ESP aka Traction Control is an electronic overlay to the fully mechanical Quattro drive system. It uses the ABS braking system to slow down an "over road speed" wheel(s) spin, or if the yaw sensor detects vehicle drifting sideways based on steering wheel angle sensor position, ESP will pulse all appropriate brakes while monitoring yaw to ensure vehicle straightens out again... works well

 

ya it works very well!! i love it!

So why do all the wheels stop working if the DS is broken? or posibly a universal joint.

 

ya for sure, i always use new hardware anyways,
i dont think i have any esp or tcs,
but ill have to wait till saturday to get it into my shop to llok at it.

 

Because a torsen differential requires SOME resistance in order to work. That's one of the main drawbacks to a torsen, if you have no resistance going to the wheel (or axle in this case) that is spinning then it'll put 100% of the torque to the spinning wheel. This is also why these cars have traction control, to slightly brake the wheel (axle) that is spinning in order to put the torsen differential into a bind, so it starts to transfer power to the side (or end) with grip.

Old clutch type differentials don't have this issue, neither did your lockable transfer case on your Jeep.

Look up torsen on wikipedia for more information.

 

thanks for the info man.

 

so i should look there
first?

 

fyi, if any one has a similar problem. what happened was earlier this winter my rear right lower control arm quit on me. thus hyper extending my right drive axle, little did i know it popped the snap ring off the end of the spline (holds cv joint together at engine) so the spline just slid out and i was immobile, if i cranked my wheels to the right it would pop in but only breifly, once you start rolling i guess centrifical force throws it back out. so took the axle of and put a new snap ring on and all good to go.

i really think its funy that something so cheap would do that...