Fiat 3.0l, 160hp - ASR.... what does that mean? (1 Viewer)

[sciac2001]

Slowly falling out of love with my beautiful Aviano, endowed with the "magnificent" 3.0l engine.
Don't get me wrong, the MH habitational is just right for us but the engine/chassis????

Firstly, front wheel drive for a MH plated at 4000kilos was in hindsight a wrong move for me and my 125kg motorbike on a rear rack. Traction lost virtually at every steeper than normal incline and the standard understeering on everyday situations caused me to ditch my motorbike on our last return to uk last month. (I had also invested in not-too-cheap air suspension to try and help.)
Secondly, does anyone who has this engine combo get on with 1st and (to a slightly lesser extent) 2nd gears? First is absolute rubbish... start off is quickly followed by a deadspot which makes me look like a complete amateur as the vehilce jerks. 2nd is also not too clever... (3rd onwards are hiwever absolute peaches!)
I have noticed we have an ASR button on the dash. Never used it as it was never explained to us. I am praying it might mean ANTI-Skid or something like that. Can anyone shed any light please?
Thanks

 

[Techno]

Hi Eric
I don't have any issues with mine with comfortmatic and I'm at 4250kg
Laden weight is 1920 on the front axle and never suffered poor traction.
I find gears ok too but must floor it to get through to third smooth if in a rush

 

[DBK]

The ASR or traction control should prevent one wheel skidding. It won't stop them both skidding though but useful if you have one wheel on grass and the other on tarmac. It uses the ABS speed sensors I believe and detects when one wheel starts to spin at which point it applies the brake to that wheel only until it is moving at the same speed as the other wheel.

VW also use something similar to detect when only the front wheels are turning and the back ones are stationary...

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[Mel]

I love mine
But do think very few motorhomes can carry a 125cc on the back .
They are not F1 cars.
And I drive mine like I am on holliday.
ASR should be traction controle

 

[Mel]

I thought the ASR only came out on the 180hp but could be wrong.

 

[Lenny HB]

One 3lt 160 and the older 2.3' ASR is on by default and the switch turns it off, that's my reading of it.
On later models with Traction Plus the ASR is permantly on and the switch turns the Traction Plus on which is supposed to give the effect of an limited slip diff, I've not found it appears to do much.

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[TheCaller]

Yep, on mine (2013 150bhp) ASR (Anti-Slip Regulation) is always on unless you press the switch (which brings it's little light on). That's what the manual says, anyway.

I believe it's actually a German development, ASR really standing for Anti-Schlupf Regelung. It works alongside the ABS system, using the same sensors to detect wheelspin rather than locking. If one driven wheel starts spinning much faster than the other, it applies the brake to the faster wheel.

I think it also detects if both driven wheels spin faster than the non-driven wheels & cuts power to the driven wheels to reduce wheelspin.

 

[dave newell]

I suspect the 1st/2nd gear issue is more down to a light throttle pedal, very responsive engine and sharp clutch. I've driven hundreds of X 250s (if not actually thousands) and every one displays this characteristic to some extent (Comfortmatic excluded). I think the prolem is that when you pull away you tickle the loud pedal and ease up the clutch together, the clutch bites and the engine picks up very sharply at which point you lift off the gas slightly giving that "flat spot" feeling. Quite happy to be told I'm mistaken but that's my take on it.

D.

 

[Techno]

Yes I agree with that Dave which is why I say you must floor it or at least persist with the accelerator

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[hchris]

Check you tyres mine had 3.5 mm of tred but the rubber seemed very hard even the fitter commented on how hard the rubber was before we change them.The tyres was made in 07 our van is 09
Chris

 

[sdc77]

Maybe you'd be better off with your 125 on a bike trailer.

 

[Minxy]

I'm not surprised you lose traction on inclines - in effect you have a very large 'seesaw' as all the weight 'shifts' to the rear so of course the front wheels will lose grip as there's less weight on them to keep them in 'firm' contact with the road. An option might be to consider either a lighter bike or using a trailer.

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[DBK]

You lose grip going up inclines because of the slope and simply because there isn't enough grip from the tyres to drag the vehicle up the hill. The reduction in front axle loading is negligible if the vehicle is tilted up only a small amount, say less than ten degrees.

Rear wheel drive vehicles can be better up hills because there is already a higher axle load on the rear axle. Going up the slope the rear axle load only increases a fraction because of the tilt. In other words it is the initial axle load which influences traction, the slope has negligible impact. There are of course many other factors involved of which the tyres themselves are one of the most important.

It's a bit hard to explain this thing about slopes and weight transfer though I did have a go recently on another thread.

Try and imagine where the centre of gravity of the vehicle is as a spot on the side of the MH. For arguments sake let's imagine it is midway between the front and back wheels and about two feet off the ground.

Now raise the front of the vehicle off the ground a bit, as if it was climbing a hill. As the front is raised the centre of gravity will move towards the rear, but it will do so by just a few millimetres. It is this rearward movement which transfers weight to the rear axle but the front would have to come up to a silly angle before the weight transfer had any real impact on traction.

 

[DBK]

Sleep is a wonderful thing as I woke up this morning realising there is an error in the above.

I forgot the liquids. Any tank which isn't absolutely full will transfer weight to the rear up an incline. I still don't think the effect is that great compared to the dead weight of the vehicle but for completeness I wanted to correct myself! . So there!