DSG 7 speed gearbox not behaving as expected.

[DougT]

Back in March I bought a tidy looking 2010 Superb Estate, but from day one gear changing hasn't been very consistent.

It's done about 85K miles to date, about 2K of them driven by me. 

Firstly I'll admit this is the first automatic I've owned, although I have driven others before, so I'm willing to accept that some of this may be user error, and can be dealt with my driving it a bit differently.

 

Occasionally it will stick in gear and the gear number displayed in the dash will flash D2. Pulling over and restarting rectifies this.

It will also, slightly more frequently perform a loud clunk and jolting gear change, this seems to happen at lower speeds.

More frequently still at lower speeds, especially in situations like speed bumps, roundabouts, slow cornering etc - where I've had to slow down then accelerate away, it will kick down to a lower gear and accelerate hard as soon as I ease my foot back on the gas. I find this pretty disconcerting and it doesn't make for smooth manoeuvres. I get around this by putting it into semi auto (Triptronic) mode to force it to not change gear until I'm ready.

It also generally seems sluggish to engage gears from a standstill, more than other auto's I've driven. It will roll backward on hill starts after taking foot off brake forcing me to accelerate go get it to engage. Reversing up a hill is even worse, making parallel parking on hills pretty sketchy.

 

Changing up gears while accelerating seems smooth, in fact all open road gear changes seem pretty smooth and reliable.

 

The engine check light's been on a couple of times with P0810 OBD code (Clutch Position Control Error)

I have been to a local garage to ask them to investigate, they've told me the clutches aren't too worn, and they reset the gearbox hoping it would rectify the behaviours - it hasn't.

 

I'm booked back into the garage in a couple of weeks so they can investigate further. In the mean time I'm trying to get as much info as I can so I can go to them armed with a bit of knowledge.

 

I've read the 7 speed DSG doesn't need servicing, having a dry clutch and a non user serviceable mechatronic unit, and so if there's a problem with the mechatronic unit, the whole thing will have to be replaced. I'm hoping that isn't what's needed.

It seems to me that some of the problems seem to stem from the gearbox mis-interpreting the revs at certain times, It's just a hunch, but I don't understand why it would want to kick down after say gently accelerating after a speed bump for example. Are there sensors that exist outside of the mechatronic unit to read rpm, and speed of travel etc?

 

It would be a massive pain if it were the mechatronic unit as the 18 month handler warranty explicitly doesn't cover those.

 

Can anyone help me please?

 

Doug

[Oluwasegun]

I am currently in this similar situation, i used a vauxhall before buying my skoda 30th of May and I noticed when I am in a lower gear, it kind of revs higher and jumps forward or if I was on a 30 miles per hour and then I turn into my drive to park, it slows down to engage and revs a bit higher than normal. All of these does not happen while driving on the motorway. Also I noticed my car has been underperforming when it comes to fuel consumption. Doing 40 miles per gallon on the motorway. I took it to a Skoda certified garage for servicing but they are not being clear about what is wrong with the vehicle.

[DougT]

Lets hope we find some answers!

[Declan O'Shaughnessy]

If your car doesn't have Hill Hold Control, then rolling back on hills is normal. Lots of early Superbs only had HHC as an extra option, while some had it fitted but not enabled in the software (can be enabled using VCDS / VAG-COM - search the site for more answers).

 

In terms of your other problems, I've driven our Superb since 2010 and it's been doing most of what you describe for the last 8 years or so. I haven't ever had a flashing gear number though, so that might require more investigation. But in terms of the strange gear changes, hanging onto gears etc. from my perspective it's pretty normal. You get used to the erratic behaviour at roundabouts etc. and learn to adjust / watch out for it.

 

Software resets have improved things a bit for me in the past, but it might just be placebo effect. A garage told me years ago that the gears / clutches were slipping and I should pay to replace the whole unit as it was on its last legs. Another garage told me it was fine and to just keep driving it! For me it never made economic sense to change the mechatronic unit etc. Maybe I've been lucky and just gotten away with it.

 

I have the older 6-speed wet gearbox, for what that's worth. And lots of people will tell you that they don't experience what you're experiencing, which is true. But for me it's just symptoms of not brilliant software for the most part I think.

[DougT]

Thanks Declan, it's at least good to know I'm. not alone.

No idea if I have Hill Hold Control to be honest, I had naively assumed it was something all automatics had because the handful of times I've driven one they've never rolled on hills.

[DougT]

Little update. I took it to a VW group specialist garage in Bromley and started the process of trying to troubleshoot the clunky gear shifts and fault codes. After a bit of to and fro they were all ready to send the mechatronic unit to be repaired, but before doing that they hooked it up to an ODIS system (at least I think that’s what they said).

Im not quite sure why, but that changed their mind about sending it off, and it seems to have done the job!

Yes it’s still a bit idiosyncratic, but it’s consistently idiosyncratic, which will do for me. 

[Schtum]

6 minutes ago, DougT said:

Little update. I took it to a VW group specialist garage in Bromley and started the process of trying to troubleshoot the clunky gear shifts and fault codes. After a bit of to and fro they were all ready to send the mechatronic unit to be repaired, but before doing that they hooked it up to an ODIS system (at least I think that’s what they said).

 

 

I suspect that they did, indeed, say ODIS.... Offboard Diagnostic Information System.   VAG dealer level diagnostic software. 

[DougT]

The problem hasn't gone away unfortunately. It's proving difficult to pin down whether it's a fault with the clutch or with the mechatronic. The garage's latest thought's are that it's the clutch and that I need to take it to another company to have it looked at.