Adrenaline - AWD

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Brandon P

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Hey guys! Hope everyone in this community is doing well! It's been years since I've posted in here about my original sport trac! Considering that this place was always awesome and quick with great advice, I wanted to make sure I came here for some opinions. I've been without my trac now since 2011 and I'm finally ready to get back into one as I miss it immensely. This time around though, I'm looking at the Adrenaline.



I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with one of them in mud or snow situations. I don't go off roading but I do live in western kansas and we see rough weather fairly often (one random day a year with 17 inches or so), road conditions on a farm can get especially rough. Before anyone calls me out and says to just get a farm truck, understand that 95% of the time, I will be in city and that there are only a few times out of the year where I would be on a dirt or oil service road during a downpour. I would very much appreciate hearing from anyone with any experience in these types of conditions.



I've heard the 4x4 is considerably better than the awd system and that the awd cannot be locked into 4x4. So my goal here is to see if the awd will suffice in some these special circumstances / bad road conditions or if I should go with a limited 4x4 edition. Or find out if all the people who flamed the awd system are just full of it. Thanks for the help guys!



Also, the trac I'm looking at can be seen here.
 
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The ST you are looking at is identical to mine with the exception of the moonroof. Mine has about 68000 miles on it.



The AWD can be locked in to 4 wheel drive. I do that when we have snow and ice because I do not like the way the AWD kicks in and out on snow and ice or mud. Each time you shut it off, it will return to AWD status.



I have lived is beautiful Spearfish, SD for 5 years and for the 60 years before that I lived in ND, so I do understand snow and ice, trust me. This is my 4th ST and I can't remember how many miles I have put on them since June of 2000. The price in the dealers ad seems to be pretty high from my point of view.



I am sure you would enjoy it.



Rod



I still get lots of compliments on mine, as there are very few of them in ND of SD.
 
@Bo Ya they are expensive (ridiculously). But apparently its what happens when everyone wants one now days; ever since Ford in their "great wisdom" decided the ST was no longer needed. :(



@Rod Helstad Thanks for the information! I have no worries if it has the ability to lock in 4wheel drive. Do you know if every STA has the ability to lock in 4wheel drive? I was over on the explorer forum and some guy said the same thing and he was immediately ridiculed from people saying "you can't have 4x4 and awd, "you're wrong, its not awd then" "the adrenaline is awd only" etc.. I myself am not educated enough in drive technology to know who's correct. Surfing online only brings more questions, not answers specifically regarding the Adrenaline's awd system.
 
The awd system works like this: it powers the rear wheels only until there is any sign of slippage, then the front wheels engage. After a period of time with no traction loss it reverts back to rear wheel power. Or if you turn it off then on again. The lock feature manually engages the front axle and it remains powered until you manually turn it off or turn the ignition off. That's how mine works.
 
Yeah, to lock it in 4WD:



SETUP-SETUP-RESET-INFO You will then see a "4WD" telltale on the dash.



To Turn it off, Repeat. I do this sometimes to get it out of AWD when it goes into it and I don't want it to be.



I may build a little arduino that does this keypress sequence for me, as my STA always seems to want to go into AWD when I take corners "briskly". I can feel the vibration in the front end when it is engaged. Can anyone else? Dealer says this is normal.



...Why the hell didn't they just give us a nice rotary knob that had AUTO-LOCK or even better: AUTO-4WD-2WD-NEUTRAL.
 
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Quote from Ford service manager:



Back in the day, there was a shift lever in the floor with a knob on it; they hardly ever failed.



Yep.
 
Thanks for all of the great feedback gentlemen! I appreciate all the advice and I feel much better about it knowing I can lock it into 4wheel if needed.



I used facetime with a guy today regarding another Adrenaline at a dealer in Ohio. The truck was brought over from Canada so I was a little skeptical on whether not it was a smart purchase. The truck looks great, the underside a little rusted but really nothing worse than what I've seen in Kansas.



Anyone have any experience with Canada vehicles? The link to it is below.. I'll create another thread regarding the Canadian purchase though so I don't confuse anyone.



Once again thanks so much!
 
I think a canadian spec will include daytime running lights that you can't turn off. your headlights will be on a dimmer on setting all the time. I have heard that a dealer can turn this off though. that's about the only canadian specific thing I have heard of...
 
I can feel the vibration in the front end when it is engaged. Can anyone else?
Click to expand...



Yep. That is how mine feels (07 V8 4x4). If I pull out into traffic and the back tires lose traction the 4x4 engages with a loud "thunk" and then I can feel it in the steering wheel for a few minutes until it disengages.
 

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