Not a newbie but this didnt sound right to me. Pulled down a road and realized i didnt want to be there (dark). Stuck it in rev and the front wheels just spun and it sat there. 1st gear and it drove right up. Then tried rev and 1st a couple more times and after just letting out the clucth slowwww it backed out (awd working then). Whats wrong?

Before anyone jumps to the gun, i wasnt gunning the motor. Also, the center diff should have been really warmed up as i had been driving for about 30 min or so. Thanks for the help...CHRIS

no one has any ideas??? please?? thanks.....CHRIS

I'm assuming you have a stick shift. The front diff is open, so in order for power to go to the rear both wheels have to be spinning. If one wheel has no traction, all the power will follow the path of least resistance and the car will just sit there. Next time that happens try feathering the brakes to stop the slipping wheel from spinning so power will go to the other wheel and then to the rear.

Originally posted by live311
I'm assuming you have a stick shift. The front diff is open, so in order for power to go to the rear both wheels have to be spinning. If one wheel has no traction, all the power will follow the path of least resistance and the car will just sit there. Next time that happens try feathering the brakes to stop the slipping wheel from spinning so power will go to the other wheel and then to the rear.

I think what he's saying is that there was no spinage from the rear wheels at all while trying to back up in the snow.

This seems strange to me as well, as I've been in nearly the same situation and haad the rears spin just fine. In fact, with the rear LSD, both rear wheels should be grabbing for traction.

Talk to the dealer. I'd be curious what caused this too!

Good Luck! :D

Originally posted by perhaps?


I think what he's saying is that there was no spinage from the rear wheels at all while trying to back up in the snow.

This seems strange to me as well, as I've been in nearly the same situation and haad the rears spin just fine. In fact, with the rear LSD, both rear wheels should be grabbing for traction.

Talk to the dealer. I'd be curious what caused this too!

Good Luck! :D

nah you didn't get the point of live311's post. Both front wheels have to be spinning is what he is implying... to get any power to the rear. At least that's what I got from his post. I'm not sure that makes sense to me though, as I have been high-centered on wet mud and had all four wheels spinning just fine.

I have to say that "live311" remark make complete sense. The car has a LSD in the center and the rear, but not in the front. If the car is put into gear and both rear wheels are stuck (could have traction) and the fronts do not, then they will slip. Then in case mentioned, I believe that 1 front wheel was slipping and the other 3 were not. It may be likely that just the drivers side tire was slipping and there was the perception that both fronts were.

With the center diff being Limited Slip, then if both front wheels were slipping at the same rate, then the power should have been transferred to the rear wheels. If this is the case, then you center diff may be shot. If both of the front wheels were not slipping at the same rate, then the center diff may have thought that there was traction up there.

I also just called my friend from NY who has owns an Audi 5000CS TurboQuattro for 6 years, plus 2 other Audi 5000 Quattros before that. He said it may be that all 4 wheels were slipping. He said this has happened to him several times in the snow in his Audis.

The complete solution to this is a car with ESP (on Audi, VW and MB) or DSC (on BMW). This works with sensors at all 4 wheels to monitor wheel slip at each wheel individually. Cars with these systems also have 4 channel (or more) ABS brake systems and can brake any single wheel depending on slippage. In the case mentioned, the ESP could have applied braking force to the slipping wheels until a wheel with traction was pushing the car.

what dayton said

Ok, I think I get it now. I didn't read carefully enough.

The center diff is indeed an LSD unit, no?

It was interesting in the Audi 4000 Q that I used to have, you could lock a 50/50 torque split into the center diff. You could also, at the same time, lock the rear diff! With both of those options set (knob on the center console), there was very little that would bog the car down.

The origional production Quattro system was awfully good!

Originally posted by perhaps?
The center diff is indeed an LSD unit, no?


Well, not as good as the rear. It's only a viscous coupling instead of a mechanical type LSD.

Ok thanks for the replies guys. Ill check out the slippage tomorrow as we are supposed to get some snow in topeka today. If i understand right, if both fronts are spinning and the rears are not then its dealer bound. It sure would be nice to have it work when i needed it though. It worked great in first gear (yes a stick) so maybe it was just a fluke thing. CHRIS

Well, if the problems keeps up, you should trade it in for a 2004 WRX STi, which has this nice Adjustable Center Diff.

Just a thought... might it be that the center diff only "works" in one direction, i.e. forward? Many times a viscous coupling is only designed to transmit power in one rotational direction only.

Originally posted by Razlak
Just a thought... might it be that the center diff only "works" in one direction, i.e. forward? Many times a viscous coupling is only designed to transmit power in one rotational direction only.

nope. subaru dealer training goes over how their AWD system helps in slowing the vehicle in those situations too, would be the same as the transmission of power in reverse.

good thinking though

I dont know if this has been mentioned earlier, but to fix this problem, we can buy a front lsd correct?

Yes, the front LSD will fix the problem. And yes, it's a well known problem with open diff cars. Audi's quattros have lsd's in the front, center and rear and are about as bulletproof as you get.

Alex...