4 wheels spinning

hiya guys.

the other day i got stuck with all four wheels spinning and the TC light came up on the dash board.

the front drivers side wheel started to clonk, is that where it tried to get some grip.

im really sorry asking this and for being so thick, ive only ever had an older land rover and not had one with the vcu and ird system.

when i get stuck like that do i have to allow the wheels to spin in order the vcu can lock it self up in order that if one wheel gets grip it will get me out of trouble, unfortunatly i had to be pushed out then when i got out and had a look it was sheet ice, apart from that one time ive had no probs getting stuck.

is this the same when diff lock is mentioned

am very concenered of that clonking it only happened when i got stuck and never heard it since

ive read the fantastic article of how to test the vcu and hopefully i wont get sworn at for asking another stupid question, it says to put it into first gear,ive got a TD4 auto, sorry being so think and am really sorry asking but as it is such an extensive write up and dont want to get it wrong.

my freelander is a 2002 TD4 auro with 170,000 on the clock, its got a full land rover service history and trying my best to look after it.

it does seem to be holding back abit after that but it might be just me.

regarding the vcu test i was wondering and hopefully not being cheeky, is there any guys near me who may be able check the vcu for me please, im unfortunatly partially disabled after i ended up having pins and screws in my back and just had surgery on my left foot as im trying to beat an infection it it.

im hope this doesnt coming across as me pulling the disablity card but was just wondering if there was anyone around who may be able to help me with a few things please really frightened of going to garage due to cost as im only on disablity.just being careful with my money, like all of us and so concerned of getting a high bill.

please may i apologise and hope this doesnt come across as being rude or disrespectful to anyone its very hard for me as i worked for nearly 30 years as a gas safe, oil engineer repairing boilers etc and now trying to adjust loosing my independence .

thanks guys as always for listening, i nearly deleated this post several times but i know everyone on here are true gents/

as always respectfully yours

gary

The traction control light should come on temporarily when traction control is working. By default, traction control is off until the sensors detect that there's slippage.

As for the clonking, I'm not sure. It could be anything. If the noise has gone away, maybe there's no need to worry.

Your car doesn't have diff locks. So no need to add that into the equation.

the lock up from the vcu is near instantaneous. if there is no grip at all, doesn't matter if you have 1 wheel or 4 wheel drive, it isn't going to move.

had the reverse in my road, van was sliding, but all 4 wheels were sliding at the same rate so abs didn't come on.

Panic not. Sounds as thought your traction control is working properly. When a wheel spins, because of the differential, this allows all the drive on that axle to pass to that wheel, so that the stationary wheel cannot drive. The traction control system detects this and applies the brake to stop in spinning and so the other wheel is driven and rotates. The clonk you heard was the brake being applied to the spinning wheel.
I believe that why Freebies ar so good on snow is that the VCU is effectively working as a limited slip diff. If one one of the front wheels is spinning then the VCU will not detect this and will not increase power to the rear. However, with a properly functioning VCU, there is limited drive to the rear at all times and this is sufficient to keep the vehicle moving. Bags of oomph is not needed since this would only cause the rear wheels to spin