# Quattro/Haldex AWD Oil Chage w/ Photos



## macaddict111 (Jun 13, 2018)

Hey everyone,
Thought I'd share photos of my recent Quattro/Haldex AWD oil change. It was one of the easier things I've done with a car.

Parts I got on ECS Tuning (with VAG part number):
- G 060 175 A2 - "High Performance Oil For Haldex Coupling Unit"
- N 902 818 02 - 5 mm hex plug for the fill
- N 910 827 01 - 8 mm hex plug for drain (thanks to a forum member for this part, it was not correctly listed on ECS)

Other Parts/Tools:
- 5 mm Hex Wrench/Key
- 8 mm Hex Wrench/Key
- 300 cc syringe with vinyl tubing

As I said, the project was super easy:
1. I never had to jack up the car. I backed it up until the rear tires were on the edge of my downward-sloping driveway, and this gave me plenty of room.
2. Loosen the FILL plug with the 5 mm key (don't want to drain the fluid all out only to find the fill is stuck on).
3. Put a pan underneath and remove the 8 mm drain plug. As another forum member stated, it is VERY easy to mistake the AWD Oil drain with the differential gear oil drain (they are both on the same unit and area). The AWD oil drain is the only 8 mm plug on the unit, and it's the only plug facing the front of the car (the others face the left side). Fluid drained out over 3 minutes. It came out a bit dark as expected, and did have some particle and a few "chunks" (a couple black flecks about the size of grains of rice) but nothing too crazy. Neither of these worried me, as this first oil change should contain some debris from clutch break-in.








4. Install a NEW drain plug/washer and tighten. Audi specifies torques for these plugs (32 for drain, 15 for fill). It's physically impossible to get a long torque wrench where you need to for either of these plugs (I tried). So I'll confess I just tightened with a hex key. Luckily crush washers are pretty easy to tighten by feel. You can tell when you start to crush the washer against the housing, and 1/4-1/2 more turns and you won't bottom anything out.
5. Fill the hose/syringe full of oil, put end of hose into fill hole, and inject! I had to use about 2/3 - 3/4 of the bottle of oil before it started dribbling out the fill.








6. Tighten a NEW fill plug/washer on, wipe oil off everything it got on, and forget about this for another 3 years!

Hope this helps someone!


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## scott65742 (Dec 31, 2017)

Legend, thanks!


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## gAgNiCk (Dec 25, 2017)

How much did all the bits and bobs cost?


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## macaddict111 (Jun 13, 2018)

The VAG parts were about $40 USD ($31 for oil + $6 for both plugs) from ECS (not sure if they deliver overseas). The syringe/hose was maybe $8 on Amazon, but honestly there's a million ways you can get oil into the top of that unit and none of them are wrong...


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## phazer (Apr 2, 2018)

You didn't clean the filter?

Also, after the initial fill it's worth a quick drive and then checking the level, you may find it's low and needs a bit of a top up.


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## macaddict111 (Jun 13, 2018)

phazer said:


> You didn't clean the filter?
> 
> Also, after the initial fill it's worth a quick drive and then checking the level, you may find it's low and needs a bit of a top up.


Filter: No, I know this might sound naive but nothing from Audi says to. I tend to be very trusting of engineering in NON-TUNED cars, and it's tough for me to believe they went from a design (on first two gen's) that had a removable filter with explicit instructions to replace, and then just said "meh lets just let the units fill with sludge and then fail". I've seen all the photos, I get that the filter has gunk on it and people think that's horrible. TBH, I think the filter is probably designed to catch break-in debris for the life of the unit. I see a lot of tuned people posting pics of how dirty theirs was after the first change, but I haven't really seen anyone showing what it looked like in a stock car or after the second change.

Top Off: There's no way they didn't design the unit to have a "reserve" amount of extra oil, and I'm sure that'll more than cover the 2 CC of extra oil needed to displace the air in the system from the drain. I highly doubt they filled it, drove it, then refilled it from the factory.


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## phazer (Apr 2, 2018)

macaddict111 said:


> phazer said:
> 
> 
> > You didn't clean the filter?
> ...


Oh ok if you know better...

The filter collects debris and it clogs stressing the pump until it fails. Take the time to search and you will find all the pictures you could desire to convince you that despite it not being on the service schedule it should be. What you say about the engineers is exactly what's happening :lol: All the pictures I've seen are on stock cars with varying mileages. Tuning has no bearing on how much the haldex is engaged, it's driving style and road conditions.

On the second point, a number of people who have done this before you have noted that it needed topping up after a short drive. Your factory comment is ludicrous - the units are bench filled before being fitted to the car from dry and they take a known amount of fluid. A car that's used with a filter which you didn't empty and you've no idea how much is still in or drained out should be checked after the oil is circulated to ensure it is at the correct level. Again you appear to know better so you're free to screw your haldex. I suppose you just bung oil in the engine and don't check the level "cos it'll be fine innit".


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## scott65742 (Dec 31, 2017)

That escalated quickly....


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## PJ. (Dec 12, 2018)

The whole point of not having this done at Audi is they don't remove the pump and then clean the sieve / filter. On all the pictures and videos I have seen these filters get clocked by 20k. It would be like oil changes without a new filter.


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

I don't think that not cleaning the filter leads automatically to haldex unit breakage, but for sure a cleaned filter is better than dirty/clogged one (not rare, after high mileage) 
topping up after a short drive is not a bad idea too, if recommended oil quantity is unknown (Elsawin talks 8) , in this case topping up is not needed)


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## phazer (Apr 2, 2018)

scott65742 said:


> That escalated quickly....


The info here should be helpful not misleading hence responding at all, I'd rather this was a useful resource for people to refer to


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## macaddict111 (Jun 13, 2018)

Alright, so I love all you guys too much (yes even you Phazer, I'm sure you were just hangry haha). You all got me thinking and re-reading the bigger Golf R posts with all the horror photos, and I realized it's so easy to get the pump off that I had no excuse not to. I also accidentally ordered 2 of everything I needed so what the hell! haha I did the drain and fill again, except I removed the 2 x T30 bolts holding the pump on after the drain. The pump popped right off with a light tug, aaaaannnnnd the results are in:

It looks utterly spotless. Not a single spec or hint of sludge in either the filter/screen or the housing it went into (see photos below). I forgot to take photos of the sump housing but trust me it was spotless. The brown you're seeing through the filter is just more clean oil. If I put a rag on it, it came off and looked like a clean shiny screen (but the oil would spread back across it too quickly for the photo). I was so happy with it and the metal sump housing that I didn't even wipe them down or clean them in any way. The top of the white filter was completely clean too but I couldn't hold my phone and push the unit down to get a photo.

So am I glad I did the check? Absolutely, there's no excuse to not check because it's so easy and requires no additional parts (alright you're supposed to change the bolts and o-rings but whatever, they were fine). It could also be a very expensive failure down the line if yours sludges. Am I going to take the pump off ever again? Nooo. Audi doesn't say to and I didn't have even a hint of debris at 27k miles.

So this leads to the obvious question: what the heck is happening to a lot of these Haldex Gen V units? There's tons of people with completely clogged screens, but also plenty of people like me posting with perfectly clean units. A few ideas: First I live in Los Angeles, which is a sunny Mediterranean climate with very little rain and zero snow, for those unfamiliar over the pond. Second, I'm completely stock parts and tuning. But I don't in any way lightly drive my car. I pretty much race around LA and do tons of full-throttle take-offs, hard hard banking under basically the max throttle the computer will let me have, lots of stop and go. Never tracked it. The response to folks like me with no sludge on the other forums has been: well your AWD must not be working. I can absolutely 100% confirm my AWD works great. I've launched about a dozen times with zero wheel slip or even chirp. I've also driven 2WD TT's, so I know how front drive feels vs Quattro.

The other thing people have noted is that there's some differences between models with sludge and no sludge. Some of the filters look lighter, almost like the mesh is made of white plastic, and some are more shiny grey metal fine screens like mine is. Mine was an "H" revision stamp as you can see in the photo. Is a newer revision less prone to clutch wear? Is the visually different screen making a difference somehow? Was there a bad batch of clutches or factory fluid? I'll never know...

So in summary, I'm glad I checked, you should too at least once, and I'm never opening it again. Audi's advise to change it every three years with no filter service was perfect for me.


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## kevin#34 (Jan 8, 2019)

well done!
but since it's soooo easy to inspect the filter, why not doing again at any oil change? cannot understand


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## no name (Feb 16, 2014)

thanks for the insight.

this ones on my to do list


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## Phils Rebuilds (Sep 6, 2019)

This was the filter on mine at 35k standard car, check it every time only takes two minutes to do....


free image hosting website

Haldex wasnt working on this car prior to cleaning and re learning the motor with vagcom.


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## Hogey (Nov 2, 2019)

Sorry to drag up an old topic but can anyone point me in the right direction of where to buy the replacement Haldex plugs online?

I've searched using the part numbers listed but the 8mm plug seems difficult to track down

Cheers

Edit - I have the 2015 TTS w/ DSG


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## revulike (Jun 15, 2018)

I used https://www.haldexrepairs.co.uk
Successfully.


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## Hogey (Nov 2, 2019)

revulike said:


> I used https://www.haldexrepairs.co.uk
> Successfully.


Thank you!


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## acert54 (Oct 21, 2019)

PJ. said:


> The whole point of not having this done at Audi is they don't remove the pump and then clean the sieve / filter. On all the pictures and videos I have seen these filters get clocked by 20k. It would be like oil changes without a new filter.


My local Audi garage cleaned the filter on mine when they changed the oil.


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