Haldex oil change - Issue to remove the rear prop shaft.

[derby]

What you have circled is the universal joint. Your not going to be able to take that apart in the car, or need to to get the shaft out. I will crawl under my 03' that has the shaft out and take a look. I don't remember it being that hard to remove.

[DYZ]

I spent weeks trying to disconnect the rear cv joint last year when my angle gear had gone bad. Tried everything I know of. Pushing from the back through the two M8 holes ended breaking the bolt inside the hole. Punching through the other two holes didn't help either. At the end I cut the shaft and made the car front wheel drive only. If your angle gear is still good, I read somewhere ppl got it loose by giving power to the rear (front wheels in the air, rear wheels on the ground, and brake on). Good luck!

DYZ

[derby]

Metallo, I looked at the shaft today in the 03'. The rear hub looks deeper than the front. You may need to get some more angle on the shaft to clear the rear hub.
Is the shaft loose in the rear hub, or is that the issue? You may need to try DYZ's method if it is stuck. I had the exhaust out on mine so that might have been why it came out so easy for me.

[giorgio]

Ciao cosa fai qua? Sei riuscito poi ? Non e' che ti stai complicando la vita ?
Hello Metallo , very happy to find you in this forum !!

[Metallo]

Hi all,

I gave up, at least for the time being.

There is no way I can pull this out, the shaft is not loose, it is blocked by the rust, the M8 20mm bolts on the back of the shaft did not help at all.
I removed the central bearing completely, any angle I tried did not help.
Muffler and central exhaust were removed because they needed replacement, so that was not the issue.

Tomorrow I will have to go back to work again and I need the car, so I put on the new exhaust and in some weeks I will take the car to a mechanic to remove the shaft and put it back into place... then I will drive home and do the work on the Haldex.
I took a week off to do this job and you can imagine how I feel now, but I see I am not the only one, DYZ spent also lots of time removing that thing out, I live in New Brunswick - Canada, the winter and the salt are the real issue on any work you need to do on your car, it is a real PITA.

Thank you very much for your advice and support, for sure, I did not feel alone on this and as soon as I have done the Haldex I will come back and report the results.

Take care!
Alex

[Pennhaven]

Being an automotive DIYer going on 50 years, last year I purchased the fluid and filter and set out to do this myself. I got the car up on stands and only got as far as looking around and unplugging the Haldex electrical connector before I decided the job was going to be more trouble than I wanted, so I took it to my local independent. They charged $248 for labor, which at time I thought was a lot, but it now sounds like it was well worth it. I would have been a lot less happy had I struggled for hours and ended up paying anyway. So I feel your pain.

I love to be able to do stuff myself, but sometimes it just isn't worth it. I figure now it's time to start paying back some of the money I've saved over the years DIYing! These days, as long as I'm fortunate enough to deal with honest competent mechanics, I even feel good about paying them.