4 WD system faulty?

[Northerner 2]

Thanks all for the helpful information. After doing much research last night I am pretty sure I have figured out the system - just as phillyguy detailed. I was under the mistaken impression that the 4 WD lock button would lock the wheels - spoke with my dealer who was under the same mistaken impression! Appears to me that the button/switch is a manual way of doing what the computer will do when it detects slippage - probably the brain-child of the marketing department! Anyway, I got up the hill a couple of times to-day - just, but in fairness it is a steep driveway - a fairly tough walk even in the summer and we have some snow here a couple of hours north of Toronto. Just a bit disappointed because my old Lexus never hesitated once and I have good snow tires on each.
Sorry to lose my cool on franxalot last evening - was frustrated with the issue and didn't need less than helpful comments at that point.

[phillyguy]

Originally Posted by Northerner 2

Thanks all for the helpful information. After doing much research last night I am pretty sure I have figured out the system - just as phillyguy detailed. I was under the mistaken impression that the 4 WD lock button would lock the wheels - spoke with my dealer who was under the same mistaken impression! Appears to me that the button/switch is a manual way of doing what the computer will do when it detects slippage - probably the brain-child of the marketing department! Anyway, I got up the hill a couple of times to-day - just, but in fairness it is a steep driveway - a fairly tough walk even in the summer and we have some snow here a couple of hours north of Toronto. Just a bit disappointed because my old Lexus never hesitated once and I have good snow tires on each.
Sorry to lose my cool on franxalot last evening - was frustrated with the issue and didn't need less than helpful comments at that point.

I didn't read your first post closely enough, I thought you still had OEM tires on the Sorento. With good tires on it I am surprised that it struggled like that. I have tested mine on a very steep cobble stone road in the snow with the lousy OEM tires and it made it up without a hickup.

I hope that your getting stuck was just a fluke of lousy conditions, because the Sorento should really be able to make it up a snowy hill with decent tires on it. It is possible that the stability control is too aggressive in cutting the throttle, and that has given you some issue as well. Have you experimented with and without the stability control on?

[Northerner 2]

Yes, that was the dealer's suggestion also. However, I will pay close attention from here on in to try and get a handle on why this is happening, I'm starting to wonder if the tires are part of the problem. I have Nokian tires on the Lexus and tried another brand that the tire dealer recommended for the Sorento - Nokians were terribly expensive.
Mind you I have another solution - heading to Florida to-morrow and will stay until April!!
Thanks again and happy new year.

[Cheekie B]

I just put Nokian Hakkapeliitta R SUV tires on and in the recent snow we got I think the Sorento would now go through anything. Yes they cost a bit more ($249) but hands down they are the best winter tire out there. A friend of mine has had various other makes of winter tires but when he was in my car with Nokians on he couldn't believe how good they were and bought a set the next winter for himself the the winter after that for his fathers Murano.
I was out testing the tires in the snow to see how the vehicle would perform with the center locked, traction control on and off etc etc. I had the thing drifting completely sideways at times. With the wheel turned hard and the ESC off I think the power is still cut a fair bit by the computer to keep you out of real trouble and from doing a 180.
Once the wheel was straight again the power came back on and I could feel all the wheels driving.
Also, I was in a small parking lot while out for a walk with the dogs, had to go through the snow that the plow had pushed to the side of the road, a good foot high, no problems there. Also no problems maneuvering in the parking area (about 30 feet by 50) in forward, reverse etc, no problems with traction at all. My old Jetta wagon even with the Nokians would have had trouble.
While I wish the AWD system was full-time like Subaru's is at this point Im quite happy.
The traction with these Nokians vs the crappy Kuhmos that came on the vehicle is night and day. The Kuhmos were bordering on dangerous in the snow.

[socaboy]

This is why I wish the Kia Sorento had the Dynamax AWD like Kia Sportage.

[phillyguy]

Originally Posted by socaboy

This is why I wish the Kia Sorento had the Dynamax AWD like Kia Sportage.

It is hard to tell how dynamax differs from the borg warner iTM3e system in the Sorento. I'm guessing its computer cooperates with the traction control system much better to give an effective limited slip differential across the front and rear axle. They call the eLSDs on some cars. Supposed to work really well. Actually some people claim they work better than LSDs and perform closer to a locker.

[socaboy]

Originally Posted by phillyguy

It is hard to tell how dynamax differs from the borg warner iTM3e system in the Sorento. I'm guessing its computer cooperates with the traction control system much better to give an effective limited slip differential across the front and rear axle. They call the eLSDs on some cars. Supposed to work really well. Actually some people claim they work better than LSDs and perform closer to a locker.

Just Google the Kia Dynamax and you'll see.

[phillyguy]

Originally Posted by socaboy

Just Google the Kia Dynamax and you'll see.

I have and all that comes up is worthless marketing fluff. It actually sounds identical to the iTM3e system in the Sorento. I just gave them the benefit of the doubt hoping that they had implemented something to improve upon it like a functional eLSD. Otherwise I don't know why they would switch suppliers from one vehicle to the next.

The only difference that can be gathered from their stupid press releases are dynamx uses a hydraulic system to activate the clutches and the iTM3e system is electro-mechanical. Electro-mechanical sounds better to me in theory, but I don't know which works better in practice.