Hello,

I have recently purchased an Elegance 170 manual 4x4 Combi. It has covered 6500 miles and I have noticed a slight hesitation in power delivery when driving gently in lower gears e.g. In traffic. It happens very briefly after the clutch is fully engaged and just after the accelerator pressed gently. If you press more firmly it doesn't happen. Is this a characteristic of this engine/gearbox combination? It is particularly noticeable when slight lock on wheel eg. on a roundabout going from 1st to 2nd.

Edited 1 November, 201312 yr by Bristolf2b

Yes don't worry about it, It is the 4x4 system (haldex coupling) releasing. Quiet normal especially if you have some steering lock on as it is initially setting off in 4wd until aprox 15kph and then it releases and goes into fwd and this "release" is what you can feel. Phil.

Thanks Phil for your prompt reply. I did wonder if it was normal, it is reassuring to know about the haldex operation, each of the four 4wd cars I have owned before were permanent (Audi A4) so sometimes you could feel a bit of 'wind up' at extreme lock at very low speeds which felt quite different.

It does happen up to and beyond 30mph though, rather than 15kph, often happening when changing 2nd-3rd at about 20 mph and sometimes 3rd-4th.

Edited 1 November, 201312 yr by Bristolf2b

Have to say I'm not sure that's the Haldex. The Haldex release is only at very low speed just after moving off, noticeable as you pull out of junctions for example. If it's occurring at speeds of 30 mph I'd be inclined to think it is something else. I drive the exact same car as you and don't recall a hesitation like you describe.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Edited 1 November, 201312 yr by mfj197

If it is hesitating around 30mph then its not the haldex, As I said in my earlier post the haldex is only felt when  setting off and more noticeable if a little steering lock is applied, My 13plate superb 4x4 does exactly what I have described but isn't noticed any other time. I would be inclined to get it checked out. Phil.

Hello,

An update. Took it in and after a brief drive with technician in passenger seat and a download of any fault codes, I was informed was not noticeable and no errors. Asked to monitor situation and they have logged on car's record for any later issues. It is not really noticeable in passenger seat but when driving you can feel that it doesn't respond to throttle cleanly. I'll see how it progresses.

Cant understand why the technician didn't want to drive the car himself, We normally go out with the customer and get the customer to demonstrate the complaint and if necessary drive it ourselves as well to confirm any complaints.

Perhaps I could have asked that he did drive it but I think as he couldn't feel it in passenger seat he didn't think is was a serious issue that required more than the fault check at that point. To be fair they were very insistent to get back to them straight away if it got worse.

It carried on the very slight hesitancy on the way back home and over the weekend but was no worse.

However, since I posted this morning, I have changed to a winter wheel/tyre combination and the issue appears to have gone!?!

Driven 30 miles on new setup, didn't happen at all.

Gone from standard 225/40 r18 on alloys to 205/55 r16 on steels.

Can't understand why this change would stop hesitancy. Any one have any theories/suggestions??

The hesitancy did start soon after I had had both front tyres replaced (foc) due to the transport blocks not having been removed (!!) until just after I bought it at 5000 miles causing very bad sawtooth drone when they were removed ( meaning they had been missed both at the initial PDI and the check before sale as an approved used car. Another long story I won't bore everyone with) coincidence?

I could put alloys back to see if it is that, but I'll wait till the spring.

Very puzzled, but happy it is running smoothly now.

Do you know what pressure you had in summer tyres?

Standard pressures as it says on fuel cap

And what fuel cap says? :-)

Usually it says 2.1-2.2 bar. But you cannot believe the difference which comes to the handling after pressure change only by 0.2 bar.

I understand how pressure changes effect handling and ride, not clear why this may cause hesitancy in first place or why different tyres/wheels makes it go away?

I might be wrong, but I think like this: the bigger tyres, the more power is needed to move the car. The lower the pressure - even more power. Thats why for eco drive with 245/40 r18 you need to have 2.6 bar, while normal pressure is 2.1-2.2 Of course if you survive this terribly stiff ride with 2.6

So I thought that by changing the tyres and maybe the pressure you car is simply less strugling with moving its mass when you gently increase the power.

I have resurrected this thread as I have just put the summer tyres back on and the hesitation returned immediately!!

Before I put the wheels and tyres back on I checked them thoroughly- no bulges, sidewall cuts, pressures are as stated on fuel cap ( 2.2 front, 2.3 rear). They were stored in the dark horizontal on a wheel tree so no flats from storage.

I took it to local Skoda dealer and a technician did drive it this time and he could feel what I meant, unfortunately the earliest I can book it in for thorough check is in three weeks (I need a loaner).

Any further ideas? It is clearly the wheel/tyre combination or how the cars systems react to them.

Are all of the balancing weights still intact on the alloys?

 

And can you remember what the tread wear was like across the tyre, saw-tooth aside?

Edited 4 April, 201412 yr by JakeBlade

just for the sake of experiment, put the pressure to 2.8 bar to both front and back and see what happens.

 

and are you sure, that clutch is ok? have you noticed any hesitations when putting pedal to the floor at high gears?

Is your fuel filter healthy?

 

Rob

Thanks for the replies so far.

To answer a few questions raised:

The front tyres are about 500 miles old, Conti SportContact 5

the rears have done about 5000 miles, Conti SportContact 2

There is no sawtooth on either set.

They are perfectly balanced as no vibration at 70+ mph.

If it were the clutch, it would have happened with the winter tyres as well- to recap, it happened before I put the winter wheels and tyres (16" steels with Bridgestone Blizzak's), didn't happen with the winters on, returned immediately I put the summer alloys 18" back on.

Changing the pressures has made no difference

The hesitation feels just like the normal haldex disengagement at about 15kph as outlined above, but happens any thing up to 40/45 mph. Almost like a momentary cut in ignition you can get with traction control but there are no lights on dash, no fault codes on systems and it happens for a split second rather than extending like can happen with TC

Could it be the different tread pattern/compound on front and rear upsetting Haldex system?

Well well, this might be breakthrough point - different tyres on rear and front. Haldex is sophisticated electronic system which analyses traction all the time. Different tyres gives different message to the electronic brain.