Hello, I have a problem with the gearbox of my Octavia 3, but it's been six weeks and no one could tell me what's the problem (not even my dealer or the headquarters in Mlada Boleslav). I'm sorry for the long post and my english but I'm not native.

 

I own Octavia 3, 1.8tsi 6°DSG 4x4 with 50 000km. Previous owner had it chiptuned to 230hp and 320N.m. at 42 000km (without any modifications of DSG). I also have a security device that "cuts" the cables of various systems (among them also gearbox), leads them to a box and I have to put a cassette there to make the electrical circuit to be able to drive the car (see the pic).

 

Six weeks ago I was on highway driving 86mph and then about 4 times I tried kick-down to 100mph. Then suddenly I was dropped into a limp mode with a warning "Gearbox error, can not shift the reverse". I pulled over, turned off and started the engine, everything seemed to be fine, no errors, I could even shift the reverse without any problem. Then I went back to the highway, everything was o.k., but after another mile, it happened again. I pulled over  to a parking lot. After each time I turned the engine off and start it again and everything was fine, but after a while it did it again. Sometimes I was able to drive a little bit longer until it broke down again, but during this "longer ride" I noticed that the car was shifting gears chaotically and few times it seemed like it unshifted (because car started to slow down and my dashboard was showing only "D" without a number) and at constant speed it shifted like this: D3-D4-D3-D (without the number) - then it shift back in to D3-D4-D... and it continued like this.

 

My dealer did diagnostics, removed the mechatronic and checked the gearbox's oil for metal swarfs (no swarfs were there). They told me they couldn't run a proper diagnostics because of the security device I mentioned above (explained it that the electrical cables in current cars also plays a role of data cables and since they were cutted, probably prolonged to that box and soldered, it could affect the communication) but error codes that was obtained said: "erratic shifting" or "gearbox control unit without communication". Dealer also send the data to the HQ in Mlada Boleslav, but they figured out it was chiptunned and put their hands away and their only response was "whole gearbox replace".

Does anyone have a clue what could be a real problem? Because I was told it could be:

 

1. Possible mechanical problem in gearbox and replacing of whole gearbox is necessary.

 

2. Faulty mechatronic, replacing of mechatronic is needed.

 

3. It's only software issue: mechatronic got "confused" because of increased performance of the engine and doesn't know what gear to shift. Flashing DSG with a software that is adjusted to higher performance should help.

 

4. That security device is causing the communication problems between gearbox and other systems and that makes it "confused" (probably the same way it could have affected the diagnostics). But I drove maybe 1000 miles since I had it installed without any problems.

 

Thank you for your help.

Welcome.

Does the company that Chip Tuned, or is that Remapped for the previous owner or the company you bought your device from not have Customer support.

 

Who did the Chip Tuning or Remap?

Where did you purchase what you have installed?

38 minutes ago, Offski said:

Welcome.

Does the company that Chip Tuned, or is that Remapped for the previous owner or the company you bought your device from not have Customer support.

 

Who did the Chip Tuning or Remap?

Where did you purchase what you have installed?

 

I'm from Slovakia, so you probably won't know the companies, but they are reputable companies with almost 20years of experience and good references. Yes they do have a customer support, but everybody claims it cannot be their fault and each of them blames the others. And since nobody is sure what's the problem (it could be anything from those 4 things above, maybe something totally different) I can't accuse somebody it's their fault.

I have taken my car from the dealer, because they couldn't help me except replacing the whole gearbox and took it to some mechanic who specialize on VAG cars and he's about to flash a new DSG software. But I don't want to pay for something that's not gonna help me. And I was hoping to find somebody here who had similar problem and could tell me what it is and what might help.

Edited 30 May, 20188 yr by Sik18