Haldex clutch oil sludge

[Spiceman101]

A3 2.0 tdi 185 2014
Hi all, just had my car into the audi garage because there was a fault code on the haldex pump not working correctly which made the front wheels spin and not engage the 4wd.

On removing the pump the techs found that the oil was very thick and sludge like, the pump itself was faulty and not working but recommended that we clean as much as possible and top up with new oil and then come back after doing 500 miles to fit a new pump, however the audi guys are still confused why the oil is thick sludge like, has anybody had this problem before and found a fix or would a new pump just be needed?

Thank you.

 

[Hamza_Irfan]

I had my haldex oil change and filter cleaned today on my s3 8v. Mine did not have as much sludge buildup compared to the others on this forum. Looking at your first picture, mine had a similar level of buildup however, with that being said, I have seen some that are in much worse condition than yours (like literally caked in sludge). Audi recommend a haldex oil change every 30k or 3 years I think, but they do not take the pump off and clean the filter as they should causing it to build up with gunk from old oil. This is the reason why many people have had their haldex oil and filter done by specialists instead of main dealers, as I did today.


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[Hamza_Irfan]

This is a picture I found from another s3 owner on a different post.


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[Jcbmally]

A3 2.0 tdi 185 2014
Hi all, just had my car into the audi garage because there was a fault code on the haldex pump not working correctly which made the front wheels spin and not engage the 4wd.

On removing the pump the techs found that the oil was very thick and sludge like, the pump itself was faulty and not working but recommended that we clean as much as possible and top up with new oil and then come back after doing 500 miles to fit a new pump, however the audi guys are still confused why the oil is thick sludge like, has anybody had this problem before and found a fix or would a new pump just be needed?

Thank you.

Confused my ****, they know about it and I would suggest you get a second opinion on the pump.

 

[Hamza_Irfan]

A3 2.0 tdi 185 2014
Hi all, just had my car into the audi garage because there was a fault code on the haldex pump not working correctly which made the front wheels spin and not engage the 4wd.

On removing the pump the techs found that the oil was very thick and sludge like, the pump itself was faulty and not working but recommended that we clean as much as possible and top up with new oil and then come back after doing 500 miles to fit a new pump, however the audi guys are still confused why the oil is thick sludge like, has anybody had this problem before and found a fix or would a new pump just be needed?

Thank you.

What mileage is the car on and have you had the haldex service done?


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[Spiceman101]

What mileage is the car on and have you had the haldex service done?


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Thank you for your help Hamza_Irfan

The car has done 37000 miles, I bought the car from main dealer just over a year ago, they said they changed the haldex oil back then but obviously I cant prove this, this time I took my car to independent audi workshop.
Do you think when I come to change for a new pump in 500 miles all will be good again? Is the sludge oil just down to not changing the oil and cleaning the filter frequent enough? Or is there a underlying issue making it thick and slimy.

Thank you

 

[Spiceman101]

Confused my ****, they know about it and I would suggest you get a second opinion on the pump.

Im pretty sure the pump is faulty as they already had ordered in the new pump but they didnt want to install today as they were concered about the black oil sludge ruining a new pump. They emptied all the oil out and cleaned as much as they could around the filter etc and advised to run 500miles on new oil and then come back to fit new pump and check to see if oil is sludge again.
They didnt want to put a brand new pump on today and for that to go faulty having sludgy left over oil.

 

[Spiceman101]

What mileage is the car on and have you had the haldex service done?


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Today it cost 200 pounds to clean the sludge out and top up with new oil.

 

[Hamza_Irfan]

Thank you for your help Hamza_Irfan

The car has done 37000 miles, I bought the car from main dealer just over a year ago, they said they changed the haldex oil back then but obviously I cant prove this, this time I took my car to independent audi workshop.
Do you think when I come to change for a new pump in 500 miles all will be good again? Is the sludge oil just down to not changing the oil and cleaning the filter frequent enough? Or is there a underlying issue making it thick and slimy.

Thank you

A new pump should do the job to be honest. They are known to fail prematurely if they’re not cleaned of the sludge when changing the oil. If the buildup of sludge was really bad in your case, then I can see why the pump would stop working (lack of oil circulation due to blocked filter). In terms of what causes it to become thick and slimy, I’m not really sure. I’ve seen 8v owners on this forum with completely blocked filters on 20,000 mile cars. But like I said, sludge buildup in these haldex units where the pump is situated is very common amongst the gen 5 haldex used in the a/s3 8v and the golf r. Imho, it really should be serviceable from Audi to clean the pump when changing the oil. It’s not like it takes very long to do so. I took mine to awesome in Manchester and it took them an hour for the whole job, including a road test.


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[Hamza_Irfan]

Today it cost 200 pounds to clean the sludge out and top up with new oil.

I know that Audi charge around 100 for just oil change. Awesome charged me 99 for new oil and filter clean.


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[Lehn]

It's pretty normal, try to take a look at this thread: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/haldex-gen5-oil-change-and-gauze-clean.379347/

 

[MikeParkin]

That picture was from my own service I carried out in December, just over 3 years and 19,000 miles stage 2. Oil was changed by Audi last year but no pump clean.

There’s plenty of info on this if you search around.

 

[Spiceman101]

It's pretty normal, try to take a look at this thread: https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/haldex-gen5-oil-change-and-gauze-clean.379347/

Thank you for posting the link. Much appreciated