terse

sorry, but what does Limited Slip Differential (LSD) mean and what does it do?

DarkWraith33

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm

Ain't gonna get better than that! All the joys of differentials in one happy little place...

ENJOY!

(Here's another good one...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_slip_differential

terse

also, what does...drive by wire mean?

EleVatE

that means there is no direct connection between the steering wheel and the wheel. So basically... you turn your steering wheel and a computer that monitors that registers that you have turned it, and sends the signal to the steering to turn the wheels.

You are driving by means of wires...

Fly by Wire is the same with the yoke on a plane.

Casper42

TL has Throttle by Wire.

Older cars = Phsical connection from Gas Pedal in car to Throttle Body. If you ever saw someone working on an engine that was on, and they grabbed something under the hood and by manually pushing on it the engine revved up, thats the throttle body linkage.

In the TL, you press the pedal and a lil computer registers that, it sends an electronic signal to an electronically controlled TB, which in turn opens up and gives it "more gas" and revs the engine.

JSK22

I think you are partly correct, but I believe the TL has a drive-by-wire throttle system, meaning that when you hit the accelerator an electrical signal determines how much gas is given to the engine. Steering is not controlled in this way. You can subsititue the word "control" in the phrase "drive by wire" for more general applications. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me.

terse

wow...our cars deserve to be a modern marvel on AE Channel

JSK22

ummm...maybe if our cars were fully controlled by "drive-by-wire" systems. (scary thought isn't it?)

btw, Modern Marvels is on the History channel =P

terse

haha..oh yeah...

jdone

Just to be an absolute a**whole, technically a throttle determines how much air is given to the engine, not gas. The TL, like all modern cars, is fuel-injected however.

SouthernBoy

EleVatE wrote,

"that means there is no direct connection between the steering wheel and the wheel. So basically... you turn your steering wheel and a computer that monitors that registers that you have turned it, and sends the signal to the steering to turn the wheels.

You are driving by means of wires..."

This is not at all how the steering works on the TL nor does it describe "drive by wire". With the TL, the steering works basically just like most all other cars. By that I mean it uses a mechanical connection with two "U" joints and a steering box connected to a rack and pinion system. Of course there is a power assist pump and with our cars, this is variable.. the amount of effort is increased or decrease relative to vehicle speed.

Drive by wire is a marketing term which describes a throttle system in which the accelerator pedal position is electronically determined and that controls the opening and closing of the throttle plate in the throttle body.. not through the use of a throttle cable attached to the accerlator pedal. This allows the car's ECU to do all sorts of things such as controlling the cruise control setting, reducing throttle response at very low speeds, and returning very precise throttle inputs.

SouthernBoy

To jdone;

On older, carburetor-fed cars, the throttle controls both the amount of air and the amount of fuel delivered to the engine. On modern fuel injected cars, you're right. The throttle plate in the throttle body only controls the amount of air delivered. Delivery of the fuel to the air stream is controlled by the fuel injectors which are, in turn, controlled by the ECU.

JSK22

hey i'm all about getting the right information out there, hence the "please correct me if i'm wrong." so no problem.

also, here's an article i found doing a quick google search

http://www.picotech.com/auto/applica...e_control.html

EleVatE

I by no means was exlpaining what was in the TL, i was explaining what a true 'drive by wire' system is. If your car truly is completly drive by wire, NONE of your controls would have a mechanical connection. There are true fly-by-wire planes that are out, and drive by wire is the same concept.

However, as I should have clarified, when used in the marketing of the TL(as i did not know it was) it must imply by gas.

There is a concept Cadillac that is a true drive by wire car and if any of you have seen those cars that are supposed to come out in like 2020 that has the entire car contained inside the chassis and you just 'snap' on the body and they are interchangable, those would be drive by wire, because the wires connect the chassis and body, which obviously has the controls in it.

EmuMessenger

Good info in this thread!

EleVatE

Here are two really good sites, the first is about using the technology already in aircraft and the second is the chassis snap on i was talking about. They actually call it the skateboard something.. I forgot about that..

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/r...en/innov2.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1

SouthernBoy

To EleVatE;

I sincerely hope that you, in no way, thought that I was flaming you because I was most definitely not. Just trying to clear the air. From time to time, we all suffer from misinformation or simple misunderstanding and I suspect almost none of us are immune from this. Believe me, not ill intent was meant.

Mercedes Benz has a concept car which is totally drive by wire.. steering, throttle, etc. I should think that would be a most boring car for sure.

EleVatE

SouthernBoy, I didn't take it that way. I just didn't know that Acura was advertising thier accelration which is controlled by wire as "drive by wire". Marketing terms often differ from tehnological terms, and I just didn't know about the difference.

thats what these forums are for right? people to converge knowledge... there will be people wrong. thats inevitable.

Sorry I didn't clarify that...

Oh and by the way, this forum is a LOT nicer than the forum I go to for my Prelude. Every question you ask there you get a "SEARCH THE ARCHIVE!!"
I dont even have a TL, I am merely in love with the car and going to go after one next year and people here are a lot better about things... and dont do as many dumb mods as some people do on Preludes, haha. so kudos to you all.

jdone

Great pic. Any way to make it a standard part of the site-like the smilies?

SouthernBoy

To EleVatE;

Great to hear that I didn't ruffle any feathers.

When I first joined this forum, I had not purchased my TL. I was searching for some info and it was in all innocense.. really. I mentioned that one of the cars I was considering was the new '05 Ford Focus ZX4 ST. It's a great looking small car with lots of goodies going for it. Well, you'd have thought I just pissed in some people's beer. I mean the crap I got for my dare considering a Ford over a TL, especially a Focus, was amazing. A few hinted that it was obvious I couldn't afford a TL so why waste their time.

Hell, I could affort a dozen TL's if I were of a mind.. but I'm not nor do I care to involve myself in such foolishness. I was also thinking of the CTS-V Cadillac and the Z06 Corvette, but the TL won out in the end.

I hope you have been luck than I did initially with some of the folks on this site. Still, there is a lot of good info to be gained from posting and reading here.

So welcome aboard. You'll not hear any arrogant or rude comments from this Southernboy.

A-TLvic882

Did you notice this pic. from Europe???