On 2 occassions I have noticed one front wheel has slipped(spun on
wet grass or in sand) and the other front wheel or rear wheels did
not appear to have any power. Apart from the one wheel losing
traction the car went no where.

Has anyone else found this to happen?

I am not clear on the whole 4WD limited slip diff that some 4WDs
have. Does the CRV keep applying power through the remaining 2
wheels if say one front and one rear wheel have no traction(ie. are
in the air in rugged terrain)? In my experience one front wheel can
loose traction and now power goes through any of the other wheels???


Scott

The first time it was stuck. The front right wheel was digging a
hole in the sand while the front left wheel didn't, the car went
nowhere. The front left wheel was on a patch of heavily grassed
sand. Because the car didn't move and the rear and front left wheels
didn't dig into the sand I assume they had no power (it felt like the
only wheel spinning was the front right).

I think that if only one of the front wheels looses traction the rear
wheels don't kick in.

When you say you can spin one front and 1 rear wheel simultaneously
was there power being applied to the non spinning wheels?

if you get in that type of situation again push on the brake alittle & the torque from the spinning wheel should transfer to the one that can get traction then hopefully the 4wd will kick in & get you out.

Bob

Both the front and rear have differentials.
It is hard to explain here how they work, but basically the power is
split between the two sides. If one spins completely freely, then
the other side will not have any force applied. This is true of all
cars unless they have some type of limited slip diferential or
traction control system.
Either one of the back wheels was spinning, or you did not give it
enough time or power to go into 4wd, or something is wrong.

Was the car stuck, or did it slip for a second, then the car moved,
or did it move but keep slipping?

the 4WD kicks in whenever the average of the front wheels are at a
speed significantly different from the rear.
Give it enough gas and you can spin two wheels! one front and one
rear.