So my 2010 7 speed 1.8 TSI is getting a little bit upset in the last month.

These are rough dates as I don't have my notes with me (now at work).

Around the start of December I pulled right out of my drive onto the 60 mph road. As soon as the car attempted to shift to 2nd gear I got a surge of revs (5k ish) and then on my dash where I would expect to see D1 or D2 etc, I had a flashing spanner and D1,3,5,7. The car drove fine. After about half a mile I lulled over, turned it off and on again. Problem resolved. No CEL but when I hooked up my ODB reader fault code P0810 Clutch Position Control Error was there.

Then nothing for probably 500 miles and 10-12 days. Same thing, but this time it happened about a mile from home. Not sure what gear it was trying to shift into when it happened. Again, no CEL, same error code. Off and on rectified the issue.

Then again another few hundred miles and this time on Dec 28th heading to London to see the family. As soon as I pulled out of the drive it hit. Stopped after 50 yards, off and on again. No CEL. Then I got another 100 yards before it happened again. CEL this time. Cleared the same code again. No problems after that. Another 500 miles and 8 days.

Then last night maybe a few hundred yards from home the CEL came on. The car was running fine though. Since I'm without a phone I couldn't clear the code there and then. Drove the 115 miles to work with no issues at all. Put the odb app on my tablet and cleared P0810 again.

I've not had it happen again yet at time when I can kind of play with it to see what else I can learn. I'm 80% sure that in the first instance I could shift up through the odd gears.

So yeah.

Thoughts?

Has your car ever been in to have the FREE Service Campaign work done on the DSG.

Skoda UK started this in 2014 if your DSG has Synthetic Oil in from the factory.

Done free, Mineral Oil is put in and a Software Update.

http://master.skoda-auto.com/mini-apps/recall-actions

 

So you might have faults and a Dealership or Skoda will say nothing to do with the Service Campaign that was a World Wide Recall world wide but some how Europe is not in the World.

So if not done, Ask why, if it was done, then hold Skoda to knowing about faulty MCU's & Clutch Packs in some DSG's.

http://skoda.co.nz/news/dsg-service-campaign

In New Zealand their were new Mechatronic Control Units fitted..... 

I seem to remember getting the new oil at a service probably 18 months to 2 years ago, I'll have the paperwork somewhere.

 

The clutch itself was replaced under warranty about 18 months after I got the car as it was having the weird stuttering when sometimes pulling away. 

 

I just can't seem to find any info on this error code or of anyone having a similar problem which seems weird considering how many of these boxes there are.

If the Service campaign was done there should be a sticker in the boot with 34F7 on it showing as done.

 

So that means you can maybe raise a case with Skoda UK if the Mechatronic Unit is faulty. They did the service campaign as a preventitive measure supposedly 

because of manufacturing errors.

If it was not done then you could have the car into do it because the Preventive Measure was not taken.

 

What ever you need a diagnosis and a repair done, and not cheap unless Skoda are paying for it and they need to because with the World Wide REcall the owners got the Warranty Extended, 

In the Home Markets of Europe they said nothing on that, but they had Fundamental Design and manufacturing faults just the same.

So basically I go to Skoda hoping they'll cover it and when they refuse I get my pocket wrung out. Or I got to an independent and get my pocket slightly less wrung out.

It will have to be an Independent with the Gear likely licensed and an idea. Not just gear and no idea.

Have called the guys at Straightline Performance in Malvern who get some great comments on various forums, they have all the gear and the guy I was talking to there is the DSG guy, and worked for Listers for like 10 years. They can do their own repairs on the Mech unit for some bits, but for others they are happy to send it away to ecutesting to be sorted out.

 

Considered just paying a bit more and swapping the car out, but I love the car even if it does like a drink of oil and have a sick gearbox. See so few L&Ks on the road too!

Just a small update.

 

Car has gone in for its work.

 

They hooked it up and updated anything that needed doing. Took a sample of the oil from the gearbox and its full of metal. Yay.

 

 

Sounds bad, does that mean a whole new gearbox, not a practical rebuild?

No, the plan is a rebuild. They obviously can't say just how bad it is till they open it up. 

 

The gearbox oil was changed about 2 years ago when it had a service and I was told it was a freebie from Skoda. They never mentioned anything about the old lot having metal in so who knows.

 

 

So the final update.

 

Straightline Performance in Malvern have done a great job and given me back a car that's probably cleaner than it was when I bought it. 

 

The gearbox was stripped, all bearings replaced, new clutch pack fitted, mechatronic using sent off for repair and several parts replaced.

 

A bearing had failed which was the source of the metal in the oil, the clutch had warped slightly due to overheating, though I don't know if that was caused by the parts on the mechatronic being ill or what.

 

£3180 all in. Car is as good as new.

Well thanks for coming back with the info.  DSG's are not a cheap rebuild!  Unless you've driven around the world, probably more than a bit disappointing for you and your bank balance for it to have failed so comprehensively. 

Yeah it was a pain, especially as it is only at 70,000 and had a new clutch pack at 30,000 under warranty due to pull away judder. Gavin at the garage said the clutch was fine for wear, but warped.

 

My reasoning for keeping the car rather than trading in and spending the money on a new one was a) I know this car b. I like everything the car has and there aren't many of them in this spec, c) if I'm willing to trade in a car with a dodgy gearbox, other people are too so for my money I could easily get a lemon as it would only be maybe 5 years old rather than 7.

 

So there it is!

So less than 300 miles later it's done exactly the same thing. Not a happy bunny. 

 

Spoke to the garage who were extremely apologetic, will be back in Monday morning.

Oh no. Well, with the extent of the rebuild undertaken and costs, it is in their hands to fix it now by the sounds without looking for money.  Worrying that the other things haven't resolved it - so it was something else perhaps not repaired with the mechatronic unit re-manufacture.

 

I take your point about the devil you know, I generally agree with the logic. After you get the DSG sorted you should get a period of reliable motoring. Notwithstanding the other 1.8tsi vulnerabilities.  Personally, I'm not totally confident that there are not some engineering design deficiencies with the 7Sp DSG though. I wonder how confident the repairers are that you can't get a future repeat failure?  Once they fully resolve the repair this time, maybe they can comment!

 

I'm sure they will sort it.

Oh I'm sure they will and I'm sure that the work they did was indeed work that needed doing, it just wasn't the cause of the problem.

 

Its just so frustrating to pay out that much for such a comprehensive fix only to find at 6:30 in the morning after a 12 hour night shift that its still not fixed!

 

I'm aware and conscious of the issues surrounding the 1.8 too. One of those you hope never happens. I'd probably just drop the 2.0 in it if it ever did, but I don't actually know if the dry clutch can just be swapped for the wet needed for the 2.0 or not.

Not fully sure of the conversion requirements myself. And probably doesn't need to be comprehensively on your radar at moment!  I am guessing you'd need a 2.0 engine and 6SP wet clutch DSG coupled complete. And a related ECU. For starters....

Yeah, I'll not worry about it just yet!

 

The car has now done its thing 3 times in 3 days. Friday morning, Saturday morning and Sunday evening. Its actually worse now than it was when it went in when it was only doing it maybe once a week.

 

I think I'll ask for metal shavings to be put back in the box and a warped clutch to be refitted as it was better then!

Yes, but er no! Probably not the best course of action.  They will fix it this time I'm sure.

Well, another week on and my car seems like it is fixed, again.

 

I believe most of the work has actually been carried out by a gearbox company in Bristol, but basically it was sent in and they discovered that the valve chest was faulty. This was a part that was refurbed when the rest of the work was done and declared ok. Because of that, they just put in a brand new one this time. 

 

The car is now driving beautifully and possibly better than it ever has. So far I've only put 230 miles on it. So we'll see how this one goes.

Did that solve it?