Haldex Pump best way to get it working

Hi all, haven’t posted in a while, hope everyone is safe, this might end up being the stupidest question in the world but I recently had my Haldex pump serviced on my 2007 FL2 and they said the pump was seized and I needed a new one, ouch not cheap, they said if the pump isn’t getting used then this can quite often happen, and so if you’re not regularly going off road or live in a snow filled country enough to get those back wheels spinning then the pump will just sit there static, so this got me thinking, is there anyway I can every now and then get the back wheels spinning without going full on off road, I keep eyeing up farmers fields and thinking that’ll do it but obviously without the proper tyres I could get stuck, has anyone else come up with a novel way of working their haldex coupling let me know, many thanks....

I thought the system automatically kicked in when accelerating etc.

Haven't you got a button or dial to engage 4wd rather than just on demand?

Failing that, a gravel road doesn't need much welly to get the fronts spinning. In fact, I wouldn't have thought you need to get both fronts spinning, just 1, so on a rainy day, just pull over so the passenger side wheel is off the tarmac and pull away from there - try not to churn someone's verge up though!

I wonder how they know the pump is 'seized'. Do they mean the haldex pump has seized into the alloy housing or the pump itself has seized and does not turn.
I tried removing mine a couple years back and could not remove it without damaging the pump casing. It was seized into the haldex unit body due to ally corrosion and build up.
In the end I left the pump in place, replaced the filter which was also a bugger to remove, replaced the oil (by pumping it out of the filler hole). Put in new filter and oil and its working fine. The pump only needs to come out on gen 3 (mine's 2008) haldex service to drain the oil.

Thanks for replies, I have been told before to find a deep gravel car park and accelerate fast in circles and that will get it going, others have said just find your nearest off road site, pay the 20 quid and have fun but I’m just not equipped at the moment for that type of terrain, they did say that when they were changing the filters the oil and filters were in such a bad state they decided to remove the pump/motor and bench test it which is when they found it to be seized, I didn’t think anything of it because I do have a vague memory of losing traction on a wet field and having a message flash up something like limited terrain response which when I googled it basically means you’re in 2 wheel drive only, I just wondered what other FL2 owners did or do they just not think too hard about it, I find myself almost praying for snow in the winter so I can get those back wheels spinning, I absolutely love my FL2 but I do think they should of built in a manual override to the 4 wheel drive system

sharmanator43 said:

I find myself almost praying for snow in the winter so I can get those back wheels spinning,

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Don't pray too hard the temp has already dropped to 10c as it is! I'm not ready for snow yet, as much as i love the stuff

kermit_rr said:

Don't pray too hard the temp has already dropped to 10c as it is! I'm not ready for snow yet, as much as i love the stuff

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Indeed, was below 8C here first thing yesterday morning, mrs was not too chuffed, I've drained the CH system and removed the fireplace.

potus said:

Indeed, was below 8C here first thing yesterday morning, mrs was not too chuffed, I've drained the CH system and removed the fireplace.

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That's a good way to stop the heating 'coming on' in the summer months!

Well I might’ve wished it up because we are actually supposed to be in a holiday cottage right now in the highlands, but they’ve moved our slot to December, the cottage has a 2 mile drive which states only passable at certain times of year by 4 wheeled drive vehicle so I might get the chance to get those back wheels working yet, you just feel like it should be happening more than once a year though, my main concern is when you do actually need it the pump is seized and I’m on 2 wheel drive only

sharmanator43 said:

Thanks for replies, I have been told before to find a deep gravel car park and accelerate fast in circles and that will get it going, others have said just find your nearest off road site, pay the 20 quid and have fun but I’m just not equipped at the moment for that type of terrain, they did say that when they were changing the filters the oil and filters were in such a bad state they decided to remove the pump/motor and bench test it which is when they found it to be seized, I didn’t think anything of it because I do have a vague memory of losing traction on a wet field and having a message flash up something like limited terrain response which when I googled it basically means you’re in 2 wheel drive only, I just wondered what other FL2 owners did or do they just not think too hard about it, I find myself almost praying for snow in the winter so I can get those back wheels spinning, I absolutely love my FL2 but I do think they should of built in a manual override to the 4 wheel drive system

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In your original post you said "they said the pump was seized and I needed a new one, ouch not cheap" - did you actually get a replacement fitted? I imagine you do need one.

To be honest, I don't think you need to worry about spinning the wheels up and engaging the pump/4WD - I think you'll find that will happen in general daily use as the car 'fades' the rear wheels in to assist traction/ride.

What you need to do is keep on top of the maintenance - its probably the poor condition of the oil that has killed the pump. I appreciate that the vehicle may be new to you, so its previous owners that have not maintained the Haldex properly. In fact, you can't blame them, or their garages either, because LR didn't specify it as needing maintenance on early cars I don't think - while it is obviously needed and other makes using the same unit were specifying maintenance schedules.

sharmanator43 said:

Thanks for replies, I have been told before to find a deep gravel car park and accelerate fast in circles and that will get it going, others have said just find your nearest off road site, pay the 20 quid and have fun but I’m just not equipped at the moment for that type of terrain, they did say that when they were changing the filters the oil and filters were in such a bad state they decided to remove the pump/motor and bench test it which is when they found it to be seized, I didn’t think anything of it because I do have a vague memory of losing traction on a wet field and having a message flash up something like limited terrain response which when I googled it basically means you’re in 2 wheel drive only, I just wondered what other FL2 owners did or do they just not think too hard about it, I find myself almost praying for snow in the winter so I can get those back wheels spinning, I absolutely love my FL2 but I do think they should of built in a manual override to the 4 wheel drive system

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You can pay to use a pay and play site - just keep to the easy stuff.

You'll probably enjoy it though, and by your 4th visit the car will be on its side, bogged down in mud and being dragged out by a JCB

Alternatively, join a decent local club. They will go out on non-challenging days that you can join in on. Just make sure you don't pick a club that are all snobby against Freelanders! The local "Land rover" club here have rues that you need a car with a high/low range transfer box (to join the club not just to go on the trips needing it) - which eliminates Freelander - in fact they probably have more Toyotas in the club than Land Rovers!

My folks lived in Fakenham and my dad was part of a 4WD rescue club. He wasn't particularly active in the club, but did join in and go on a few of their trips - as well as joining in rescue

Thanks everyone for all the interest, the garage did fit a new pump, they said the original Haldex unit in their opinion had never been serviced, (Late 2007 year model) it’s only because I’m so obsessed with servicing that I even got them to do it, I have considered doing an event, it’s good that Fakenham was mentioned, I live in Norwich and Norfolk in general has lots of sites and clubs, We have one just outside of Norwich which is supposed to be very kind to newbies it’s just taking that step to go along and look like a prat when you get it all wrong, it’s interesting that the haldex might actually get a working in normal road use I never knew that, and now I will keep on top of changing oil and filters as and when required, I’m quite surprised more FL2 owners don’t think about this issue though, from what I understand FL1 owners don’t have the same issue with their viscous coupling, I think I will consider touching base with some local clubs, I heard one local club does a very good green laning day for novices so that might be a good place to start, thanks all....

Not sure how the pump gets to be seized up, but why not engage hill decent which should bring in 4 wheel drive by powering the haldex unit and rear diff clutch.
I am sure it also engages if you put your foot down pulling away from a standing start.

Engage hill descent, that’s a very good idea, I’d never thought of that, it would make sense by doing that it would engage the rear diff and although I’m in Norfolk I do have a hill less than a mile from me called gas hill which is about a 12% gradient, I know that’s not mega steep but the hill is very long so it’ll at least make the hill descent feature work a bit, good idea thanks....

sharmanator43 said:

Engage hill descent, that’s a very good idea, I’d never thought of that, it would make sense by doing that it would engage the rear diff and although I’m in Norfolk I do have a hill less than a mile from me called gas hill which is about a 12% gradient, I know that’s not mega steep but the hill is very long so it’ll at least make the hill descent feature work a bit, good idea thanks....

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I dont thnk you need a hill just engage it while on a normal road and traveling less than 40MPH lift your foot off the throttle and it should continue to run at the same speed, do it a couple of times a week.

The FL2 enables the haldex automatically when it detects the need for 4x4. It also enables it to pull away, to stop front wheels spinning, then disables it if not needed. There was one company who said they were disabling that feature when repairing haldex's as they said it wasn't needed, as they were reprogramming them.

If you select sand mode the haldex will be enabled permabently and yer'll have permanent 4x4, if the system is working ok.

If yer want to test it then find some wet grass. Pull away from stationary in normal road mode quickly and get someone to film it from both sides to see if the rear wheels spin, because they're powered with 4x4 drive. If they position themselves behind the FL2 to one side they can film both rear and one front wheel for comparison. Get if right and yer'll cover them with grass and mud.

That’s really interesting, so engaging sand sounds like it’ll do exactly what I’m after, I read somewhere else that engaging rock crawl does the same thing which got me excited only to realise it doesn’t have a rock crawl setting, in two and half years of ownership I don’t think I’ve ever even put it in sand, I’ll try that at the weekend, thanks for the info and vid clip, next time the mrs annoys me I’m going to say can you just get out a minute and film the back wheels on your phone, probably would be in my interests to not go back for her and keep driving though, cheers....

The FL2 dun't have rock crawl as yer need to go slow over rocks to avoid punchuring stuff underneath, and therefore need a low range which it dun't have. The bigger rustier LR's have rock crawl on their Terrain Response.

I thought the Haldex pump ran continuously while the engine was running, thus the pressure is instantly available for the traction control to activate the clutch (wet multi-plate a bit like most bike clutches) that drives the rear wheels.

You do know its normally front wheel drive?

This explains the VW system, but I think its similar.

Hahahaha yeah I do know it’s front wheel drive under normal road conditions, my original thoughts were to find a way to bring on the Haldex pump because you’re right in what you say, 4th generation and up Haldex pumps run at constant pressure all the time whilst the engine is running, I have a 3rd gen Haldex pump in mine (or so I’ve been told) as it’s an early FL2 which apparently only sparks up once it senses slippage from the front wheels and apparently it’s this lack of use that creates a seized pump and so I’ve been told forced Haldex to introduce a constant pressure system on their Gen 4 unit, I’m certainly no expert though that’s all info I’ve obtained from other owners and my local LR garage

According to this the mk3 is proactive. My 2008 never spins a wheel setting off on loose ground which means it must be operational before it moves. Think mine is the mk3 but as someone mentioned the sand setting activates it all the time.