My doubts seem confirmed

G

glasgowdubber

Registered User
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
401
Reaction score
124
Points
43
Location
Glasgow, United Kingdom
So today... in Scotland like most places it's extremely icy, I've just managed to come out my car park and the rear just slid and when I put my foot down, nothing, but traction control. Again when I accelerate all I'm getting is traction control and a shake at the back like the rear wheels are turning but the cars not moving (BMW'ish)..

I've read previously somewhere this could be a problem with the Haldex filter, is this correct, I'm going to phone Audi this morning as the cars still under warranty but would like to give as much info as possible, not sure if this is something they would deal with on a regular basis?

Cheers

Chris
 
If rear wheels are spinning then haldex is working.
Sounds like just lack of traction to me. Even with winter tyres I can get them all to spin up in this weather.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jassyo06
AWD counts for nothing if your tyres are old and not much tread. Big fat tyres don't help in the snow either.
 
I think if your front wheels were spinning with a lack of effort from the rears then deffo likely to be a haldex issue. But if the rears are spinning then as above, it’s probably working spot on...do you know if your fronts are spinning as well?
 
UPDATE: I've called Audi, and because I have roadside and something else, an Audi technician is on his way will be with me within 30mins according to my text, also spoke to a tech at Audi through a mutual friend who said the haldex being blocked was a common problem he had seen loads of it.

Cant' be tyres, 2 are brand new, 2 front have 5mm, Contis, the car was only purchase from Audi in October, but is a 64 plate, but only currently has 11k miles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: martin1984
Wouldn’t matter what tyres/tread you have and whether you have 4wd or not in sheet ice, it’s just gonna spin with little power. Summer tyres are worse in ice as the rubber gets hard in the cold so just doesn’t grip.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jassyo06
If it's the haldex pump it's just not possible for the system to put enough power to the rear wheels to make them spin so what you're describing doesn't sound like a haldex problem.

Furthermore it's impossible for the system to put more than 50% of the power to the rear wheels when all wheels have grip, and if you put more power (which is in fact the wrong term, the term used should be "more torque") to the rear wheels you will have the front wheels spinning at the same time, it's impossible to just have the rear wheels spinning with haldex.

Just the fact that the guy from Audi still thinks it's the haldex system even though what you describe seems like the direct opposite of a haldex problem just shows (again) that most of the Audi technicians just doesn't understand the mechanical nature of the Quattro AWD system (and the difference between torsen and haldex systems).

@GSB kindly explains it here and if you ask me this post should be a sticky just for quattro owners to understand what quattro actually is: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/quattro-settings.341579/#post-3088627
 
Last edited:
So I've had the Audi mobile technician come out to the car, at first he said there was likely a software update for the car and this is what the issue was, thought this was unlikely but let him plod on, 10mins later get a call to go back out.. this is the report he has given

"Suspect Haldex pump strainer blocked. Requires further investigation at dealer. No fault codes stored"

Car has now been recovered, and apparently they have 48hrs to fix the problem, so will update you all when I know more.

Just to add, I don't accept that an Audi S3 quattro would just spin on ice, I had an 8P S3 and the thing was unstoppable in any weather that was thrown at it, and I might add that included some of the worst snow the UK had saw, 2009! The car simply isn't working like a Quattro, I'm not saying the front wheels weren't turning as I was driving, but the rear wheels were doing anything traction kicked in and then almost nothing happened, and it crawled away with traction light flashing limiting speed.
 
I'm in agreement with the others. Sounds like the car is working fine and the technician has written down what you've told him you know is wrong with it to keep you (un)happy.
 
Update 02/02/2019 so I now have the car back, for the commentators regarding tyres, fronts were 6.1 & 6.2, rears were 3.2 & 3.6 I think we can all agree there the tyres weren't the problem, although has highlighted to me the rears will need replaced shortly.

The Audi dealer report states that the car was road tested and the fault I experienced above (i.e. rear wheels spinning was replicated during acceleration). Once the car was brought back the Haldex was investigated and found to be blocked, this was replaced under used car warranty and had to be passed by Audi themselves.

My new dilemma is, I had a 68 plate A5 Sportback S-Line 2.0tfsi S-tronic with the works including Virtual Cockpit and I fell in love! To my absolute shock, I can get a brand new Black Edition for £50 less per month that I currently am on a 4 year old S3 with £3k down.

HELP!
 
Used cars are generally more expensive on pcp as you rarely secure a good discount and the residual value is always poor so no shock. I’d probably change just to have a new car warranty, new tyres, brakes etc etc
 
My car's going in on Wednesday to Audi, I think my Haldex pump is knackered too :( Got stuck on ice, pressed gas lightly and car wasn't moving at all. Plus I've had issues when (kinda) flooring it from standstill where the car just doesn't move for a good 2 seconds (no wheel spin/smoke).

I've got extended (genuine) warranty so hoping it's gets picked up by that, if it is indeed f**ked.

Mine's also 64 plate, had the Haldex oil and filter clean done when I bought it a few months ago at 44k miles, I've got a feeling Haldex was clogged up and pump died before I bought it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: glasgowdubber
winrya said:
Used cars are generally more expensive on pcp as you rarely secure a good discount and the residual value is always poor so no shock. I’d probably change just to have a new car warranty, new tyres, brakes etc etc
Click to expand...

I'm maybe slightly moving off topic, but interesting to read this. I sort of agree with it although I have just done a PCP on a 64 plate A3 Cab. I'm paying probably the actual whole price of the car as is over the next 4 years and then handing it back. Alternative was getting a new one for about another £4500 over the same period. Now granted it would be warranted, etc and will of course be worth MORE than the total of all the payments/deposit. But in the end I figure it's what is coming out of my pocket each month and managed to get a cracking discount due to the car not being in demand in winter. It was a decision that took a while to make.
 
HertS3 said:
My car's going in on Wednesday to Audi, I think my Haldex pump is knackered too :( Got stuck on ice, pressed gas lightly and car wasn't moving at all. Plus I've had issues when (kinda) flooring it from standstill where the car just doesn't move for a good 2 seconds (no wheel spin/smoke).

I've got extended (genuine) warranty so hoping it's gets picked up by that, if it is indeed f**ked.

Mine's also 64 plate, had the Haldex oil and filter clean done when I bought it a few months ago at 44k miles, I've got a feeling Haldex was clogged up and pump died before I bought it.
Click to expand...

Sounds almost like for like for what happened to me. They said the pump was blocked, so they replaced it, I’m not very technical at the best of times, so can’t really go into anymore detail than that.

Having the warranty was really amazing, couldn’t fault the service start to finish, had a mobile tech out look over the car, my car uplifted, and new car out to be by 1:30pm, initially reported the fault at 9:30am, everything was taken care of by the dealership. One thing to note was, if my car wasn’t “recovered” it was a 1 week wait to be seen (without courtesy), or 6 weeks with a courtesy car, at this point I called back and refused to drove the car as it was unsafe.
 
Yeah I tried to book in to Watford Audi and they said 6 weeks without courtesy car!! Hatfield could take it 6 days later so doing that
 
audi upgrades
Hmm they've diagnosed a faulty thermostat apparently...Not sure how that impacts the Haldex!! Being replace under extended warranty anyway
 
The problem with the haldex which i think has been covered somewhere else is Audi generally under normal servicing don't clean the filter...eventually it blocks completely and causes the pump to fail.

I had the filter and oil changed in the Haldex at 20k and it was pretty much completely blocked with sludge and I'm a relatively light driver with mainly motorway miles. The independent garage I took it too actually recommended changing the oil and cleaning the filter in the haldex every 15k opposed to Audi who say 30k (off the top of my head)
 
  • Like
Reactions: glasgowdubber
Beery said:
The problem with the haldex which i think has been covered somewhere else is Audi generally under normal servicing don't clean the filter...eventually it blocks completely and causes the pump to fail.

I had the filter and oil changed in the Haldex at 20k and it was pretty much completely blocked with sludge and I'm a relatively light driver with mainly motorway miles. The independent garage I took it too actually recommended changing the oil and cleaning the filter in the haldex every 15k opposed to Audi who say 30k (off the top of my head)
Click to expand...
Yep, I'm well aware of this and had it done (along with filter clean) as soon as I bought the car back in October (at 44k miles). Previous owner didn't know so it had never been changed. It was all clogged up and I suspect that the Haldex pump had already failed. Audi have said it's fine but I'm not convinced they ran a proper test (it recently passed a basic test on VCDS but that doesn't necessarily mean it's OK). I've asked them to check it again whilst they're changing thermostat housing today.
 
Beery said:
The problem with the haldex which i think has been covered somewhere else is Audi generally under normal servicing don't clean the filter...eventually it blocks completely and causes the pump to fail.

I had the filter and oil changed in the Haldex at 20k and it was pretty much completely blocked with sludge and I'm a relatively light driver with mainly motorway miles. The independent garage I took it too actually recommended changing the oil and cleaning the filter in the haldex every 15k opposed to Audi who say 30k (off the top of my head)
Click to expand...

This is the problem, the car I bought in October was a 64 plate, though it had only covered 10,000 miles, so it seems it should be set not just on mileage but age aswell.
 
I'm going to ask what might be a really stupid question as a relatively new Audi - What's a Haldex and do I have one??? (MY15 A3 Cab Sports)
 
It's the Quattro system, if you have Quattro then you'll have it.

My car is back from Hatfield, I'm not convinced they actually tested the Haldex beyond the basic test on the computer. We'll see how it goes...
 
audi upgrades
Anyone have any advice on how I can push the Haldex a bit to get the pump working a bit? Other than launching the car in the wet...
 
I can get mine to kick in coming out at a junction in the wet. Doesn't take too much effort.
Mine is due a diff oil change in April so will ask about getting the filter changed at the same time.
 
Oh OK thanks - by the way the filter is cleaned rather than replaced (it's a kind of mesh)
 
HertS3 said:
It's the Quattro system, if you have Quattro then you'll have it.

My car is back from Hatfield, I'm not convinced they actually tested the Haldex beyond the basic test on the computer. We'll see how it goes...
Click to expand...
Willing to bet they did nothing.

Hatfield / M25 Audi was taken over by Barons Group about a year ago and is now one of the worst dealerships for anything servicing related. When my car went in I gave them a list of TPIs which covered the faults, which they ignored. They had my car for 48 hours and reported that they could not reproduce any of my reported issues during their testing. My dashcam showed that they did an approx 30mins of “works” to my car, 10mins of which was taken up by the master tech chatting to another tech about my steering wheel paddle extensions! The extended test drive they did actually consisted of them driving my car some 15 meters from the car park to the workshop and back. I reproduced all issues on collection. Muppets.

The only time they will ever see my car is when I drive past the showroom!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ron240
Haha well you diagnosed the probable Haldex pump failure @DJAlix and I know who I trust more! Have no choice unfortunately as have to use official dealer to make extended warranty claim...
I told them that if I have the same problem with the Haldex I'm not paying the excess again, I specifically told them what the problem was but they happened to find something else which needed fixing. I was lucky in a way as o would have had to pay £60 diagnostic charge for nothing! That went towards the excess.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJAlix
HertS3 said:
Anyone have any advice on how I can push the Haldex a bit to get the pump working a bit? Other than launching the car in the wet...
Click to expand...
I had the Haldex fail on a S3 at about 2 years old. First spotted it pulling out of a junction with a slight upwards incline. I could easily recreate it in the dry on any upward incline and accelerating hard. The car would bounce for a couple of seconds then launch
 
PhatGit said:
I had the Haldex fail on a S3 at about 2 years old.
Click to expand...
This seems unusually soon....what mileage was on the car?
I'm trying to work out if this issue is more mileage than time related?
All this talk about failing Haldex is potentially concerning for the future depending on how long I keep my S3, but as I do less than 5000 miles per year it could never be an issue if it is mileage related.
 
PhatGit said:
I had the Haldex fail on a S3 at about 2 years old. First spotted it pulling out of a junction with a slight upwards incline. I could easily recreate it in the dry on any upward incline and accelerating hard. The car would bounce for a couple of seconds then launch
Click to expand...
Mine did that on a dry road when (trying to) floor it from standstill at a traffic light.
Looks like I'll have to get the computer to realise that the pump's gone again (fault cleared by @DJAlix when doing some hifi upgrade work) so that Audi Hatfield realise it's faulty and replace it under warranty.

@Ron240 not sure what the answer to your question is, I suspect it's more of a mileage thing as Audi's recommendation for oil change (and, as we now hopefully all know, filter clean) is based on a mileage rather than a timescale.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ron240
Ron240 said:
This seems unusually soon....what mileage was on the car?
Click to expand...
From memory, was about 22k, maybe a touch more. I do around 12k a year. I had the odd bit of fun with it, but not driven overly hard and never launched (by me!!). It was a MY15 64 plate S3 Saloon owned from new.
There seems to be a lot of mention of 64 plates in this tread.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ron240
My car's never been launched, owned from new by my colleague. Driven a bit hard but nothing that this car can't handle.

It's also 64 plate Sportback, manufactured Dec 14 I'm guessing as I saw 122014 on a sticker somewhere in the driver footwell (?) - I think 64 plates mentioned a lot as they're (over)due Haldex servicing on average annual mileage.

Haldex oil change/filter clean wasn't done on mine til 44k miles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: glasgowdubber
Well my car has been back for a week now and I got Carista and no Haldex error showing so far. Not pushed the car too hard, when I get the chance to I'll try force the Haldex to work and see what's what. TBH it seems like it's ok - I wonder if the computer thought that Haldex pump is knackered so didn't use it but now maybe it's been reset so knows (or thinks) the pump is OK??
 
HertS3 said:
My car's never been launched, owned from new by my colleague. Driven a bit hard but nothing that this car can't handle.

It's also 64 plate Sportback, manufactured Dec 14 I'm guessing as I saw 122014 on a sticker somewhere in the driver footwell (?) - I think 64 plates mentioned a lot as they're (over)due Haldex servicing on average annual mileage.

Haldex oil change/filter clean wasn't done on mine til 44k miles.
Click to expand...
Get it launched! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: oli356
OK so my car seems to be making a whooshing sound (definitely not the turbo), could this be a sign of faulty Haldex pump?
 
HertS3 said:
OK so my car seems to be making a whooshing sound (definitely not the turbo), could this be a sign of faulty Haldex pump?
Click to expand...
Never had anything like this with mines mate, on the plus side I done a launch last night to test and wow! I didn’t a second, “just to be sure” I’d definitely say the car is putting more power down aswell.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Facelift Colour Doubts
Replies
42
Views
10K
Swany
S
Audi Man Dan
Delivery Confirmed !!!
Replies
3
Views
1K
splash1992
S
V
RS3 Confirmed!
Replies
16
Views
3K
paullowther
paullowther
BGS
Just Confirmed - My Saloon shall be delivered on Friday.
Replies
32
Views
2K
Schizophonic
Schizophonic
M
Pickup Date confirmed :)
Replies
5
Views
1K
grantDUBshaw
grantDUBshaw
Top
Back