Haldex Pump & Controller Failure

[Jakeys]

Hey all,

So recently, my AWD system went kaput. No lights or anything, just noticed the car was gripping poorly (I blamed tyres though, wishful thinking it turns out...) and found out at a dyno day there was no power to the rear wheels. VCDS reported an open circuit fault from the Haldex pump. Had it diagnosed by a really reputable local independent (German Auto for SA guys) and they were very helpful. Basically they agreed the pump had died, but they also said they were measuring a lot of resistance on the controller as well which I wasn't expecting. Now, I have no real electronics knowledge so I'm not really sure how they measured that or what exactly it means, other than they advise my controller is likely faulty as well and both need to be replaced. This was not welcome news obviously.

It looks like I can get the pump from VW directly at a discount for a bit over $600, that's easy enough to sort out, but the controller is a bit of a problem. I haven't got a proper quote from VW yet but it sounds like it would be as much if not more than one of the HPA controllers. Problem is, APR want about $2300 for one, and HPA want $1199 USD but with the bad exchange rate, shipping and then customs will charge GST, I'm looking at not much change from $2000 going that route as well.

So I figured I'd chuck up a thread for a bit of general advice, first of all to try to get a bit more info about what exactly is wrong with my controller, and secondly has anyone been through this, or bought the performance controller and gotten it cheaper or know of any other avenues I could go? Cause I've just had quite an expensive service as well so I'm about to be feeling quite a lot of hurt in the wallet.

I bought this nice well maintained young car to avoid these sorts of hefty bills starting to crop up on my older car, but this is what you get when you enter the world of Euro I get. No such thing as a free lunch

[R36&GTI]

Take a breath mate - it may not be so bad...

I had exactly the same symptoms last week. Phone Michael Weber at P&P in Brisbane and diagnosis appears to be failed pump. Seems like the seals let go (or something similar) and oil gets into the pump. Unusually it can be repaired, and in my case the cleaned and replaced pump fixed the problem for less than $200. Well done Michael! The indicated fault with the controller may well be caused by pump failure? VCDS can't isolate the pump from the controller. In which case fix the pump and see where you go from there.

As for external controllers, do they replace or piggy-back the existing controller? My guess is piggy-back, so if you have a failed controller (which I doubt, based on what I've read from VW engineers) then an external controller may not be the answer.

Good luck

Hey all,

So recently, my AWD system went kaput. No lights or anything, just noticed the car was gripping poorly (I blamed tyres though, wishful thinking it turns out...) and found out at a dyno day there was no power to the rear wheels. VCDS reported an open circuit fault from the Haldex pump. Had it diagnosed by a really reputable local independent (German Auto for SA guys) and they were very helpful. Basically they agreed the pump had died, but they also said they were measuring a lot of resistance on the controller as well which I wasn't expecting. Now, I have no real electronics knowledge so I'm not really sure how they measured that or what exactly it means, other than they advise my controller is likely faulty as well and both need to be replaced. This was not welcome news obviously.

It looks like I can get the pump from VW directly at a discount for a bit over $600, that's easy enough to sort out, but the controller is a bit of a problem. I haven't got a proper quote from VW yet but it sounds like it would be as much if not more than one of the HPA controllers. Problem is, APR want about $2300 for one, and HPA want $1199 USD but with the bad exchange rate, shipping and then customs will charge GST, I'm looking at not much change from $2000 going that route as well.

So I figured I'd chuck up a thread for a bit of general advice, first of all to try to get a bit more info about what exactly is wrong with my controller, and secondly has anyone been through this, or bought the performance controller and gotten it cheaper or know of any other avenues I could go? Cause I've just had quite an expensive service as well so I'm about to be feeling quite a lot of hurt in the wallet.

I bought this nice well maintained young car to avoid these sorts of hefty bills starting to crop up on my older car, but this is what you get when you enter the world of Euro I get. No such thing as a free lunch

[Jakeys]

Hey mate, thanks for the response!

It is possible my pump could have been repaired and controller might have been fine but fortune was in my favour and I managed to score a second hand performance HPA controller for much cheaper than the retail. So I've gone the route of just replacing the pump and controller when I get my scheduled Haldex flush which was due anyway. Total cost is about $1400 the entire job for labour, flush, pump and race controller. I might have been able to save $400 on the pump repairing it but at least I get a new one with warranty out of it and better peace of mind. I'll get them to give me the faulty pump and the controller and I may go about seeing if I can confirm if the controller is fine or not and get the pump repaired as you did, as a spare.

And to answer your question, it's not an external controller, it is a full replacement of the original controller "box" with a superior model and solenoid. Liken it to a complete new ECU rather than a piggyback or flash. It is now much more performance oriented and rear bias can be adjusted via a remote in the cabin, up to a full 50/50 split. Read more about it here. Ours is the "GEN 4 SWITCHABLE STOCK/RACE/ECO CONTROLLER" towards the bottom of the page, 0BS coupling. The competition one is a step up from the race one and allows engine braking via rear diff but our cars do not support that. Which is probably a good thing for a daily.