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Hi all,
My wife has a 2011 VW Golf Tsi with the 7 speed DSG gearbox.
On the way home last night it seems to have failed completely and left her with no gears at all.
The RAC chap said it’s quite a common thing and after a bit of Googling it sounds like it may be the mechatronic/control unit that’s failed.
Just wondering if anyone has had a similar issue with theirs?
Thanks in advance,
Rob
Is it same this one?
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?484963
I've sold my VW now but was part of a polo forum that was awash with dsg problems.
Hope you get sorted but main dealer seems to be the way to go
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I had a leon 7 speed with a dsg box. Now got a dsg on an ateca great cars both of them. From what iv read you have to change the gear box oil religiously on them. Touch wood never had a problem myself but have read a few stories about them.
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When I asked for a DSG service at Skoda they told me it didn’t need it as it’s a sealed unit. I didn’t question them as it saved me money!Quote:
Originally Posted by UMBROSUS
You do have to service the religiously but if you are lucky it’s just the mechatronics at fault and not the box, my mk5gti is 15 years old now with dsg and never missed a beat but also never missed a service either
Bad luck and no fun having a box full of neutrals
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That’s unfortunate. It’s a well known issue with the DSG gearbox, and as a result I’ve sworn never to buy one again.
My wife had the same car, 2011 as well. In 2018 the mechatronics unit failed and the quotes we got back were in the £2300-3500 range depending who did the work. After a lot of asking around I found a specialist nearby who repaired it for £1400, but the car just wasn’t the same smooth drive as before.
We did get a 1 year/12k warranty and it was booked to go back into the garage but was stolen the day before it was scheduled to go back in.
My advice would be to get the job done properly through a dealer or specialist. DSG boxes, whilst brilliant when working are costly to repair and the car is never the same again. It’s going to be costly so be prepared for that.
It’s not an age related fault either, a work colleague bought a brand new Tiguan in March last year and it was back in the dealers within a few weeks of ownership with a failed mechatronics unit. The car had 1700 miles on it.
There’s a reason why VW are forced to provide a 10 year guarantee in some countries. The dry DSG boxes with the 7 speed 1.4 petrol engines were the worst.
Ive driven 10’s of thousands of miles across Australia in the 6 speed wet DSG box, and absolutely loved it, with no issues over 5-6 years. But I guess it’s a very different driving style and much less stress on the gearbox/engine suspension, than any driving I’ve done here or in the UK.
I’ve just been down to it, it’s waiting at the local garage at the moment and it had gears again?
There is a flashing spanner in the cluster though so have left it there and will speak to them
My poor wife is one of those people who just doesn’t have any luck with cars!
I bought the Blue CLK from sales corner last week and have still got my old car so at least she can get around until it’s repaired.
Thanks for the reply’s,
Rob
I seem to recall mine had the mechatronics or whole unit replaced under warranty before I bought it. Touch wood it’s been flawless and a pleasure to drive. Ours is the 1.4 TSI.
We had a previous 1.4 Q3 DSG box replaced under warranty. It died at around 7 months old on the M1 New Years Day. Luckily the Audi Assist and warranty dealt with it. Though there was a wait for a new gearbox from Spain. When I asked how much an out of warranty replacement was I was told upwards of £5K though they would tend to give you a deal!
I had an Audi TT and the DSG box went, also had an Audi Q5 and the TSFi engine died, the wife’s VW Beetle wasn’t great for reliability either. I’ll not be buying another VAG Group car again. I’ve owned a stupid amount of cars in nearly 30 years of motoring but every problem car has been VAG.
Audi do a fixed price oil change for their S Tronic boxes at £249 all in.
I’ve had VW’s all thorough my driving years and haven’t done too bad with them until now. I think the most expensive fault so far has Ben a new turbo required. I’ve had Mk1/2/3 Golf GTi’s, G60 Corrado’s, Sharan’s (pesky kids) and also some Audi’s and Skoda’s.Quote:
Originally Posted by yumma
I much prefer the older stuff from the 90’s but don’t have the time or space atm to keep them running so my present car is a low mileage 2006 Mk1 Skoda Fabia VRS which is ideal for where I live, it’s old enough to not worry about too much, narrow for the country lanes, simple so nothing much to go wrong, cheap to run and insure and powerful enough to get past all the quarry traffic and tractors!
Now I’m thinking to myself, have I done the right thing buying a Mercedes, should I keep the Skoda lol
I just called the s/h car dealer she bought it from and he knows of a place that rebuilds the mechatronic unit and upgrades some internals etc. He reckons about £900 total so I’ll look into that in Monday too.
Cheers,
Rob
Got rid of a 15 plate golf tsi it had the 7 speed dsg box and every so often when in slow moving traffic the car would judder between 3rd and 4th, a gearbox specialist said it was a sign the box was on its way out so I pxed it sharpish if you check out dsg failures on the internet they are sky high when compared with other types of gearbox
If he can do it for £900 go for it I got quoted £1500 for a replacement mecatronic unit,the duel clutch pack can also cause problems and they are £1200Quote:
Originally Posted by barbusg60
Not sure I ever use 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th!Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael 38
That's incredibly generous of them for a filter, gallon of oil and a few hours labour.Quote:
Originally Posted by kungfupanda
I’ve also come across this site which I think is describing the mechatronic unit, if it is that at faultQuote:
Originally Posted by Michael 38
https://www.ecutesting.com/product-c...box/dsg325025/
My golf may have been fantastic but the dsg on my Passat GTE exploded after 7k miles, all sorted under warranty and cars done 21k more fingers crossed many more without issue
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I’ve just bought a Polo GTI with a 6 speed DSG. Genuinely could not believe how smooth the change is although it’s not built for slow moving traffic.
Six litres of genuine VAG gearbox oil and a filter is circa £150 from EBay. You can probably pay more. So for the extra £100 I’d rather pay an Audi main dealer to do the gearbox oil change rather than attempt to do it on my driveway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tifa
As an aside, what in your view would be a reasonable figure for a main dealer to charge then?
I currently have 3 VW’s on the drive - I’ve had a lot over the years and have never had a problem with any of them, in fact I can’t remember any ever stranding me. This may be because - much to my irritation - my wife refuses to drive an automatic (we had an auto Volvo and she hated it - she enjoys driving with a regular gear stick) but it looks like it might be the sensible decision as most issues with modern VW’s seem to be around the DSG box
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingstepper
Different version of the gearbox.
Seems a lot of failures are down to the main dealers not understanding the process and intervals of the oil and filter change, and then using the wrong oil that's specified for the different versions.
With, some, as quoted in a previous post, stating they are sealed and do not need doing at all.
I have have about 5 cars and 4 vans all with various versions of the DSG box, and only had the one ( as linked by the quoted post ) failure, albeit a catastrophic one .
Despite this, I would have have another DSG equipped car.
I looked at ecutesting it was a lot cheaper than a new mechatronic unit but the unit has to be removed from the gearbox strangely enough ecutesting refused to recommend anyone to remove it and no garages near me would touch dsg boxes as they are so complex and the one that would work on them would only fit complete boxes so I gave up and sold the carQuote:
Originally Posted by barbusg60
https://milta.co/
This is the place the dealer told me about yesterday
I did a lot of research into the VAG DSG as I really wanted an Audi S5 Converitble, unfortunately after months of hanging out in facebook groups and forums I decided against one as the DSG seems to be so fragile. As has been said servicing must be done religiously and it often is not either due to cost or dealer ignorance about 'sealed gearboxes'.
The second point of weakness seems to be that they do not like to be left standing for any length of time. Very often the tale would be a car bought from a dealer would have the DSG go bang after a matter of days and during lockdown DGS issues ramped up massively as people were not going anywhere for weeks on end, then taking the car out and bang.
If I was buying new or before the first gearbox service was due then fair enough but I tend not to do this as i'm a tight arse and hate the depreciation and don't much like leasing either although there is a better argument for it.
Bodes well for my Polo GTi that will be sat in Cape Town for a few months when I return to the uk [emoji23]Quote:
Originally Posted by julian2002
To be fair unless you are 100% it's another thing to worry about and if anything does go wrong it's a sure fire I knew it moment.
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I run a Skoda Superb as a taxi for 140K before I traded it in for a new one.
Admittedly I serviced the car religiously including changing the gearbox oil and thankfully it never let me down.
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It’s just been collected so I’ll know tomorrow how much ‘damage’ I’m looking at.
Fingers crossed it’s just the mechatronic unit, if it’s the clutches too then I’m not sure what to do.
It’s a really nice car, candy white estate with 18” wheels, tinted glass and alcantara trim and the wife loves it, but would seriously have to think if it’s worth spending 2k or more on?
Fingers crossed...
Diagnosis came back today.
2 fault coded listed against the mechatronic unit.
That’s going to cost £900, but after fixing that, it may also need new clutches which will make the cost £1700.
Apparently there is no way of knowing about the clutches until the mechatronic unit has been fixed?
Should have stuck to a manual lol
I just hope the turbo and supercharger are in good order, definitely a simpler car next time!
£900 for mechatronic unit repair, £100 for collection/return and £37 for the local garage to realise they couldnt fix it later, and its back.
Fingers crossed thats it for now...