trac. Finally took it out to test the a trac. Unfortunately I think there is something wrong since it does absolutely nothing different that just having an open diff. First I tried going up a dirt hill in 4h with a trac on and ended up getting the left rear and right front tires dug in and just spinning freely and felt that the a trac was not working. I did switch through all the modes to see anything and saw no difference. Then I went home and decided to jack one rear tire up and try that. I jacked it up, put it in "auto LSD", drive, and hit the gas and there was nothing other than the tire off the ground spinning freely. What am I doing wrong? I took it to the dealer where I was told that "auto LSD" will not work if you arent moving or one tire is off the ground which seems ridiculous to me. Any ideas? Thanks for the help

 

First thing you did wrong was to jack the truck up and hit the gas. What if it worked?

Good god, this is a phenomenal first post. A-Trac is only activated in 4Lo and only on the TRD Off Road models. You have TRAC which isn't the same.

Standby though, DavidK is on the way with a full working explanation as to where you went wrong. Namely in getting a Sport instead of an Offroad. Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

That

 

well I purposely put myself in an open area with stops just in case it did move and the jack was facing the same direction I would be moving so it would not come off and fall to the ground. Also I was not hitting the gas hard at all. I was also in the truck the whole time so I could hit the brake worst case. So the "auto lsd" is not similar to a normal aftermarket lsd where it transfers the power from the free tire to the tire with traction? From what I have read it would notice the spinning tire and apply the brake to that tire to transfer the power to the tire with traction

 

Gees...even whippers answer was better than yours.

 

Lighten up a little Francis - so he got his nomenclature confused, doesn't realize there's a difference between TRAC and ATRAC. Still seems like it should have worked under his described test conditions. I haven't tried jacking my truck up w/ auto LSD but I can verify that the TRAC functions as limited slip on both front and rear axles on my Offroad in 4Hi.

David

 

so "auto LSD" is not at all a limited slip differential? I am going off what I was told at the dealer when getting the truck. I was told that in 2012 they made the sports come with this feature and is is similar to a locked rear end. Can you explain what auto lsd is then?

 

Limited slip is not a locker. Give it some throttle to get both tires on the same axle spinning....

David

 

Oh and also when I jacked the truck up I was only in 2wd with auto lsd on so i have tried this in 2wd and 4wd with the auto lsd and the slip indicator illuminated.

 

LSD (and Auto LSD) on toyota trucks do not work if you have one wheel off the ground. I tested the LSD on my hilux and found that once one rear wheel is off the ground the LSD does not kick in.

One way that I found around this was to pull the parking brake up a few notches that way it simulated a load on the tires.

I haven't tested all of these features yet on the Tacoma. Still looking for a nice open playground

 

Did you give it some throttle or did you just expect it to turn both tires like a locker? It's not a locker, if you're not giving it some juice the other tire ain't gonna spin - that's the same whether you're talking Auto LSD or the old style LSD.

David

 

why would it not? I race off road and have friends with lsd systems that use the brakes (basically same as the system toyota uses) and when one tire is spinning (tire with less restriction) it brakes that tire to transfer the power over to the other tire (one with traction that has more restriction because it has traction) When would having auto lsd ever benefit if it does not work when one tire has no traction or is off the ground? From what I have read they say the hot spot is around 2000rpm so I brought it to that and the truck did not move. I was able to get out and with one hand move my truck after so I know it wasn't that hard.

 

I haven't tried it with my Auto LSD yet but can absolutely tell you that the old style LSD on my '07 Tacoma WILL work with one wheel off the ground - you just got to give it some gas! It's not going to work going slow, so it's not the best for rock climbing or technical wheeling but it will spin both tires if you give it some gas (like you mean it).

David

 

what is gas like you mean it because when I got stuck off road I gave it gas pretty good a few times and never felt the truck move at all. Only thing was the 2 tires (one front, one rear) spinning freely. The truck was barely stuck again on a small incline but the tires with traction got no power.

 

OP Stop.

Read your manual about what all of these things mean that you are talking about. Look up:

TRAC
ALSD

Pay special attention to how and when they work.

In 2WD TRAC is on to the rear wheels. If you push the ALSD button, you get a stronger LSD to the rear. If you push the button and hold it, while stopped, you get open diffs.

In 4WD Hi TRAC is always on, all 4 tires. If you push the ALSD button and hold it, while stopped, you get open diffs.

In 4LO You are open diffs regardless of what you push. If you do the yellow wire mod, you will get TRAC in 4LO.

They all work, and they all work great IMO. You just need to stop posting and read a little.

 

why is this ineffective? If I off road and happen to get one tire off the ground I expect the "auto LSD" to limit the power to that freely spinning tire and transfer it to the tire on the ground with traction which is the same as jacking it up. Do you have a better way to test it?

 

Very common old school way of checking for limited slip....

David

 

Like I said, I haven't tried checking w/ wheels off the ground on my new Offroad. I have run through some soupy trails in 4Hi w/ crappy stock tires and it very effectively spun all 4 tires.

You may have an issue with your system.

The Auto LSD may require some manual braking (partial e-brake) to help it kick in - that works pretty well on many LSD differentials that I've used over the years.

David

 

Ok yes I just pushed it and did not hold. Not until until after when I decided to try other settings and turn off vsc, to see if I get any response. Im not an idiot and have read up on this a lot and see no posts of anyone having a problem so I don't have a lot to work with (but this doesn't mean that im not or nobody ever will). Im not saying im for sure not wrong but from all I read up it says "auto LSD" is similar to a locked rear end and that's why im on here asking the question but not really getting any responses other than im automatically wrong. NOTICE i said similar. I realize its not as effective but it should transfer some power from the free tire to the tire with traction from all I know of LSD.

 

Yes I did notice me slightly using the brake did send power to the free wheel but thats a trick you can do to any truck even if it doesn't have LSD so Im hoping to solve this. Of course I can live without this but I bought this truck brand new and want to get everything I can from this truck and not just forget about this. I am also wondering if there is something wrong hence why im asking since if there is I can take it in with the 36k mile warranty from toyota. Just take it in then right. No because there I was told that the LSD is not meant to transfer power like a typical LSD and not meant for off road use.