Citigo Gearbox Problem

[WipeOut]

On my car, if you depress and release the clutch you still can't get reverse.

 

This isn't normal behaviour, and not an issue in my mind. 

[VRSD30]

Is it something that started to happen fairly soon after collecting your Citigo or is has it got worse steadily? 

[oldstan]

What if you depress clutch and then release it again. Reverse gear should engage this way. Normal behaviour for manual transmission.

Let's not create issues in our minds.

 

 

I think most people on here have enough experience and mileage under their belt to know whether their gearbox is exhibiting a difficulty in engaging gears.  Admittedly it's a small car which could conceivably attract  young drivers not too experienced with lots of different gearboxes but reading the contributions here there's plenty of experience and something tells me they're not going to 'create issues in their mind'.  Not a particularly helpful observation in my estimation.

[WipeOut]

Just for the record, I have over 20 years driving experience, over a wide and diverse selection of cars. This is by far the worst gearbox I have experienced for selecting reverse I've owned. It is also the noisy clutch I've ever owned, and eclipse my early British such as a Mini and Triumph!  Unfortunately VRSD30 the issue is getting worse.

The local garage I bought the car from have looked at the car and have recognised there is excessive noise. They didn't experience the reverse gear issue.   I can't complain regarding the service I've received from local garage. They've spoken with Skoda Technical who pointed them to a bulletin. 

Here is what the bulletin says.
 

• If you deal with this complaint, do not carry out any repairs.
• Replacement of parts is without effect. Their unjustified replacement within warranty will be charged back.
• Please inform the customer about the cause of the noises he is complaining about and about the fact that his complain is not justified.

So that's Skoda UK's viewpoint, which I will now challenge. I am very disappointed with Skoda UK's could not careless attitude. 

[bigdavy]

Where did you get that from? Because quite simply I don't believe any company would leave themselves open to legal action and or public / media attention by making such a statement. The last I read on here about the box issue was that they were aware of a problem and the research dept was working on a solution.

[princeprawn]

Skoda would be stupid to send that bulliten out without telling dealerships not to share its contents with customers lol

[bluecar1]

thing is, the citigo has been out for about 18 months, and few threads on here are about gearbox issues, so when you put it in perspective compared to the number of citigo's on here  I think it is not a big issue as such

 

the box is a new design, straight cut gears for efficiency, and various other changes to reduce weight and friction, but combined with less sound insulation can make people think the box is noisy as straight gears are noisier than helical cut gears which is why gearboxes moved to them many years ago, but modern manufacturing and better tolerances they are not as noisy as before

 

a couple of the threads about gears I think ended up being clutch related (clutch drag if memory correct)

[oldstan]

Put me straight here.  I am right or wrong in thinking that it's easy for owners of cars which the owners are pleased with and don't exhibit unwarranted noises/problems/characteristics, to criticize the others who do have issues and tell them they're imagining it?

 

Most Hyundai i10 owners are (now) pleased with their cars.  It just happens I was one of the few who had a particular issue which was declined/dismissed out of hand by Customer Service Head Office.  It turns out, after my personal protracted and laborious representations to SENIOR management at Hyundai, that they DID find an inherent problem and got their senior technical people to find a fix for it and they applied it to my car and it improved the problem for myself and the others who had it.

 

So I find it disconcerting to read about an issue here which clearly and tangibly affects users, albeit a minority - and unsettling to read the comments of satisfied users who are telling the others they are imagining it, or they should put up with it.  I'd say    'you buy a car for £10k  that's clearly unsatisfactory and see if you find it acceptable'.  And please don't tell me  'you're only paying £10k for a  car so you should accept anything that might be awry because it was cheap'. 

 

As always, experiencing a problem is not unknown.........it's how it's dealt with that counts.  I happen to find it displeasing in the extreme to ring/email/write to a manufacturer's "Customer Service"  department and find myself in contact with a member of staff who clearly knows zilch about the products their company sells or any aspect of vehicle after sales EXCEPT they have the ability to fend off customers by means of a script and/or the ability to "handle" customers complaints by means of management policy which prevents customers from actually speaking to anyone who actually knows anything about the actual issue you're contacting them about.

 

I haven't got a Citigo so don't speak from experience of personal ownership.  But I have had plenty new cars and have experienced issues with some of them and absolute perfection from others and do know that if there's a genuine problem with a new car that I've bought with my own hard earned money I want the problem addressed professionally and attentively and DON'T want people telling me to put up with it or that I'm making it up or imagining it.

 

EDIT....by way of an after thought, the bulletin doesn't look/sound all that genuine.

Edited 19 October, 2013 by oldstan

[WipeOut]

I am very happy for those of you have a great gearbox and clutch, but please don't dismiss the viewpoint of those who experience is different.

 

And for those of you who think I am delusional and I haven't seen the technical bulletin, I've scanned it in. So if someone can tell me the easiest way to upload the image I will do so.

 

I had hoped for some help on this forum, and to be able to help others who have this issue!

 

 

[Damo]

@Wipeout

 

Click on the Reply to this topic black button in the top right corner

When the reply box pops up, click on Choose File

When you have found the scanned image on your computer, attach the file and post the message

 

Failing that, you can email it me and I will post it up for you

 

Damo

[oldstan]

• If you deal with this complaint, do not carry out any repairs.
• Replacement of parts is without effect. Their unjustified replacement within warranty will be charged back.
• Please inform the customer about the cause of the noises he is complaining about and about the fact that his complain is not justified.

 

Re. the above, I looked at this and it struck me that the tone (and spelling) didn't correspond with an apparently official  publication issued by one of Europe's major manufacturers.  But if I'm wrong then I'm sorry for my dubiousness.

[pedroxy]

I agree that the language and tone of the bulletin is not as would reasonably be expected. Perhaps it came from a very junior source within the organization, and is worth following up.

[bluecar1]

thing is wipeout,

 

I think the lack of large number of replies indicates this is not a wide spread problem, not saying you don't have a problem

 

just one I think few member have come across

 

we have come across poor service from dealers on occasions like all brands, have you taken this to skoda customer services? the other thing if you have a valid issue and it fails to be resolved is email board level people at skoda, there are links on here

 

the other thing is if that is a valid advisory from skoda, put yourself in the dealers shoes, they have been told in writing they will not get paid by skoda for any work done or parts used.

 

what we have seen is  some dealers do help push skoda on behalf of the customer by talking to the technical department at skoda and getting it recognised as a valid issue but this can take time and persistence

[staib]

I hope my Citigo gearbox is a bit better than the one on my Royal Enfield!

If I roll to a stop before engaging neutral then that's it. Gotta hold the clutch in, which then starts dragging and over heating...

[Damo]

On Thursday, for the first time in my short ownership (3 months) I couldn't get reverse gear

 

It physically would not go in, despite my best efforts

 

I had to select first, pull forward an inch, then reverse was easily selectable

 

Its only happened once, so hoping it wont repeat itself

 

Apart from that, I have had no issues with the gears before

 

Might have to do a sticky regarding logging any gearbox problems...

 

Opinions/thoughts?

[bigdavy]

I don't think anyone is denying some of you are having a problem. Here's my thoughts, it would be interesting to compile details of those having problems, i.e. Exact model 60 or 75 ps, age and maybe location to see if city or rural has any influence. In my experience any new model can have 'teething troubles' and any manufacturer needs time to research & develop a solution. I also thing it's important to try and keep your dealer onside and encourage them to talk to Skoda about it. At the end of the day it's no more their fault than yours, they're just caught in the middle and there's no point alienating them.

[Owens]

Bigdavy,

 

I suggested people who report problems should put down their specific model e.g. NZF gearbox, CHYB engine, Date of production , etc so a comparison could be made. But as yet no one has posted the details. So the speculation and rumour prevail. Yes its really annoying for those that have the symptoms/problem. However without specific information people should not make wild assumptions.

[Gambo]

To the thread starter, there's two ways you can look at this 1. The gearbox is fudged, Skoda have done a bad job releasing your car in that condition with a duff box or 2. There's a fault on the gearbox, the dealer has agreed on this and appearing to be replacing it without quibble so are offering a good service and rectifying the fault.

 

Don't let it spoil your enjoyment of the car, obviously if you have the same issues with the new box then I'd worry, but for now they've agreed with you there is a fault and they're fixing it with no quibbles from what I can tell.

[WipeOut]

I hope this helps someone who has a less than satisfactory gearbox/clutch.

[WipeOut]

I will be writing to Skoda UK soon, and I don't hold the dealer at fault. The dealer, has actually been very polite and helpful, acknowledges the issue with the clutch, but are powerless to do anything.

[Owens]

From the bulletin WipeOut posted that gearbox was a NZC? So anyone else with similar problems got the same/different gearbox code?

[Stormchaser]

Haven't they all got the same 5 speed fitted?

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

[bluecar1]

looks like ours is NZF gearbox code

 

info on our sticker is

 

.                 4DV NF1

NF14DV CITIGO Grt   ELE     MP55/KW

 NZF   LY3D        GE     1.0  M5F  CHYB

 

so engine is a CHYB

 

gearbox NZF ?

 

and yes we do have the clutch click, but after nearly 1500 miles it is becoming less frequent and pronounced, tend to feel it more under the foot rather than hear it now

 

MY14 build as far as aware built late july

Edited 20 October, 2013 by bluecar1

[Stormchaser]

I found this on ElsaWin

Looks like the 75 has 2 different types and the 60 has 1.

This is based on MY 2013.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

[bluecar1]

none of those gearbox codes seem to correspond with whats on my sticker or the code in the  bulletin