The "Unofficial" DSG Issues Thread

[Aguilar]

2011 TDI DSG
700 miles

I have only had the car a couple days, and this morning when I pulled out of the driveway and tried shifting into 2nd around 1,400 rpm, the car would not up-shift. I put it back in Drive mode and it was fine. After i stopped for coffee and again tried to shift into 2nd around 1,400 rpm, it would not shift up until the car hit 1,800 rpm. Has anyone else experienced this?

Sounds about right. If you shift at 1,400 rpm, then second gear would be under 1k rpm. It's the DSG way of telling you that if you want to shift that low, should've bought a manual transmission.

[atom0]

2011 A3 quattro DSG
700 miles

A couple of times I've entered a turn off the throttle at low speed and tried to accelerate out somewhat hard, only to have the clutch not engage. The car rolls while the engine revs until I let off the throttle, then the clutch drops in with a lurch at low RPM. No lights come on (that I've seen) and it runs fine afterwards.

[WOBtheJetta]

I hate it

At 35k miles, when I had a bad fuel sensor replaced, I asked them if they could reprogram my DSG because it was being bad when the vehicle was cold and first starting out. It was otherwise flawless. They reflashed it and after that point it was less bad when cold, but was worse in every other situation. It seemed like they programmed it to shift like a torque converter automatic, so the shifts were not smooth anymore (ie they can be felt). They could only be felt 1 out of 100 shifts prior to reprogramming vs. always being able to feel them due to clutches not being released and grabbed with proper timing after the reprogramming. There was significant clutch overlap at anything below WOT. Additionally, my fuel economy immediately dropped significantly. That seemed to be more emissions related as the programming removed my engine braking and my exhaust pipes would turn black in a week versus a month prior to reprogramming (ie it used enrichment mode entirely too frequently). Always made a huge cloud of black smoke when flooring it, like an 82 Mercedes 300TD. The car also seemingly allowed a bit of slightly lean burn when driving through a city prior to the reprogramming which was removed after the initial DSG software update. Also, the turbo's wastegate / blowoff valve bleeds boost below 2000 rpm now, which it never did before the update.

A year or so later, I got the MU replacement letter. I'd pretty much gotten used to my slushbox by that point, but it still made me regret not just changing my own gears...so I was excited about the new MU. My old mechatronics also started allowing what seemed to be slight clutch slip under WOT kickdown at highway speeds.

Pluses of the new MU:

My fuel economy is back to decent (from 25.5 to 27 over 5,000 miles [each] with various VW software), but still not at the 27.5 average (hand calculated, 35k miles) before I had them "recalibrate" the DSG (car's original software).

Doesn't abuse the clutches nearly as much.

Quieter when idling because it doesn't "ride" the clutch while my foot is on the brake.

Car runs much less rich during normal driving as my tailpipe stays a lot cleaner!


Minuses:

Always has a slightly jerky feeling when starting from a stop.

When misbehaving while cold, it is about twice as bad as the previous one, it does misbehave less often, however. The original one never really acted up during normal driving, but this one has embarrassingly bucked and jerked several times, but not with any regularity.

VERY SLOW TO RESPOND FROM A STOP NOW (most annoying trait), especially when backing out of a driveway onto a street and heading up a hill in Drive from there, scary!

Usually does not release prior gear clutch until after the next gear clutch is fully engaged, so shift still feels like a torque converter automatic. This is especially noticeable on the shifts into 2nd, 4th, and 6th gears. It's not as "slushy" as the prior MU after recalibration though.

Does not shift quickly unless at WOT, even then never shifts as quickly as prior MechU.

Very whiny in first and second gears, noise is best described as the whirring synchro noise a true manual sometimes makes when trying to go into first gear before a complete stop.

Slams into 2nd and 1st gears during normal driving --- clang, bang!! --- when coming to a stop in Drive. Sounds much worse than it feels. Never did it before.

Very rarely smooth in tiptronic mode.

Feels slower in general and has several weird dead spots in the rev zone during normal fuel economy conscious suburban driving. I hope I can figure out how to bring that up to a tech within the next 3,000 miles (powertrain warranty expiration).

Feels significantly slower at WOT, conversely no huge black clouds of smoke...guess there was some plus to that. It'd be great if it would only go into super enrichment 82 Mercedes 300TD mode when you hit the kickdown switch (hint - hint VW engineers if you're reading this).


Essentially, I wish I had never had the software "updated" at 35k miles and still had my original mechatronics. I'm assuming and hoping the transmission will die completely sometime slightly before 100k miles is up. I'm thinking that's a distinct possibility with the banging shifts and synchro sounding noises. I think the only thing that was actually wrong with my previous mechatronics was the 'mechatron' that controlled the 1, 3, 5 clutch and this one has a myriad of issues that are affecting the lifespan of my entire DSG, so I'd rather ride this one out in the hopes it will break something internally within the next 43k miles. IMHO putting another mechatronics on this particular transmission is essentially like spraying grease on a noisy bushing when it needs replacing. It might make it hold up just long enough to get you by, but it will eventually fail catastrophically. Sadly, all 3 of the dealers I have been to are generally untrustworthy (all have broken something at least twice while fixing other things), even if they are (finally) nice at least.

I don't even know how to begin to explain this to the dealer. I'm so exhausted from trying unsuccessfully to get the two other issues with the car fixed that I can't quite bring myself to the dealer yet.

Suggestions?

[Finmad]

2011 JSW
2400 miles

When down shifting into 4th it sometimes goes into neutral, No power. I can get it in gear if I down shift into 3rd or into "D".

Hard down shift into 2nd or 1st when stoping. acouple of times it jerked when launching.

What do i tell the service department? I don't want to get the run around.

[El Dobro]

For the past 2 1/2 years al I got from VW was "normal".

[Finmad]

2011 JSW
2400 miles

When down shifting into 4th it sometimes goes into neutral, No power. I can get it in gear if I down shift into 3rd or into "D".

Hard down shift into 2nd or 1st when stoping. acouple of times it jerked when launching.

What do i tell the service department? I don't want to get the run around.

Update:
Brought it into service and they could reproduce the neutral shift. They are "Baffled" and have been working with VW corporate on a solution. I will let everyone know what comes of it.

[ManTech]

Oh man, this thread makes me very sad. VAG decided to place these horrible Trannies in their new cars (Jetta, Passat, Beetle), yes the same cars the entire future of VWoA is resting on!

[Made in America]

I think it's the future of transmissions. VW has sold over 3.5 million DSGs. 10% are bound to have some problems. That's 350,000 people with faulty DSGs and most of them have been complaining loudly and justifiably so. I don't think the problems are widespread. I happen to think it's the best automatic transmission I have ever driven.

[Finmad]

Update:
Brought it into service and they could reproduce the neutral shift. They are "Baffled" and have been working with VW corporate on a solution. I will let everyone know what comes of it.

second Update:
Well no one local can figure it out. They are flying in a technition to look at it. I am without my new ride for atleast another week.

[ManTech]

I think it's the future of transmissions. VW has sold over 3.5 million DSGs. 10% are bound to have some problems. That's 350,000 people with faulty DSGs and most of them have been complaining loudly and justifiably so. I don't think the problems are widespread. I happen to think it's the best automatic transmission I have ever driven.

Actually The figure is much higher. The problem is VAG. They are not being honest with reporting the true amount of worldwide failures. I agree that DCT's are the best automatics ever made. But I fully disagree that VW's US designed Borg-Warner DSG is among this crowd. I'm speaking of the higher end DCT gearboxes found in higher end cars. You cannot skimp, or cut corners and expect dependable long lasting technology. It's common sense.

[Made in America]

Actually The figure is much higher. The problem is VAG. They are not being honest with reporting the true amount of worldwide failures. I agree that DCT's are the best automatics ever made. But I fully disagree that VW's US designed Borg-Warner DSG is among this crowd. I'm speaking of the higher end DCT gearboxes found in higher end cars. You cannot skimp, or cut corners and expect dependable long lasting technology. It's common sense.

Not saying you're right or wrong but how do you know the figure is much higher? There have been thousands of people that have complained on this site but that still may mean a very small percentage of all the DSGs with problems. I don't really know the numbers. I do however think that VW should do the right thing and provide an extended warranty on all DSG transmissions. Nissan did this with all of their CVT transmissions after numerous complaints and now they have a 5 year 100k mile warranty on all of their vehicles with CVT transmissions. I say people with problems should continue to put pressure on VW.

[ManTech]

Not saying you're right or wrong but how do you know the figure is much higher? I say people with problems should continue to put pressure on VW.

Can't tell you how, but let's just say I'm connected. Plus I fully agree with your last comment.

[Finmad]

second Update:
Well no one local can figure it out. They are flying in a technition to look at it. I am without my new ride for atleast another week.

Third update. They are flying in an engineer from Mexico. They are telling me it is a new issue and they have not seen this before. I have read a few posts and seen the "False Neutral" in the posts. what is going on, are they snowballing me?

[Benelli]

i have a 7 speed Dsg that has a large hesitation when shifting up gears. On rare occations it will give me a nice quick shift.Do you think i have the same issue that you had.Or has anyone had this problem with there dsg?

[Finmad]

Third update. They are flying in an engineer from Mexico. They are telling me it is a new issue and they have not seen this before. I have read a few posts and seen the "False Neutral" in the posts. what is going on, are they snowballing me?

forth update: got my JSW back today. The service manager said the technition flew in from CA to do a software install of a new software patch. He said this one guy has been going all over to install the patch and verify it works before releaseing it to the public. I will let you know.

[Porpoise Hork]

well add mine to the list.


2008 50K

inconsistand light throttle acceleration in D sometimes it grabs and im off other times it seems like i have to press the pedal 1/2 way to get the same acceleration as a light tap.

then this all happened today.

put it in reverse and took nearly 10 seconds for the trans to respond and then it grabbed and lerched backwards.

pulling out in S mode medium throttle 3-4 shift lagged for several seconds causing the car to lose power.

light acceleration from a light on slight incline and let off brake and it haung on the 1-2 shift for a second then caught causing the car to lurch.

comming to a stop the 2-1 shift is now very hard.

needless to say this got me very alarmed..

sad thing is now i know there is an ongoing issue with the DSG and a potential battle with the dealer and VWoA to get it fixed.

im surprised a class action lawsuit against VW over this hasnt been mentioned yet.

[slvrarrow]

We have R32 #1107 and went thru everything posted here and PACIFIC VOLKSWAGEN here in Los Angeles finally solved the problem. Did the MU replacement and still had the problem until..... they RELACED THE CLUTCHPACK and the problem was solved, solved, solved. please do have this done, if you are in the area have Pacific do it and enjoy your DSG maybe for the first time. Hope this helps, it sure helped us.

Regards,

D

[ManTech]

We have R32 #1107 and went thru everything posted here and PACIFIC VOLKSWAGEN here in Los Angeles finally solved the problem. Did the MU replacement and still had the problem until..... they RELACED THE CLUTCHPACK and the problem was solved, solved, solved. please do have this done, if you are in the area have Pacific do it and enjoy your DSG maybe for the first time. Hope this helps, it sure helped us.

Regards,

D

This is old stuff to us DSG nerds. Problem is, I know several who have had their DSG proplems solved in the same manor as you, first a re-flash, then a new MU, then a new clutch pack does the trick, for about 10,000 miles. Sadly this short lived repair didn't last. All three who had new clutch packs installed eventually had their DSG's replaced with new transmissions.


PS They're still having issues.

[Finmad]

Are there enough DSG owners who want a HPA tune in SW florida, that will justify getting HPA to fly down here to do the instals? I was contemplating just ordering the tune and having them ship me the equipment (With a sizable deposite of course). But then they said if we have enough people who want the HPA tune they will fly out here to do them.

So who out there wants to get in?

I will build a list if you PM me.

Who knows maybe we can get a volume discount as well.

[P.h.Diesel]

1. 2011
2. 1500 miles

Frequently taking off from 1st, as I push the accelerator the car pauses, the revs stay low,
I give more fuel and the revs still stay low, then the revs go up to about 2500 while STILL
in a paused state...and then it kicks in.

I have measured the time to be up to 6 seconds before the tranny responds to the pedal. This a very dangerous.

What to do...?

[NoRegrets78]

forth update: got my JSW back today. The service manager said the technition flew in from CA to do a software install of a new software patch. He said this one guy has been going all over to install the patch and verify it works before releaseing it to the public. I will let you know.

1. 2011
2. 1500 miles

Frequently taking off from 1st, as I push the accelerator the car pauses, the revs stay low,
I give more fuel and the revs still stay low, then the revs go up to about 2500 while STILL
in a paused state...and then it kicks in.

I have measured the time to be up to 6 seconds before the tranny responds to the pedal. This a very dangerous.

What to do...?

There appears to be a solution.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...e-Update/page9

[ldaledub]

08 r32
53,500

when driving in gear say your going 70 at 3000 rpm you can watch the tach needle bounce around about 300-400 rpms with maybe 1/4 consistent throttle.car does do it in other gears as well. along with that you can actually feel the car jerk with that fluctuation. thanks

[-AKA-]

Well guys, after a long battle with my '08 Wolfsburg, I traded it in for a 2012 Jetta SE. This 6 speed tip is great which shifts nice and smooth. The 2.5 I5 is actually a nice motor, the sound kind of reminds me of my old VR. To all of you still having issues, good luck...dont give up the fight!

[brekdown29]

I took my car into the dealer right before I hit the 60k powertrain warranty (or 5 years from in-service date) complaining of jerky shifts in the lower gears as well as a strange issue that occurs maybe a few times per month when in D mode (if making a slow right hand turn the trans will sometimes shift all the way down to 1st gear and then rev up almost to redline before shifting to 2nd). My car is far from stock, even have dsg software that I may or may not get reflashed depending on how this new unit helps, but fortunately my dealer is pretty cool and I developed a relationship with a tech there. He just ordered me a new mechatronic unit so I am hoping this reduces the clunking and jerkiness and that my transmission will prove more durable in the long-term. I had done the 40k dsg service and have reset the DSG settings several times with vagcom and nothing really helped the symptoms.

Just wanted to throw this out there to people who may have been discouraged if their VIN wasn't included in the mechatronic TSB. Just make sure you get it checked out before that PT warranty is up! Good luck and I'll report back after the new mech unit gets installed. I've heard that it hasn't even helped on some cars...

[stevestr]

2011 VW Golf TDI - 14,200 on the odo

I think mine died today or is in the process of dying.

Had a hard shift yesterday. Thought I heard a whine.

Drove today and when taking off from a red light the car went into limp home mode:
http://youtu.be/3Qxg2Tuz76Q

VCDS reports 3 Auto Trans errors:

18201 - Transmission Output Speed Sensor 2 (G196) - No Signal, Intermittant
17106 - Transmission Output Speed Sensor (G195) - No Signal, Intermittent
18115 - Interference in Mechatronic Module - Open Circuit, Intermittent

Turned car off and on and the wrench cleared but the car now shifts horribly and makes a grinding noise. Off to call VW Roadside for a dealer tow on Monday.

And so begins the journey...

[-AKA-]

2011 VW Golf TDI - 14,200 on the odo

I think mine died today or is in the process of dying.

Had a hard shift yesterday. Thought I heard a whine.

Drove today and when taking off from a red light the car went into limp home mode:
http://youtu.be/3Qxg2Tuz76Q

VCDS reports 3 Auto Trans errors:

18201 - Transmission Output Speed Sensor 2 (G196) - No Signal, Intermittant
17106 - Transmission Output Speed Sensor (G195) - No Signal, Intermittent
18115 - Interference in Mechatronic Module - Open Circuit, Intermittent

Turned car off and on and the wrench cleared but the car now shifts horribly and makes a grinding noise. Off to call VW Roadside for a dealer tow on Monday.

And so begins the journey...

Update...?

[stevestr]

Update?

A whole new transmission covered under VW's dime.

The tranny sheared a bearing inside. Plus side was that the tranny included a new Mechatronic unit and had the newest software installed on it. Covered under warranty.

About 1800 miles so far and seems to have worked.

Here's the work order:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...iYWY1&hl=en_US

[Issam Abed]

I happen to think it's the best automatic transmission I have ever driven.

You mean Manual Transmission right?

Really and truly once you get over the mechatronic issues it is actually a pretty nice transmission!
986XX Km's so far no issues!

[DCCD]

1. 2009 Passat CC 1.8 TSI ,DSG 7 Speed
2. 18000 km
3. i feel there's no first gear, the DSG jump into the second gear while going driving at low speeds 5km, and that causing shaking even in my garage.

Scan results:
-----------------------------
Address 02: Auto Trans
No fault code found.
-----------------------------

[Issam Abed]

1. 2009 Passat CC 1.8 TSI ,DSG 7 Speed
2. 18000 km
3. i feel there's no first gear, the DSG jump into the second gear while going driving at low speeds 5km, and that causing shaking even in my garage.

Scan results:
-----------------------------
Address 02: Auto Trans
No fault code found.
-----------------------------

You have an 0AM not a 02E Gearbox. Is your car flashed at all?

[DCCD]

You have an 0AM not a 02E Gearbox. Is your car flashed at all?

Address 02: Auto Trans
Control Module Part Number: 0AM 300 048 M
Component and/or Version: GSG DSG AG7     402 1815
Software Coding: 0000020
Work Shop Code: WSC 05311
No fault code found.

Is your car flashed at all?

Software upgrade! No, I haven't flashed yet.

i hope its only a small problem that can be solved.

Thanks

[bjohns86]

With your scanner are you able to watch the commands issued by the computer? The VB on this is extremely simple but the multiplexer valve, I foresee, will be a problem with this unit, showing symptoms like yours. See what the TCM is commanding and verify this is or is not what you see.
Issam Abed mentions an 0AM, which I am not familiar with, but there is no 7 speed auto for VW?

Brad

[Issam Abed]

Software upgrade! No, I haven't flashed yet.

i hope its only a small problem that can be solved.

Thanks

Common problem. Go to your dealer and have them do a Mechatronic inspection on it.

[DCCD]

but there is no 7 speed auto for VW?

what do you mean?

[bjohns86]

VW doesn't offer a 7-speed automatic transmission.