How can I now if the quattro system is working right? Thought it was gonna be using the brakes to prevent it from spinning, but the car is stuck all the time, and is spinning like an idiot.

I do not have TCS or ESP, and the 4x4 is working, its using both the front and rear axle. Still stuck, but then again we have 2-3 feet snow here now.

 

I'm by no means certain, but if you have wheel spin on both axles by definition, you have quattro. That does not necessarily mean that everything is working properly, however, it does mean that it is working.

the ESP or TCS would be the system that uses selective braking/power distribution to give you the "traction" you are looking for. If your car does not have that system, all you are going to get relatively even distribution of power to all four corners. I would suggest that you investigate your tires. are you running dedicated snow tires? or maybe at least a set of all seasons with decent tread remaining? i have found that the condition of my tires was the best indicator of how "stuck" or how well the car handles in the snow. the only time I really had issues is when the snow was deep enough for the car to get hung up on. then again, mine has ESP.

good luck

 

I have almost new snow tires with steel studs, so thats not the problem. Maybe the car is just too low.

But if I have quattro and no ESP or TCS, should it brake the spinning wheels or not?

I tried to make it spin on gravel this summer, and it was almost impossible. Like it just died when I let go of the clutch, and just drove of with no wheelspin. Even with really high rpm.

 

I can only try to explain it the way that I understand it, which may not be the way that it actually is...

on your car, you should have generation IV Quattro. this means you have the "traditional" torque sensing center differential. that means that, when you get wheel spin on one axle, the differential transfers power to the axle that has traction (front or rear). you should also have an electronic differential lock which will "sense" if a wheel is spinning. the car should apply braking to the spinning wheel, which will "transfer" torque to the opposite wheel on the same axle. This is supposed to work using wheel speed sensors/the ABS system. these are essentially mechanical systems

if you had ESP or TCS, the car would do some more computer thinking and start to adjust braking/throttle/differential responses in a bit more of a "hands on" manner.

It is possible your car is having some issues with something mechanical that is causing your issues. perhaps the differential fluid is low, or worn out or whatever. Maybe it is a wheel speed sensor, or an ABS problem.

please recognize I am, by no means, an expert.

good luck

 

Cannot address the quattro question, but I know mine works and I got stuck in 12" of unplowed snow on my street last winter. When I went to turn at the end of the street, there was enough snow under the car to unweight all the wheels just enough that none of them could get traction. So I,too, sat their spinning. I had to trudge home and fetch a shovel which allowed me to dig all four wheels down to the pavement, and after rocking it a bit and developing some momentum, off we went.

 

I think I can say for sure that its not working right. I drove one of the front wheels onto a pile of snow and ice, and it was only spinning on one front wheel even though at least two of the wheels had tracktion.

Anybody knows how to fix this?

 

The "fix" is to stop driving into snow that's too deep for your car. You do not have a truck. It is a car with like 6" of clearance (if that). You have an older generation Audi which barely has any electronic control going on (as you mentioned no TCS or ESP). The older-gen quattro's can not power what ever wheel they want, they are primarily mechanically driven and not electronically 'smart' compared to newer versions (as 02A6Beau mentioned). I think your expectations are a little bit high for a car that sits so low to the ground. Yes it is awesome in thin layers of ice and snow but if you get into stuff deep enough you're going to find yourself without any traction on any wheels. As much as their marketing would like to say otherwise, Audi's are not physics-defying :-)

 

So you are saying that quattro gen. IV does NOT use the ABS system to detect wheelspin and ELSD to brake the spinning wheels, transferring torque to the opposite wheel on the axle?

 

I have read this entire thread and in no way can determine what the hell you are talking about.

You say 4x4 is working but the car is stuck. Then you said you drove one wheel onto ice and it only spins on one wheel......?

First off Quattro is a MECHANICAL system. So if the car drives fine onto ice, snow, jupiter then your quattro system works fine.

If your car is not moving. if one of the axles are spinning then one of your cv joints is broken.

 

OK I'll try to explain. The car works fine. It acts like any 4x4 car with traditional open differentials (no diff-lock or LSD). This means that if one wheel is raised because the ground is uneven, it will start spinning on one or two other wheels cause they will lose tracktion or be in the air. Same thing happens if you have the two right wheels on asphalt and the two left wheels on ice, the wheels on ice will be spinning and your stuck. No torque is transferred to the two wheels with tracktion.

As I understand it from the wikipedia-quote below, my car is suppose to detect wheelspin and apply brakes to the spinning wheels, transferring torque to the wheels which is not spinning trough the open differentials.

"The manually locking rear differential from the earlier generations was replaced with a conventional open differential, with Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) (which detects wheelspin via ABS road wheel speed sensors, and applies brakes to one spinning wheel, thus transferring torque via open differential to the opposite wheel which has more traction). EDL works at speeds up to 80 km/h (50 mph) on all quattro models (on non-quattro models: up to 40 km/h (25 mph)." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quattro...l-drive_system) )

Is there sometihing wrong with my car, or does it just have a really crappy 4x4 system?