It doesn't just rain, it pours down! Haldex full of water!

[v6mikey]

Had to go through a flood last night. It was really deep! Had water coming up the bonnet!!!  Lol. 

Anyway now on anything more than half lock it feels like the rear diff (haldex unit) is a limited slip diff and jumps and knocks around.

After a bit of research it sounds like water has entered the haldex unit and an oil and filter change is necessary.  It was due next month so oil and filter has now been ordered.

[Mirez]

Bugger! I believe there is a case vent pipe that lives in the chassis leg (a classic for dropping oil if its overfilled) so it may have got in there... deffo get it changed asap though mate, I imagine those parts are uber rare!

[v6mikey]

Oil and filter are in stock at Audi but not vw, so picking them up today and do the change tonight. It only takes 10 mins. Haldex recommends that another change should be done in 200-300 miles to flush the system out.

I have had a look on eBay and there are a few haldex units, but I don't think I'll need to replace.  From what I have read it will be fine after an oil change. Hopefully.

[Grant2012]

 Has anyone ever thought of putting the hadex system on a Galaxy? Just wondering if its been done? I guess more importantly is the gearbox the same for both versions?

[v6mikey]

Galaxy was made as a 4x4 just the same as the 4motion, again not many of them around though.

Changed the oil and filter tonight in the haldex and it is now fine. Few!! 

The oil that came out though was not overflowing with water. I could detect a little bit but not much at all. So very surprised that such a small amount of water made such a big noise while on full lock.  While I was reversing the car around to get it on the ramps you could feel the haldex trying to lock the rear wheels with a big crunching sound from the diff!  Not good.

[Mirez]

I thought the Galaxy was one a 4x4 in Mk1 guise?

Good news on the cure though but I'm confused how this works, I thought it only became a 4x4 when the front wheels were spinning?

[v6mikey]

The haldex is also the diff for the rear wheels. It uses a hydraulic pump that works when there is a differential in wheel speed between the rear wheels. The pump starts when one wheel turns more than a quarter turn then the other.

I did a google for it tonight as I was curious as well. Lol.

If you boot the car from a stand still it will not wheel spin at all.  I always thought it had to detect front wheel spin to then send power to the rear wheels, but apparently it detects how much throttle you have then sends some power to the rear wheels. 

If you really boot it the esp kicks in and takes some power away from the engine.  Presumable to stop all 4 wheels from slipping.  Turn the ESP off and you can have a nice 4 wheel drift. Especially when booting in the wet from a standstill, it can set off with a very nice squirm from the back end.

It still amazes me the traction that it gets though.  I was sold on 4motion when I was in chamomix with a golf 4motion and our chalet was up a 1in4 hill with lots of ice and snow on the road. The golf just wafted up the hill without a hint of a flash from the ESP. It had snow tyres on it as we'll though.

When I returned from holiday I bought a v6 4motion golf, then when a couple of kids came along and I saw this sharan, that was basically the same as the golf but bigger, I had to have it.  I travelled 280 miles each way to get it as well!!! 

[Mirez]

Stop it your making me all the more jealous now! I have toyed with retrofitting it to the Galaxy but it would be a pain to source the parts and apparently a number of things are different such as the exhaust and fuel tank so it would be a faff... I'm still searching for a 4motion, but the V6 isn't economical enough for the missus to use as a daily commute vehicle and TD versions are few and far between. It's a shame they didn't do a Touran 4motion as that would be ideal for us, I contemplate the passat 4motion from time to time but its just not the same - many a Tiguan is the way to go?

[v6mikey]

The way I look at the economy issue is that it costs a bit more to have all the goodies.  I have yet to see a diesel 4motion with leather as yet.  So I have everything I want apart from economy. Pretty happy.   . Oh and I love the sound of a v6 too.   

I hate, get annoyed with front wheel drive cars wheel spinning if you want to pull away quickish.

[Mirez]

Leathers not a problem at all, its only the xenon's and a sunroof that I can't retrofit myself. Everything else is doo'able but I've yet to see a 4motion with xenon's - in fact Sharan's in general seem to rarely come with them. I've just driven 40 miles in the Gal tonight and it's so much easier to see at night vs the halogen of the Golf they really are something I wouldn't do without again. I did find an Alhambra 4x4 with xenons, leather and sunroof the other day and it was a derv... just one problem, they only did the bamma in LHD with 4x4

The hunt continues

[v6mikey]

Convert in to LHD then! Lol. Would be ideal though in that spec.  I would swap today if I could find one.

Retrofitting 4motion might be a tad difficult.  Would you need to retrofit ESP as well?

[Mirez]

Well the car has ESP already so in theory, it would be a soft-code change to tell it its a 4x4. My biggest concern is if the gearbox is different or not, all the bolt holes are in place for the transfer box, prop carriers and even the diff. Its only the shear amount of effort that would be needed coupled with parts sourcing that puts me right off... typically, I'd be bound to get everything bar one critical component which was uber expensive lol