2019 Leon Cupra VAQ Differential Service

[ZackDaniels93]

Seems a little ridiculous I have to post this question here, but how on earth do I go about getting my VAQ front differential serviced? I drive a 2019/2020 Seat Leon Cupra 290. I've spoken to a dozen people across Seat garages, independent garages, and main franchises like Kwikfit, and no-one seems to know my car even has one, let alone that it needs to be serviced. I'm waiting on quotes from people who don't even seem to know the work is necessary, so lord knows if they can do it.

My ownership documents don't tell me the service interval for it, and there's nothing on the Seat website about it either. It's not an option through the Seat Servicing area of their website, and I can't see anything in the manual that mentions the service for it - though at least the manual does acknowledge that it exists. I can't find anything representing official paperwork regarding the service interval for it, only a few garages and forums (including here) claiming it's every 30,000 miles/ three years. I'm on 40,300 miles, just had my car serviced, and it didn't show up in their post-service health report either. I've seen some people claiming it doesn't need to be serviced at all, which doesn't seem to be right either.

Only website I've seen that offers it as an upfront cost is Marshall Seat, and they don't have a garage even vaguely close to me. I'm in the Kent area of the UK if anyone knows of an independent/ specialist garage that can do the work. Otherwise, if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great. I'm just trying to get on top of maintenance so I don't get any unexpected surprises.

Thanks in advance!

 

[H Rafiq]

Seat should be able to do it, or a VAG specialist. Any VAG specialist will be educated about the EA888 engine, Golf Rs, S3s etc. I had mine done by Seat as it had never had one prev to my ownership.

 

[SuperV8]

Golf R and Audi S3 don't have the VAQ front diff. Only some versions of the FWD models.
It is basically like a Haldex coupling across your front axle - but access is more tricky.

@ZackDaniels93
If you search on here for "VAQ" there are plenty of discussions regarding servicing.
example:

VAQ front diff service - how important?

I've been looking at a few approved used Cupras recently. Unfortunately it seems that main dealers, not used to servicing Cupras, often overlook the VAQ front diff service which is meant to be every 3 years. Problem is on the 300 (the model I'm after) that means that as they are at newest a...

www.seatcupra.net

 

[ZackDaniels93]

Seat should be able to do it, or a VAG specialist. Any VAG specialist will be educated about the EA888 engine, Golf Rs, S3s etc. I had mine done by Seat as it had never had one prev to my ownership.

You'd think so - today I've spoken to a multiple Seat main dealers, and a more than a few VAG specialists, and all of them were clueless. I got a call back from two places who quoted £200, which is less than I expected, but it took like two or three hours of calls and emails to get to that point. Odd that it's not even mentioned in my manual or service book either, it would be perfectly feasible for someone to own my car and not even realise the VAQ needs servicing lol

 

[ZackDaniels93]

Golf R and Audi S3 don't have the VAQ front diff. Only some versions of the FWD models.
It is basically like a Haldex coupling across your front axle - but access is more tricky.

@ZackDaniels93
If you search on here for "VAQ" there are plenty of discussions regarding servicing.
example:

VAQ front diff service - how important?

I've been looking at a few approved used Cupras recently. Unfortunately it seems that main dealers, not used to servicing Cupras, often overlook the VAQ front diff service which is meant to be every 3 years. Problem is on the 300 (the model I'm after) that means that as they are at newest a...

www.seatcupra.net

Thank you, appreciate the link. I was mostly just baffled that most places I called didn't seem to know about it, and more than a few weren't even willing to quote on it. I got two call backs quoting £200 which seems reasonable, so not all is lost. Just odd that you have to trawl Google for these answers, rather than it just being in my service book/ user manual!

 

[nd-photo.nl]

You guys are referring to this service right?

 

[Hamza Ali]

You're definitely not alone—VAQ diff servicing is often overlooked, even by dealers. It should be done every 30k miles/3 years. Best bet is to contact a VAG specialist near you, as they’re more familiar with this setup. Hopefully someone local to Kent can recommend a trusted garage.

 

[RUM4MO]

I've just read that it has been changed to 2 years! Thought came from a Skoda forum member who keeps up to date with changing "service periods".

 

[nd-photo.nl]

Im getting the parts to do this myself, I don't think it has ever been done on my Cupra

 

[RUM4MO]

I've finally got round to removing the VAQ pump and cleaned it up while servicing my daughter's 2019 Leon Cupra, it is on just over 40,000 miles and this is the second fluid change that I've done on this car.

I was maybe a bit disappointed by the lack for "crap" lurking in the pump "pocket area" in the coupling and on the screen, more "black dust" than what I had expected to find, which was slightly larger "bits of clutch stuff". Also I made the assumption that the "crap" would be on the outside, ie "pocket" side of the screen, but it was on the inside of the screen, though it could be that any "crap" on the outside of the screen was washed off by the fluid that escapes when you remove the pump.

My biggest issue was, while I had recently bought a pair of new drain and fill plugs - as well as what I hope are suitable O-ring washers to fit to some used plugs and see how they survived, it is maybe 3 years since I bought the pump seals and screws kit - and it managed to get lost! So, I got round that issue by buying a genuine BorgWarner pump seals + screws + screen kit from an ebay trader, that seller's feedback was 100% good and sounded like they despatched items within a couple of days offering "overnight UPS" service, well 4 days later they had not despatched my kit, messaged them - no responds, oh bother, hit the panic button on Tuesday and got Audi dealer to get a seals and screws kit in, the reason being that my daughter and her family were on holiday last week and I had the car to service etc, and time was running out! Now after me messaging them again and getting no reply - they have posted out by kit by Royal Mail, I had considered cancelling that order, but I reckon in a year or so I'll change my 2011 Audi S4 6MT for maybe an S3 saloon or a Golf, and both these cars will have Haldex units, so I'll be prepared to service that soon after buying one of these cars as I'd doubt if their first owner will have got that service done!

 

[nd-photo.nl]

@RUM4MO Can you share a link to the service kit with the screen and everything? I only performed the fluid flush with 2 new plugs so far.

 

[RUM4MO]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/406793931387

In UK I paid £40.51 for the "seals and bolts" kit ordered in from my local Audi dealership (easier to get to than the local SEAT dealership), which is a lot more than what ebay Haldex parts suppliers charge.

Edit:- my original reason for buying this kit that included the screen was that once I had spotted it, I thought that it would be a smart move to have a spare screen just in case I damaged the original screen while removing the pump. Once my brain got hold of that idea, I just rolled with it.

 

[eltawater]

@RUM4MO , may I please ask, do you refill yours from the top (removing the airbox and feeding the tube down past the turbo) or do you do it from underneath the car?

I've seen it done both ways on youtube and the only way for me to get under the car would be to raise it high enough on jack stands to make me nervous. With the whole faff of drain, remove and refit pump, fill, run pump, top up until it leaks and pump learn, I'm wondering whether it's worth DIY.

 

[RUM4MO]

Well, I saw it as a challenge that I was not going turn away from!

I've considered that re-filling from the top is probably best left for LHD versions.

I found working under the car raised just up on my "not so high" solid wooden ramps, a bit of a squeeze and I'm slim but old. That worked okay for the first "just fluid change", but I considered that I'd aim to raise the car higher if repeating this task and also removing the pump.

All my current range of lifting and supporting bits were based around my 2011 Audi S4 - and it sits quite a bit lower than this Leon Cupra, and that means that I've lost a bit of lift range, or have clearance when starting from my jacks being "fully down"!
To get round this when lifting my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI when it was bought, I created a set of 4 "lift spacers" to place on top of my jack, so that when the jacks were fully down, I can only just fit these spacers etc under the lifting points on the sills/cills..

So, as I have 4 wooden ramps that were made as high as possible for use with my 2011 Audi S4, 4 trolley jacks, 4 Jackpoint jack stands - and 4 motor home leveler ramps - I used all these things to get the Leon Cupra up onto the 4 wooden ramps, then lifted up further and placed the 4 motor home levelers on top of the 4 wooden ramps, then lowered the car down on top of them - while using the 4 Jackpoint jack stands with the extra wooden spacers on top of them as back up should any of the motor home levelers fail.

That took quite a bit of doing while remaining safely in control of the lift - getting it back down tool even longer due to the way the stiff rear ARB forces the back of the car to behave - very annoying!

Anyway, getting an extra maybe 3" of lift made it all worth while, though I did end up getting drenched with with overflowing new fluid - yuck!

I used a Laser Tools "Syringe with discharge" to refill from below, I've got quite small hands so I can reach in from the "front side" to guide the fill tube into the VAQ and fit the Fill plug. To remove the Drain plug, due to the obstruction caused by the front subframe, I used a 8mm 3/8" hex bit socket, a wobble joint and a short 3/8" extension, when I did this the first time I used the 8mm bit fitted to a 3/8" adaptor from my "bits set" but that 3/8" adaptor is wider in diameter than the dedicated "8mm 3/8" hex bit socket", and that did cause a slight problem. Same for working on the Fill plug, since doing this the first time I've also bought a dedicated "8mm 1/4" bit socket" and use that after the tightened plugs have been cracked loose, and when initially screwing the new plugs in.

Removing the pump - I found that using a shallow 10mm 1/4" socket with a short 1/4" extension and 1/4" ratchet worked for the lower pump bolt, a deep 10mm 1/4" socket, a 1/4" universal joint and a 1/4" ratchet worked okay on the partially hidden top pump bolt.

Would I do this job again working from low ramps, yes, now just need to get my wife to wash all my oil soaked tee shirts and sweat shirts - then I cn get back to preparing the 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI for winter!

I was always my plan to do as much of "car work" in warmer weather, but life gets in the way and my daughter uses her day every day it seems, so as she and her family were on holiday this past week, I thought that I'd suggest that I get the car for a few days just in case things went wrong!

 

[RUM4MO]

One comment I didn't react was "running the pump learning routine" - I can see that that is essential when replacing a Haldex pump, but not so important when just carrying out a "pump out" service as it is still the same pump and will surely either still be close to its original pressure/current characteristics or have lost a small bit of its pumping capabilities and/or be drawing a slightly different current for the "pump pressure points" stored in its ECU. My big worry here is, the VAQ like any other pressure system, has a high pressure safety blow over valve, and it has been said that in rare occasions, these valves do not re-seat perfectly after they have been forced to open - and during pump re-learning, the pressure will get turned up to at least that blow over pressure. These safety valve seem to cost £69 or more, and to replace it you'd need to remove the front RHS drive shaft from this VAQ so that you can get enough access to unscrew this valve assembly.

Of course if someone uses their car on track, then they would feel the need to take this risk - which is quite justifiable, but at this time, I'm avoiding running that routine.

Remember that this valve will probably have only ever been forced open once in its lifetime mounted in this VAQ.

It reminds me about tales of people over charging/pressurising their home gas combi boiler's water system - only to have the safety valve open and not re-seat properly - then needing to take time off work while a certified heating person gets in and fits a new safety pressure valve - no thanks.

Edit:- just a note for anyone reading this and feels the need to run the pump re-learn routine - never ever run this routine on a system that has not first had its pump out and the screen cleaned or you will risk damaging the pump, while it gets run hard with a partial blockage in its system.

 

[eltawater]

Thanks for those comprehensive replies. Although i have ramps, jacks and jack stands which I'm comfortable with for wheel and brake changes, i might just sit this one out for the vaq fluid change and just hand it to my tame garage due to all the mess

 

[RUM4MO]

I will not criticise you for taking that decision, it was a bit of a shock feeling cold Haldex fluid landing on my garage jumper was making its way through to my skin! That Laser Tools syringe works well, but as you end up lying on your back in a position that lets you hold the end of the large syringe with one hand and press in the plunger with the other hand, and you need to be able to see and reach the area around the Filler plug hole, your chest area ends up directly below the area that any overflowing fluid is directed to by the plastic sheeting covering the front subframe. For me, just bad luck, first time round it was only a very small quantity of fluid that landed on me. When I moved back under to top it up after running the pump, I placed an opened newspaper over my next garage top which is a super thick/warm sweat shirt - ended up with fluid getting through to my second garage tee shirt! So lots of washing needed before starting the next garage jobs!

The other thing for me was, I really really needed to end up seeing the condition of the pump screen - if I had handed this car in, or got my daughter to get it handed in for this work to be done, I probably would not have believed any pictures that that workshop had taken of the pump screen - seeing is believing and I've seen quite a few nasty/chocked pump screen pictures online. I'd reckon that it is all down to how the car gets used, my daughter uses her car mainly in town and is a sensible driver, so that probably explains why there was not much debris on that pump screen after 7 years and 40,000 miles.

What I'd really like to be able to do is, to force the debris out of the VAQ fluid sump as the area around the Drain plug is raised/reinforced so there is depth below that level where the debris drops out of the fluid - but can't get flushed out - unless you remove the VAQ sump, and so far I've not looked into what is involved with doing that, ie gasket and bolt torques. Eventually this level of "dropped out" debris must end up being above the level of the Drain plug area and so some will get removed along with the old fluid, but for that car, I don't thing that that level has been reached yet. The Haldex fluids do seem to have a short life time - both in use and in storage, so replacing the fluid frequently is necessary anyway even although it comes out looking quite clean/clear.