[Audi A3/S3] Advice on S3 please Haldex problems????

[RFredR32]

I currently am trying to sell my S3 at the moment and am having real problems with it. I have had a couple people out looking at it and due to this problem they have walked away from the car.

Here goes sorry for any poor terminology

1. Car is driving one hundred percent apart from in slow manoevuring if you have say half to full lock on moving into a junction or drive way for example, there is a loud juddering coming from the rear of the car when you move off, nearly feels like its skipping its very strange.

2. Wheel bearings suspension etc. seem fine car has done 70k odd miles and i am unsure whether haldex has ever been serviced does this sound like a Haldex problem if so is it easy enough to service and will it sort this problem out.

3. Also i have noticed this from the first day i drove the car when you give it the welly in first or second gear it seems to hold its revs between gear changes. Never really bothered me but sounds suspect when you are trying to sell the thing, is there any simple mods that can be done to rectify like a simple remap etc

Thanks in advance for your comments your advice is always appreciated.

Cheers

[Paul]

1. The only time i have heard similar symtoms was with a switchable Haldex controller on a friends S3. If he left it ON (permanent 4x4), for slow manouvers, it seemed to crab. - A guess , but is it stuck in 4x4? As normally for slow manouvers it is meant to be disabled.

2. Haldex service consists of Oil at 20K, oil and filter at 40K, oil at 60K and so forth. You need a special spanner and tool to do the job. It wouldnt harm to get it serviced if you do not know the history but i doubt it will fix it.

3.Faulty DV - (Diverter valve) has been known to cause revs to hang.

Personally, i would take it to a specialist, and get them to check it out, as you could easily end up spending money on the wrong things by guessing. They will have the experience, diagnostic tools and equipment required.

[RFredR32]

Cheers Paul for your reply, have had the car with a half decent mechanic who has had the diagnostics machine on it and no faults are showing.

Is a diverter valve cheap or expensive as i dont want to spend to much money on the car as i am selling it.

As far as haldex is concerned as far as i am aware the car is standard how do you distinquish between a standard haldex and a switchable one.

Could it be that the haldex unit has failed on the car????? please no that im sure will be expensive.

[shark_90]

Also check the clutch switch as a cause for your revs holding on gear change.

[Paul]

I seem to recall a standard DV is about £30 ish. That said, i have never bought one, I replaced mine with an aftermarket piston valve over the Bosch diaphram one.

Switchable haldex are rare as they *were* sold By Forge Motorsport, but then Haldex brought their own (non switchable) upgrade out which kept the safety limits. The aftermarket switchable ones were then withdrawn from sale.

I very much doubt this is the case with yours. I would imagine its standard, but its symptoms do seem similar to that of being stuck in 4x4, so it might be worth investigating?

Haldex sell their own upgrade which is non switchable, but reacts quicker than the standard version, its the stiff end of £660 , but have no idea the cost of a new standard one, or if it would fix your issues.

The genuine Haldex upgrades are painted blue and bolted on the haldex under the car.

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Parts, Accessories, Styling and Performance Tuning for your Audi TT Coupe or TT Roadster

[RFredR32]

Cheers for your feedback guys will let you know if i have any joy

[RFredR32]

Any other solutions to the juddering, skipping, crabing that the car is doing other than Haldex. Was driving a mates 06 A4 Sline Quattro and its worth mentioning that his car did the same but not as violently as my own. Is this a characteristic of the Quattro system whether full system or haldex.

[burble]

Torsen (ie, true Quattro) and Haldex are very different beasts.

I've driven an R32 that was doing a very similar thing to yours and it ended up needing a new diff.

[RFredR32]

I realize they are different beasts but i would say that i have driven probably around half a dozen Quattros and haldex system cars and all of them have had this problem in some shape or form from the mild to the severe.

Was just hoping that it would be a common problem and a easy fix. Hopefully burble it not a diff otherwise i will ending up driving the car into the ground.

If it was a diff surely you would be getting noise etc. on full acceleration hard cornering rather than slow turning, movements etc.

Any other suggestions welcome

[superscatterbrain]

Not sure this will help, but try turning the traction control off. I had a problem with my old LCR when I bought it (225bhp S3/TT engine), and had it remapped. I had the idling/revs problem you have, and on the Cupra forum I was advised to keep turning off traction control. (unfort EVERY time you start the car). I never once had the ESP on the entire ownership of the car and I never had the same problem!

[RFredR32]

Had the car with a mechanic today, have checked absolutely everything we can on it , and by process of elimination we think its the Haldex unit.

So i am wondering whether anyone has upgraded to the performance part and could sell me there old one for a few quid.

[Mook]

Uprated on isn't cheap - £600 IIRC. Most people hang on to them so they can return the car to stock when they sell it and then sell the uprated one on.

Give ebay a try though