A guy in an Acura SUV got stuck in my street and I had to dig him out and drive him out. It had a pushbutton 4WD that would only engage when the car was in gear (ie, Reverse or Drive or the lower gears, etc).
Does anybody know what it is?
I didn't look if it was RDX or MDX if that matters.
if its got a "lock" button then its VTM-4 and only works in 1st gear, jsut locks the t-case up like when put a 231/242 in "part time"
if the button isnt pushed then it acts like awd kinda, its fwd until you apply throttle, then id sends power to the rear wheels as well as the front, this prevents the jerkey engagement they used to get when the front tires would slip and the rear suddenly jumped in to help
My DD is an MDX. The button is 'VTM-4 Lock' which as others have said is the center diff lock distributing power to both the front and rear diff. It can only be engaged in gear ranges 1 and 2 (5 spd auto) and reverse. Without it locked, it will automatically deliver up to 100% of power to any one wheel.
I would guess they were stuck in the deep stuff? You can also disable traction control which will allow you to build wheel speed without the ABS interfering. I've been nothing short of blown away with how well mine handles in snow, and deep soft sand, and gooey mud. I really have to try to spin and slide in any conditions I've encountered. As to the durability of the system; I have taken this vehicle places it probably has no business going but it does what I ask of it while generally only requiring fluid changes and tires. I wouldn't want to try and modify the drivetrain any, but in stock format, it's been pretty much bulletproof.
For those that think Honda/Acura's 4wd system can not take some abuse...This is the Ridgeline they ran in the Tecate SCORE 2008 Baja 1000 and finished.
