I am just curious if there is anyway to turn off the DSC without having the actual switch...

 

if you don't have a switch then you don't have DSC

 

I co-drove my buddy's RX-8 at several autocrosses a few years back. At the Atlanta national tour I accidentally only pressed the DSC button once. The car was fine until I engaged the ABS at the first or second corner... after that the DSC went ahead and kicked itself back on, meaning it cut power when the car started to slide, and it wouldn't allow any wheelspin.

This mirrors his experience with the car. I think it was an '04 RX-8... US model. We always did the "push and hold" after that experience.

 

Pull the ABS/TCS Fuse from the fuse box. Problem solved.

 

So basically, you won't have to hit the DSC button everytime you get into the car now BUT you'll get that annoying TCS and ABS light on the dash.

 

how much does DSC weigh?

 

About 30 grams... for the fuse.

 

I would say a bit more than that. There are the actuators that control the movement of brake fluid. Then there are the accelerometers that measure the movement of the car. They would weigh some, but not much. Most of the work of the system is done by the ECU.

 

Great solution, but not legal for SCCA stock class autocross.

 

There aren't any accelerometers in the system. DSC takes differential wheel speeds (which it picks up from the four ABS sensors that are already on the car) and steering angle input from the steering shaft angle sensor (which every car has, this is why you have to perform the steering reset every time you disco the battery), and calculates slip angle based on these parameters.

You'd have to do some research back in this forum section (I'm too lazy ), but ullllose and I weighed our cars at the Houston Tour last season. His is an '05 Base, mine is an '04 Sport, they were almost identically prepped (same tires, wheels, shocks, exhaust, similar fuel levels, etc.), and we estimated the weight penalty of the Sport Package (which includes DSC, HID lights and ballast, and foglights) at somewhere around 10 pounds.

 

 

yep, Bosch yaw rate sensor. In the central thing by the back cupholders.


If you pull the ABS fuse.... , then you don't have ABS either? that's not good unless you're on the track all the time

 

Yea I found it when I had removed the center console to run wires and insulate against heat. Just a bit smaller than my Traqmate accelerometer box that I placed in the tray above, bout the size of a pack of cigs

 

I stand corrected. Most OEMs use an algorithm that calculates slip angle based on wheel speeds and steering angle. I'm suprised Mazda choose to use a dedicated sensor, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

Any day when you learn something new is a good day!

 

prop why our system is sophisticated enough to let us play a bit more than others without interference and is acceptable in its function in most street situations. I've never seen a mag complain about the RX-8 nanny, but I've seen plenty that have complained about many an 'intrusive control" in other cars that have it.

 

The programming for ABS and TCS systems are basically the same, using almost identical algorithms. My vehicle dynamics professor showed us a simulink model of the system and explained the few things that are changed to go back and forth between the two.

 

Ok first day at the track today for our new RX8. For those that do not know it is a GT model striped and caged and basically built to Koni GA rules. Tires are 225/45x17 front and rear, TPM's are gone. So I did the DSC tourn off trick, push button for 7 sec. and all was working as described, untill I got on track and within 100ft the DSC was back on, WTF? I could not get it to stay off So next thing was to disable the DSC by unpluging the steering angl sensor and this worked but I would like to have it there and can't figure out how to keep it off?

 

BERG - if you hold the DSC button until the DSC & Traction light indicator comes on, it will not engage until you turn off the car, and repeat the ignition process. If you pushed the button and only got the DSC light to come on, then the 7+ second button hold didn't trip the error code to make it seem like there is a problem with the DSC/TCS system, disabling them until the engine restarts....


Everybody else - Sorry for being away for a longtime, 2kids + insane workload has made me stop using the internet unless needed .

 

Mobile, I feel your frustration. I once questioned the same thing, and to no result, I ended up creating a quite lengthy thread...
If you care to read... here it is.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/myth-dsc-off-switch-94230/
I experience the same thing you do. So don't feel bad about it..

It is clear why the indicators on the cluster illuminate the way they do (explained in the first page of the thread I provided).
What is still not clear to me is why a lot of people on this forum state what they state (that it takes a button hold for 7 seconds) to disable BOTH systems, because I believe nobody has shown how these systems are monitored and controlled / dissabled.......
...... I tried, but I gave up.....

 

from what i've seen, read, experienced..

dsc with one push off turns traction and stability control off. you can do donuts, drift, burnout, etc.. .

but the second abs engages, the car assumes you're in trouble and dsc is active again.

a 7-second push does the same as a one push off, except that dsc won't become active again until the car is re-started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztSqBWlbClw

in this video you see 4 runs.

run 1 is with dsc on. you can see the car push right through the turn from the beginning.

run 2 is with dsc with the one push off. you can see the car's back end step out a tiny but before dsc intrudes again.

run 3 is with the dsc with the 7 second push. as you can see.. no nannies lol

run 4 is with the dsc with the 7 second push, but on an a-spec.