The "Unofficial" DSG Issues Thread

[twinkers]

Well it seems to have "kinda worked" it still jerks a little but 80% less than last night. I think I chipped one of my rims by doiing it, but now I don't have to take the bus to work. On a positive note Nik from HPA has found me a mech unit that will be shipped with my 3R software already on it. So with a little luck I may have it by Friday so I can perform the surgery next weekend. I'll take lots of pics and put together a DIY for so at least someone else can benefit from my misfortune.

[334lif3]

Some of the replies in this thread are really, really sad.

It's a car. It's going to break. Yeah, it sucks that the DSG is still a new piece of tech for VW. The price we all pay for being early adopters.

[luciano136]

Quote, originally posted by 334lif3 »

Some of the replies in this thread are really, really sad. It's a car. It's going to break. Yeah, it sucks that the DSG is still a new piece of tech for VW. The price we all pay for being early adopters.

Early adopters? It's been around since 2003. You'd think that by now, it wouldn't be such a hassle to fix. It's absurd that a tranny would break in the first few thousand miles.

[fuforums]

Quote, originally posted by luciano136 »

Early adopters? It's been around since 2003. You'd think that by now, it wouldn't be such a hassle to fix. It's absurd that a tranny would break in the first few thousand miles.

it's not even that it breaks. Yes, everything breaks. But the point is that it can't be fixed, only replaced for three thousand dollars. When his warranty runs out he'll be singing a different tune.

[334lif3]

Quote, originally posted by fuforums »

it's not even that it breaks. Yes, everything breaks. But the point is that it can't be fixed, only replaced for three thousand dollars. When his warranty runs out he'll be singing a different tune.

I never keep a car past warranty.

So my tune will probably sound like all those Audi commercials..

[-AKA-]

I was going to comment about fuforums posts but I kept them to myself.

Lets try and keep this on track...anyone have any updates on their particular situation?

[Mikes72sb]

Quote, originally posted by Mikes72sb »

Just dropped off my GTI at the dealer for a new mechatronics unit. Approximately 9200 miles on the car when I pulled into the garage. I am optomistic Also, I have a VF dogbone insert, but I do not expect VW to give me trouble over it. I have all the paperwork from them to back up their claim that the mech. unit was faulty, etc etc. They drove it for miles and miles with it in there, and they made all their decisions already.

Follow-up

Got the car back. Smooth as butter. Just like the day I took 'er home. Such a pleasure driving it

[-AKA-]

Quote, originally posted by Mikes72sb »

Follow-up Got the car back. Smooth as butter. Just like the day I took 'er home. Such a pleasure driving it

Great to hear it! Welcome to the I-got-a-new-mechatronics-unit-now-my-car-drives-normal-again-club! lol

[piston]

Just curious about those who have reported issues with your DSG.

1. How hard have you driven the car/engine & did you ever do the deadstop WOT launchs periodically/frequently ?

2. Drive in tip frequently or D or S?

Just trying to see if we can find a pattern to see why the DSG is having common issues.

[twinkers]

My theory is that most of the problems seem to be with the 2008 + models. There is /was probablly a bad batch of valves or circuit boards they were using. The heat from the transmission transfered to the circuit board combined with the shock of potholes, speedbumps, hard launches etc. is probably either having some of the surface mount components come loose or severing traces/solder joints from the board. This is only a theory but hopefully I'll have my new one from HPA in the next 7 days so I can take my old one into work and get it x-rayed (to check for breaks if the board is multi layered). After that I can start checking all the solder joints. Hopefully there are part numbers on the valves and other components so we can find a distibutor and be able to replace them ourselves.

Edit:

It looks like there are part numbers.

Modified by twinkers at 10:57 AM 4-11-2009

[Mikes72sb]

Quote, originally posted by piston »

Just curious about those who have reported issues with your DSG. 1. How hard have you driven the car/engine & did you ever do the deadstop WOT launchs periodically/frequently ? 2. Drive in tip frequently or D or S? Just trying to see if we can find a pattern to see why the DSG is having common issues.

1. I don't drive my car very hard on a daily basis, but I am not afraid to give it gas when I need to...or want to I did 1 autocross event so far with this car. I have used LC 5-6 times over the span of a year.

2. 55% in D, 40% in Tip, 5% in S

I agree with twinkers. I think there was a bad run of units.

[-AKA-]

Quote, originally posted by piston »

Just curious about those who have reported issues with your DSG. 1. How hard have you driven the car/engine & did you ever do the deadstop WOT launchs periodically/frequently ? 2. Drive in tip frequently or D or S? Just trying to see if we can find a pattern to see why the DSG is having common issues.

1. I drive the car normal but from time to time I like to get on it. I haven't done any WOT launches from a standstill, but have done some hard rolling launches.

2. I drive mainly in D, sometimes in S, rarely in Tip mode.

[crabbedcarp]

I called the dealer that had ordered the maf unit for me last week. After being on hold for close to thirty minutes while they tried to find it, they told me that it has been "backordered" and won't be in until Thursday, convenient as she told me last week parts take two business days to come in. Called around and found a it at a different dealer and picked it up. The guy I spoke to on the phone told me to just put it in myself, switch everything back to stock and bring it in and make no mention of the aftermarket intake. He told me they would look at it, and play dumb about the phone call this morning. Hopefully, all goes well when I take it in an hour.

New update: The new dealer drove my car around for a little bit and they were able to replicated the problem. They said it was most likely the mechatronics unit and will have to call in and report it, so I have to drop the car off again next Tuesday for awhile. They're going to give me a rabbit to whip around in, in the meantime. Now since I'm dropping the car off, should I have to worry about having my apr chip at all? I put it back in stock everytime I go to get dealer work done as it is. Just don't want them to say anything about the mech unit failing because of the chip if they find it.

I'm glad this is finally starting to work out.


Modified by crabbedcarp at 3:50 PM 4-14-2009

[RPIJG]

APR (ECU) should have absolutely no bearing on your mech (TCU).

Unless the added power caused a mechanical issue with a clutch pack or something, (which I highly doubt) the APR won't be a problem. Can the dealer flash over the ECU and erase the APR? I don't know the answer to that question.

[crabbedcarp]

If they do flash over it, I'm not worried since I can just get it redone. I just got the fully loaded ecu so now I have the lock out feature, so I'm not stressing the flash anymore.

[crabbedcarp]

Anyone have a QTM look at their car before the mech unit can be ordered? I was told they can't move forward with ordering the unit until the QTM comes out.

[twinkers]

Hey,

Everyone here who is having a rough downshift when coming to a stop and can hear the shift forks smashing the clutch plates (or whatever the noise is) by chance is this happening after the tranny is warmed up?

[crabbedcarp]

Quote, originally posted by twinkers »

Hey, Everyone here who is having a rough downshift when coming to a stop and can hear the shift forks smashing the clutch plates (or whatever the noise is) by chance is this happening after the tranny is warmed up?

Yep, without fail. Mine does the same thing only when the car is warmed up.

[twinkers]

From what I'm reading, when the dsg starts up there is a warm-up program. When the fluid gets to a certain temperature the warm-up program hands off control to the regular program with all the adaptations. So I'm thinking either the main logic chip is either damaged or one or more of the other sensors. I'm kinda leaning to the temp sensors G93 / G510 (which are just diodes on the main circuit board) and maybe G509 which is in the sensor you unplug when removing the mech unit. I have one on order which should be in later this week. When I remove my mech unit I'm going to try and catalog all the components and see which ones are available from digikey. Luckily I have access to a surface mount rework station for pulling the main logic chip(s) and various programmers for transfering the program to a new chip. I feel this is going to take months of trial and error but hopefully it will help the DSG community in the future.

[334lif3]

If you have a mech unit pulled apart, then why don't you get some photos up for the rest of us.

Part numbers and potential schematic would be useful as well. At least if you really mean for this to be useful to the community...

[twinkers]

I will as soon as I pull it. Should be a week today, as I'm waiting on a few backordered parts.

[scenturion]

Everyone with this problem, can you post the build dates of your car? Maybe we can see if the problem is localized in a certain set of months/years

[twinkers]

From what I've seen it's 2008 on up. I got my entire DSG replaced in late 2007 so I believe I got one of the bad ones. Removing the mech this weekend so lots of pictures for everyone. Me thinks VW went with the lowest bidder on this new batch of units, and doubt anything will be rectified (other than short term) until they run out of the bad batch


Modified by twinkers at 4:20 AM 4-22-2009

[observer]

mine also 2008

[paority]

06 mkv gti
53k

after car is warmed up about ,10 to 15 min of driving, i get a belt slipping noise for a moment from underneath the car whenever the rpms begin to drop. everything is working fine and checked all belts and the dealership has no idea what it is and i beleive it is coming from the dsg. wondering if this sounds like a dsg problem or im shooting in the wrong direction.

[twinkers]

LOL. I have that too, in addition to my mechatronics problem. Do you only hear it in 5th and 6th gear by chance?

[crabbedcarp]

so I just got my mechatronics unit replaced. Luckily, I only had to wait a three days for the unit to come in. I spoke to the service advisor and he told me that VW started to get additional units produced as they are aware there are failures out there. He also stated that the QTM who came to see both my car and an EOS at the dealer said there were a certain number of cars within a specific range of VIN numbers that VW is aware of that WILL fail. Therefore, what we all figured was correct, there's a specific batch of mech units out there that are defective.

Don't know how reliable this info is, but I figured I'd pass along the word. Also, my car is shifting smoother than I can remember. Hopefully, I won't have any problems from here on it.

[fuforums]

Quote, originally posted by crabbedcarp »

so I just got my mechatronics unit replaced. Luckily, I only had to wait a three days for the unit to come in. I spoke to the service advisor and he told me that VW started to get additional units produced as they are aware there are failures out there. He also stated that the QTM who came to see both my car and an EOS at the dealer said there were a certain number of cars within a specific range of VIN numbers that VW is aware of that WILL fail. Therefore, what we all figured was correct, there's a specific batch of mech units out there that are defective. Don't know how reliable this info is, but I figured I'd pass along the word. Also, my car is shifting smoother than I can remember. Hopefully, I won't have any problems from here on it.

3 Days?? I have been waiting 5 weeks!! What's the name of your dealer?

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Seems like I got lucky and had my mechatronic unit replaced at a good time.
i took my car in 2 days ago and they had a mechatronic unit shipped to them overnight and they said it might be finished today

[crabbedcarp]

Yeah that sucks to hear man. My dealer is Langan VW in Vernon,CT. Good thing I took the advice of everyone here and switched dealers.

[paority]

actually i have the noise in all gears

[paority]

actually it happens in all gears

[fuforums]

Quote, originally posted by crabbedcarp »

Yeah that sucks to hear man. My dealer is Langan VW in Vernon,CT. Good thing I took the advice of everyone here and switched dealers.

I called your dealer and spoke to Juan. What a great place to deal with! He was quite helpful and checked all my info out. He told me to call VW customer service and actually located a part in Canada. I called my local dealer and they said it was reserved retention status or something but it seems like I am getting somewhere. I'm waiting on the local parts manager to call back now and VW Customer Service said they'd have a Rep call me by tomorrow with the order status. I think the dealers are just lazy and they don't care but sometimes you find a good one out there. Apparently, Langan VW is one of the good ones.

We will see what happens and I'll keep everyone posted. Week 6 has passed and we are working on week 7.

[scenturion]

I have a MY09 with a mfg. date of 05/08 with 3600 miles.
I drove the car around today for an hour or so paying attention to jerky 3-2-1 downshifts, as well as jerky N-1 starts.
N-1 doesnt seem especially jerky, though there is a slight lag from releasing the brake pedal to the start of movement - I would estimate half a second or so. But, the movement isnt so jerky as to be out of control or dangerous.
On previous occasions, I have noticed especially jerky 3-2-1 downshifts, but driving in D, S, and M today, I didn't notice any.
When were your cars manufactured and at what mileage did you start noticing this problem?

[Manic]

1. GTI MY08 mfg date 11/07
2. 19,000kms
3. It's doing the typical hard lurch when starting, and reverse sometimes doesn't engage properly. Also experiencing occasional hard 2-3 shifts.
I've been experiencing the problem on and off since 16,000kms. It's going to the dealer next week.