Looking to get a Octy II which beleive has he Haldex 2 fitted, does this work / can it be engaged for hill descents ? I know it disengages when the brakes re applied but but will it re engaged for engine braking ?

Has there been any final answer rgarding operation in reverse? rear all the posts and seems there are still varying opinions some say limited operation some say full ??

Thanks :yes:

How do you engage Haldex on hill descent? What does Haldex have to do with engine breaking?

There is no "button" for it like in Yeti which kind of electronically controls it. Haldex 2 or 4 unless you have Yeti, there is nothing of that sort for Octavia.

Haldex 4 officially from Haldex is clamed that it works on reverse, so bearing that, it means that on ver2 it did not.

How do you engage Haldex on hill descent? What does Haldex have to do with engine breaking?

There is no "button" for it like in Yeti which kind of electronically controls it. Haldex 2 or 4 unless you have Yeti, there is nothing of that sort for Octavia.

Haldex 4 officially from Haldex is clamed that it works on reverse, so bearing that, it means that on ver2 it did not.

Not sure if you understod my point:

When decending any icy hill in 1st gear, no brakes applied, and the front wheels start to loose traction will the haldex engage the rears thus enabling the engine braking to be distributed to all 4 wheels? and can this be manually applied by turning the ESP off perhaps?

Haldex (v4 at least, as far as I know has a 98% front and 2% rear always) will engage the rears only when there is a spin of 1/8 of the front wheel. Going downhill and loosing traction you are not spinning, you either just sliding or you have applied breaks to slow down the car. I don't think this scenario will engage the Haldex as for all its purpose the car is moving forward without wheel spin (unless you put it on reverse and boot it).

ESP is important part of Haldex thinking due to sensory input, so I do not think disabling the ESP you will gain any advantage.

So if we know that Haldex sends 98% FWD and 2% RWD, how does the car know when it's sliding like on skates on ice straight down the road and the wheels are turning normally forward on their own? Unless you break and lock the wheels?

I would assume that engine breaking would be same as % of Haldex split per axel?

There is something called by VW "MSR" which is the engine drag torque control. MSR avoids tendency to lock the drive wheels by the engine braking on a slippery surface, when the driver abruptly from the gas and quickly back up a gear.

Maybe some 4x4 guru can shed some better light.