# Quattro wheel spin etc



## Steven1105uk (Feb 21, 2014)

Hi guys
First proper post and ive only ad the car a week so bare with me. Is there a way to check four wheel drive is working or can someone explain in a fairly dumbed down way how and when the quattro kicks in. I get alot of wheel spin off lights which i wasnt expecting as much in an Audi TT but if i take a roundabout or corner at a fairly high speed i can feel the car correcting itself which im assuming is the 4 wheel drive coming into play. The front tyres are pretty good and back tyres look brand new. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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## Algsnowden (Oct 12, 2011)

The correcting itself in the corners you are talking about could be the esp kicking in not the quattro. I don't think it's entirely normal to have wheelspin in the dry from a quattro - it only diverts power to the rear if they detect some wheelspin at the front but this is usually only a short amount of rotation - what model do you have and is it manual or s-tronic? Newer quattro systems divert power to the rear to avoid front wheelspin in the first place by monitoring the throttle and speed etc. (I think 2009 onwards)


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## Mk2Stu (Jan 12, 2014)

Could you try removing the fuse for the Haldex controller ?
The difference should be night and day. If it isn't, then it would suggest a problem to me.


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

What year is the car?

From MY 2010 onwards the TT had the Gen 4 Haldex which has and electrically driven hydraulic pump. Some people have had failure of that unit. See: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=522650&hilit=haldex

A scan with VCDS will pick up any logged fault codes and help with diagnosis.

A proper static check of the operation of the system needs the car on a wheel free hoist.

Dumbed down? - - - - viewtopic.php?f=43&t=332506


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

It doesn't sound right. I can't say I've experenced wheelspin with quattro even in the wet. The sensation you get under hard cornering of the car correcting itself will be the traction control (ESP) which isn't related to 4WD and is entirely normal - you should see the ESP light flashing on and off on the dash as it cuts in and out under hard cornering.

When the quattro system detects any loss of grip at the front wheels it diverts more power to the rear, but it's so instant it renders any loss of grip at the font wheels undetectable to the driver.

Definitely get it looked at.


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## Steven1105uk (Feb 21, 2014)

Its 2008 tdi . Where would i get this done. Im in belfast northern ireland so not exactly coming down with garages good enough. Is it just back to audi? I think i could wheel spin it in and condition at the minute. Going to take it for a run and try and see if i can tell. Not sure i like the idea of taking fuses out. There are no errors warnings on dash and i though if quattro wasnt working it would at least say, maybe not. I get the ESP light coming on most times i set off from lights and i thought i maybe had a heavy foot cos it was a new car but starting to think its something else.

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## bhavin85 (Sep 20, 2013)

Could be down to poor quality tyres or even having the incorrect rolling radius on your current ones...i know on previous cars thats caused some issues similar to what you describe


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## RAGAL (Feb 17, 2013)

Or get the car on mud or grass, turn the stability and traction completely off and get someone to watch you accelerate, if the rear wheels don't spin you've got a problem!


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

RAGAL said:


> Or get the car on mud or grass, turn the stability and traction completely off and get someone to watch you accelerate, if the rear wheels don't spin you've got a problem!


That could give some indication, but the problem is even when traction control is OFF - it's not off completely, an element of it remains for safety. The TTRS is the only model that lets you switch off traction control completely.


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## Steven1105uk (Feb 21, 2014)

Il try all those things and see how it goes. Thanks everyone for your input. Off to find grass...... As in mud not drugs

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## RAGAL (Feb 17, 2013)

igotone said:


> RAGAL said:
> 
> 
> > Or get the car on mud or grass, turn the stability and traction completely off and get someone to watch you accelerate, if the rear wheels don't spin you've got a problem!
> ...


Fair point, I think its more stability rather than traction control that is ever present so with everything off as far as possible, with the car in a straight line it should be obvious if there is drive to the rear wheels - so no donuts :lol:


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## Anakin (Apr 19, 2011)

Doesn't sound right to me either, I have to try real hard to get the wheels to spin...


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## properjp (Feb 7, 2014)

What about putting the car in the air on a ramp, will all 4 wheels go then?


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## muTTley (Mar 15, 2004)

i never had wheel spin on a quattro - until this car - it came fitted with pirellis and they are just crap even with plenty of tread

can't wait to get back to ps3s


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## BigAardvaark (Mar 5, 2012)

Gen 2 Haldex (pre 2010) were noticeably "slow" to put the power to the back end, some slip of the fronts is normal but they shouldn't stay spinning.


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## CWM3 (Mar 4, 2012)

I have struggled to get much excitement out of the car even when dumping the clutch at 4K on a snowy surface, just bites and goes, hardly see the TC light flicker.


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## alexp (Jun 25, 2013)

That doesn't sound right at all. You shouldn't get any wheelspin or feel any correction. The best way I can describe quattro is the car should feel like a "magnet" attached to the road. Rather than feeling like you are being pulled by FWD, it should feel very stable! Hope that makes sense. Best get it checked out.


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## properjp (Feb 7, 2014)

properjp said:


> What about putting the car in the air on a ramp, will all 4 wheels go then?


Can anyone answer this?


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

properjp said:


> properjp said:
> 
> 
> > What about putting the car in the air on a ramp, will all 4 wheels go then?
> ...


This should work I think. Quattro transfers the most power to the rear wheels when there's the least grip from the front wheels, in fact it's claimed some models can transfer up to 100% of the power to the rear wheels, but I think for this to happen your front wheels would have to temporarily leave the ground completely (absolutely zero front wheel grip) so putting the car up on a ramp should duplicate that situation.


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

igotone said:


> properjp said:
> 
> 
> > properjp said:
> ...


It may be more complicated than you think.

With the car on a wheel free hoist, handbrake off, engine running above idle speed, 2nd gear engaged, at least one front and one rear wheel should rotate. 
The acceleration sensor will say zero and apparent front wheel spin should engage the Haldex to send drive to the rear diff. 
The front and rear diffs are open hence the comment about 'at least one front and rear wheel should rotate'. 
If the front diff has EDL and it operates then this won't affect the outcome of the test.

Now apply the handbrake, but only briefly, 2/3 seconds only. 
The handbrake warning light switch gives an input to disengage the Haldex so the rear wheels should stop while the fronts continue to rotate. The engine should not stall.

Just to be awkward it is possible that in the above test before the handbrake is applied, the rear wheel(s) are rotating as a result of "stiction" in the drive line while they have no rolling resistance. 
To prove that the Haldex is engaged at that point you could repeat the test of applying the handbrake having first disconnected the warning light switch or pulled the relevant fuse.
In that circumstance applying the handbrake should tend to stall the engine.

PS - I've never tried this - anyone who does try this does so at their own risk.


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## phil3012 (Jul 25, 2008)

Having owned a 2008 TDi (well MY09) you wouldn't normally expect any wheelspin.

You might for a very short time (I'm talking around half a second), in the wet and/or with worn tyres.

By the way I thought based on other threads the TDi had always had Generation 4 Haldex.


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## TT20TDI (Oct 12, 2013)

When I drove her quattro the other week very hard from standing start in damp conditions it just felt planted and gripped like nothing I have driven before - Not a hint of spin front or back just forward motion and big traction and believe me i was on it........ the car sits on conti sport 3's all round I have always found them good tyres.

I think the quattro system is fantastic you feel you are really moving from a standing start its balanced between getting pulled and pushed at the same time hard to describe but easy to feel the 4 wheel drive system working.


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## TT20TDI (Oct 12, 2013)

Good analogy it is like a magnet being driven by all 4 wheels its great.


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## Steven1105uk (Feb 21, 2014)

I still haven't had the opportunity to test the 4 wheel drive but I'm convinced there is something wrong. I don't feel like I'm getting good grip at all and can spin the front wheels at will at various speeds. Im fed up seeing the abs light on dashboard light up. I don't think its tyres. I got a guy with a lot more car experience than me to take a look and he said the front tyres had lots of mileage left on them. Im kinda at a loss on how to test it. I cant find anywhere to test it.

Steven

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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

My bet is still on a failure of the Haldex unit hydraulic pump.

Read this: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=587705&hilit=haldex+pump


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## Steven1105uk (Feb 21, 2014)

Thanks for that, interesting read. Il check fuse first then. Sound like its not that easy to resolve. Fingers crossed its not the pump i suppose.

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## lilwashu (Jan 18, 2014)

While driving my TTS around a fairly tight bend yesterday and accelerating hard, it pulled hard to the left and the front wheels lost traction with the ESP light coming on for a second or so. This has never happened before so on a quiet road later in the day I tested flooring the pedal from around 20mph in second gear and each time the front wheels would spin, torque steer happened and the ESP light came on.

Having found this and other threads I got it scanned today at a VAG specialist and it has come up with a haldex pump failure code (haldex coupling pump V181 open circuit). It is booked in at Audi next week to be looked at - somewhat suspiciously very soon after they replaced my rear shocks.


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## brice1ie (Jun 6, 2009)

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago on my 2008 TTS. Was wheel spinning which seemed odd. Long story short.. The pump had failed and was pointed in the right direction by Brittan on here.
Since changing the pump, I've tried ever so hard to wheel spin. Have not been successful yet, or at least not to a level that I could feel. So I'd be of the opinion that you probably have a similar problem to me. The failure was on vagcom if you can get access to it.
Just to add, the pump is an individual part though not all Audi dealers offer this as an option unless you highlight the pump can be bought as a stand alone part. So be aware the pump cost me £71.50 plus vat rather than the £1159 that I was also quoted to repair the problem!


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## lilwashu (Jan 18, 2014)

Audi are replacing the pump thankfully under warranty. In 3 months of ownership my 24k mile TTS has had both rear shocks and a haldex pump done, I hope this is all it has in store for me!


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## brice1ie (Jun 6, 2009)

lilwashu said:


> Audi are replacing the pump thankfully under warranty. In 3 months of ownership my 24k mile TTS has had both rear shocks and a haldex pump done, I hope this is all it has in store for me!


That's very unlucky. With abit of luck that'll be it. But on the other hand.. Better it goes now while it's under warranty!


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