I know there has been a lot of communication on the launch control procedure for the 2008 Evo X MR. After reading all that I could find AND watching the "youtube" clip by Car and Driver, I still am unable to achieve launch. I continually get the "SLOW DOWN" and the trans. temp. warning indicator.

I have tried the procedure as follows:

1. Put trans. in Drive
2. Put trans. in S-SPORT.
3. Press ASC off once (short interval)
3.1 Press ASC off and held until warning message appeared on digital info. screen (also tried it this way)
4. Depressed brake with left foot ALL THE WAY. (did not allow the vehicle to move)
5. Depressed throttle completely to the floor.
5.1 Slowly depressed throttle.

Note: the ".1's" are alternate steps in place of their primary step.

Every time and every way I attempt I get the "SLOW DOWN" message. WTF?

I know people are probably tired of this question, but I have been unable to zero in on the mistake I am making. Is it perhaps a problem with the vehicle?

 

1. Complete stop
2. Foot on brake hard
3. Trans to S-Sport by holding up on the selector
4. ASC all off by holding button down until warning message on center screen
5. With brake still depressed, floor gas till 5k rpm
6. Let off brake while still flooring gas
7. Go like a bat out of hell

Do not let the engine sit at 5k for very long, must go shortly after it revs up to the appropriate range. That is probably your problem. Also, you do not have to be in drive, you can be in manual if you want. Just make sure your ready to shift for that 1-2 switch comes up quick.

 

+100000000000

 

The thing is it does not stay at 5k. If I try to pause for even a second it revs past 5k. I tried to rev up and let off brake at 4k-5k and I get the "SLOW DOWN" message.

Thank you for your replies. I appreciate your help.

 

Sounds complicated. How long does all that take? By that time susan in the mini van is probably at the soccer pratice.

 

Cool. Thanks. I was waiting too long or attempting launch too soon. Thank you all.

But Susan ain't gonna' show up at the 1/4 mile stretch @ late night. (I do not condone illegal street racing).

 

So what did you do differently to get it right?

 

I've oftened wondered how I'm going to complete the sequence after pulling up to the line at the track.

Has anyone confirmed if you can repeat launch control if you still have ASC and in S-Sport mode?

 

yap i did !!
one thing you cant really do it on 28 c plus your tranny has to be mid worm cant be hot from an hour of driving ..... !!

 

First, I am going to say that the launch control on this car, when it works, is awesome. However, I am going to also say it is moody at best.

I took my car to Import Face Off at Houston Raceway Park on the 1st of August, where they had "simulated" street racing. What this means is that they were using arm drop instead of a tree, and not displaying times. (AP logging ftw).

I ran 10 full passes. 6 of these passes launch control was used, or I should say attempted. Of the 6 attempted launches using launch control, the car failed to launch 4 times. The two times that it worked properly were amazing. The other 4, not so much. There was a significant amount of cool down time between runs, with the care idling in "Park" for several minutes, as well as a good amount of time not running.

On each attempt, the launch control initialized like it is supposed to, meaning the car rev'd to 5k-ish and held there. I will summarize each failure and success.

Run #1 (vs 08 Mustang gt): Launch control initializes like normal, upon releasing the brake, car hits rev limitter without engaging the clutch. No slow down light, I got off the gas, let it go back to idle, mashed the gas, and car gave me permission to go. This was first run of night, and though the car was warmed up, it had sat for at least 3 hours prior to run, so trans temp was NOT the issue.

Run#2 (vs same 08 gt): Launch control works perfectly. Mustang is beaten by a distance to large for me to estimate.

Run # 3 (vs some random pos toyota fwd): Approx 15 minutes after prior run. Launch control initializes normally. Upon launch, Slow Down inlluminates, clutch does not engage, rev limitter hit. I speculate that it is because the chick held her arms up to long, and the car does NOT like to be held in launch control for anything beyond a couple seconds. After going back to idle, car drives normally.

Run#4 (vs n/a 3000gt) : Approx 10 minutes after prior run. Same exact result as above. This time it is NOT because of anything other than the car just saying no. As soon as Launch Control was initialized, it was go time, and Slow Down light illuminated without any clutch engangement again, same as above.

Run #5 (vs mild 05 wrx): Approx 35 min after prior run. Launch control works as it is supposed to. Beat Subi by 1.5 cars.

Run # 6 (vs another random fwd): 15 min approx later. More of the same failure. Launch control engages normally, upon launch, clutch is not engaged, and slow down illuminates. After letting the car go back to idle, slow down extinguishes, car drives normaly.

I am guessing a two things based on my experience, and I may be wrong.
1.If you hold the car in Launch Control for mor than 2 or 3 seconds, it will not launch.

2. If you don't press the throttle all the way to the floor, it will not launch. This surprised me, because I thought I had launched the car at part throttle before.

I am fairly certain that temperature played NO part in any of my fails, simply because the car had to long to cool down, and started out cool to begin with. It was also after 8pm, and the temperature was close to 80F.

I really would love to see a logic chart for the launch control system so that I could more accurately determine if the fail to launch is car or operator related.

 

Very interesting.

Subscribed

 

you will need a transcooler...

 

I was messing around yesterday, and confirmed that the car can indeed be launched at less than full throttle, once launch control mode is engaged. So that failure at the track was just another failure.

On a side note, the trans cooler on my PT cruiser is literally 4 times the size of the one on the Evo. WTF is up with that? lol.

 

So do you have 100% success rate if you hold it less than 2-3 secs?

 

yes but......

It is with me releasing at my convenience, versus when the lights turn green, or the chick flaps her arms, whichever the case may be. It seems that when you can mash the gas, and then release it as soon as it gets to the 5k range, its not a problem.

I would like to see a logic tree for the slow down light. Does anyone have one?