Originally Posted by
TCHUN003
Seems like there are increasing cases of haldex failures.
If you've had haldex issues, post your:
1. How you discovered you had the issue
2. Mileage
3. Model year
4. Any error codes
5. What was done to fix it, and was it under warranty? I hear they are replacing the units with the ones from 2017's?
1. under medium to hard acceleration from a stop in Dynamic sport mode with t/c still on (shifter in S) the front tires began slipping with flashing tcs light happening around 4500 rpms. The first time I noticed it, the road was slightly damp and I was making a left turn from a stop. At the next light, I repeated and noticed it again. Knowing that this has been an issue, I decided to go ahead and conduct a Launch Control test. The result was a complete FWD burnout which left two very apparant tire marks. Well atleast the front LSD is working good, but the rear tires didnt seem to engage whatsoever.
2. Began noticing this at around 26k miles and had just brought my car in for service about 2 months ago.
3. 2016 black optics (not sure of the differntial/haldex code)
4. cant remember exact error code- invoice still in my backseat at the dealer and will update after I pick up the car.
Upon arriving to the dealer at Audi of West Covina I informed them of my situation. The service advisor there was friendly, but mentioned only being an employee of Audi for one year after being with Mercvedes-Benz and was not very familiar with the Haldex system. However, I was able to take one of the lead techs for a test drive.
Around the corner from the dealership, I made a right and with the car in sport mode and laid my foot into the throttle smoothly but firmly. Like clockwork, flashing tcs light came on the dash and wheel spin was detected but I got little reaction from the tech. Made another right on a quiet street and brought the car to a standstill. Without launching, I gave the same firm predal input and got the excessive wheelspin. Dry pavement, from a standstill, traction control on, sport mode (shifter in S) TC still enabled. Still no reaction from the tech. Kinda perplexed, I asked him "did you notice that?" His reply- "I'd need to test drive a few other cars and compare them to yours, but keep in mind that we aren't able to drive the cars very hard".
Not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but there is nothing needed to compare here. I took a picture of the burnout I did with all the rubber I laid on the ground by my house but didnt even bother to show him. 2 days later, the dealer called back and said that an error code for the haldex pump did come up and that they were going to use the Haldex replacement kit. Good I thought.
I came back to pick my car up the following day and as my invoice stated- "found haldex pump issue" replaced the pump according to TSB. Test drove the car and is now operating as originally designed and replaced parts under warranty. Great! I left the lot all smiling to have my baby working the way she's supposed to and drove 5 minutes down the road before finding an empty parking lot to see if they really fixed the problem. I engaged launch control, released the brake pedal and completely smoked the front tires. The issue persist.
That same night I took the car over to a friend who is an Audi tech. After going over the paperwork, for starters we noticed that the inbound mileage was no different than the outbound mileage meaning that they did not infact test drive my vehicle. We pluged in VCDS and scanned for a set of values- a total of 5 were supposed to show up- Zero showed up. There was no proper file uploaded to the TCU.
5. After the repair haldex kit failed my buddy and I went over a few different scenarios. A) the software they uploaded for the haldex system was improperly uploaded or maybe a driver failed and the service department didn't properly adapt the new system. B)possibly a fuse was out. C)The replacement Haldex kit was fautly. But when I returned home later that night it dawned on both of us that we had forgotten to check the tire tread depth on all four tires.
Due to the sensors in the haldex system which measure the rotational force and rolling resistance in each wheel, if one tire has substantially more wear than the others, it can definitely show false readings supposedly throw the whole Haldex out of whack. Due to this, I now believe that my haldex is potentially in "limp mode" even though it has been replaced.
I've had all but 1 tire replaced under warranty under ownership and with 26,000 miles on the car- shame on me but 3 tires had less than 10,000 miles on them while the sole remaining tire had the full 26k on it. With 3 tires reading approximately 7/32nds of tread depth wear, the left rear tire was reading 2/32nds! I was planning to take the car to a different socal dealership with more experience on this issue but was informed that before they can really resolve the problem- the first step would be me replacing the tire. The next day the tire was replaced, the fault codes cleared, Launch control engaged- FAIL once again. I'm kinda scrathcing my head here and the techs don't really know whats up either.
My car is currently at Pacific Audi and since the repair kit is the latest update Audi has released to resolve the issue, the've now called regional rep in to take a look. There is another S3 at the dealership with the same issue. Haldex replacement kit has not fixed the issue. I'm pretty bummed to say the least.
Forgot to mention that my car is 100% stock
Ben
Performance Liaison | Studio RSR
e-mail:
[email protected]
phone: 844-991-5582
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