Wheel hopping on a Golf R

[DKC]

I think my car has developed an AWD/DSG failure.

I tried to take off from stationary enthusiastically and the front wheels kept hopping and not able to put power down. The 1st to 2nd gear was also very slow (like manual gear box shifting) with a big loss of acceleration (my body jerked forwards) before 2nd gear is engaged. The 2nd to 3rd shift is much faster (normal speed). No error code was triggered. Car was in normal mode, DSG in D, and I just stepped 100% on the accelerator. The wheel hops occur even if I just step say 70-80% accelerator as well.
See video VW Golf R Mk 7 wheel hop - YouTube

Then I tried launch control - car in race mode, DSG in S, hold stability contorl to turn it off, hold down brake, step on accelerator 100%, car hold rev at 3500rpm, lift off brake. The car slipped the front wheels, speedo showed 90kph, then the car finally cut power and wheels gripped, with the speedo dropping back to real road speed. I did a VCDS scan afterwards and the below error was triggered at the time of this video.
1 Fault Found:
16670 - All-Wheel Drive
C1113 07 [008] - Mechanical Failure
Intermittent - Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00000001
Fault Priority: 1
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 121
See Video VW Golf R Mk 7 launch control wheel slip - YouTube

Can someone please tell me that a Golf R is not meant to wheel hop, and launch control is not meant to slip the wheels (even though stability control is off)?

[VRJ]

Perhaps power is not being transferred to the rear wheels under load, effectively rendering the car a FWD. I recall a post some months ago of a similar issue whereby the rear axle would not engage under hard acceleration. Ended up being fixed under warranty.

[AdamD]

Sounds like you've got a haldex unit failure, and your car is effectively running in FWD mode. It's happened to a few local S3 owners as well. There are often no fault codes thrown, but in your case obviously there was one.

Get it down to your dealer and they should organise a replacement haldex under warranty.

[DV52]

Sounds like you've got a haldex unit failure, and your car is effectively running in FWD mode. It's happened to a few local S3 owners as well. There are often no fault codes thrown, but in your case obviously there was one.

Get it down to your dealer and they should organise a replacement haldex under warranty.

Adam- good call! But it looks like that beast was being fairly aggressively driven in the video and the DTC in DKC's post has a fault frequency of 1. Just as a suggestion and before seeking a warranty claim - perhaps an easy try would be to see if the DTC can be cleared - If the error message doesn't re-appear on a subsequent scan, then it's probably a gremlin and worth trying to replicate (to confirm a latent problem with the haldex unit). Most likely, this is exactly what the dealer will do.

If the error message can't be cleared, then I agree that a trip to the dealer is worthwhile.

Don

PS: I wouldn't worry that clearing the DTC will somehow reduce the chances of a later warranty claim because DKC always has the autoscan as proof of the original problem - and because dealers are well known for being fair (not) in such instances!

[willsy01]

Haldex oil pump. My MK6 had identical symptoms.......$650 later, it felt like a new car.

I was distinctly unimpressed that it failed after 37,000kms.

[AdamD]

Adam- good call! But it looks like that beast was being fairly aggressively driven in the video and the DTC in DKC's post has a fault frequency of 1. Just as a suggestion and before seeking a warranty claim - perhaps an easy try would be to see if the DTC can be cleared - If the error message doesn't re-appear on a subsequent scan, then it's probably a gremlin and worth trying to replicate (to confirm a latent problem with the haldex unit). Most likely, this is exactly what the dealer will do.

This particular problem often doesn't manifest itself with a DTC Don. The car can be obviously FWD, with no codes and no dash indication. Very peculiar. But waiting for another DTC to be logged is not advisable - this issue should be seen to by a dealer promptly. Typically a tech will take the car for a test drive and verify the problem, before investigating the specific fix (which is typically a Haldex component).

[DKC]

My DTC didn't manifest until I did the launch control with lots of wheel spin. I've booked my car in to be looked at by the dealer and will update when they've seen it. Expecting to have this fixed under warranty but still not impressed at having this fail at just 10,000kms. Also If the car is driven by "grandma" then she'll never discover that she's driving a clubsport rather than a R...