Hello

 

My DSG Octavia estate recently broke down suddenly with a strange issue. I was at the traffic lights and the engine was still running (star/stop is disabled) and I was about to pull away and the car would move at all. I turned off the car and tried to restart and I got a series of messages on the dash saying (in no particular order):

 

1. Error: stabilisation control (ESC)

2. Error: Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

3. Apply Brake to start

 

The "P" light started to flash on the gear lever. The engine would not turn at all but electrics did turn on.

 

I managed to push the car to the side whilst I waited for the AA. Once the AA arrived the car started without any intervention. They did see a whole load of errors in the logs when they connected their laptop to the car. They suggested I take the car to Skoda.

 

I took the car to Skoda to see what the cause of the issue could be. They told me it could be related to the DSG gear lever unit and that was replaced for about £1500. But during their road test the car broke down with similar messages. Now they think it could be the "mechatronic unit board". The replacement would cost about £2,500.

 

My car is 10 years old and has been super reliable up to this point. I am reluctant to spend more money on a replacement board since Skoda told me its no guarantee to fix the issue.

 

Has any seen this issue before and what was the fix please?

 

Thanks.

What it needs is an actual diagnosis and not someone saying what it COULD be and throwing out prices.   Is this their Master Tech that is working on your car to diagnose the issue?  

Apparently its their top tech.

Can they demonstrate the gear lever unit was actually defective ?

£1500 for a “could be” seems a lot.

If Skoda can't guarantee a fix or diagnose the issue correctly, I'd take it to an independent gearbox/dsg specialist, go from there. 

I had my gearbox linkage replaced on a different make of vehicle, symptoms were I couldn't remove my key from the ignition after placing my lever in park. Other than that my car ran perfectly well. Was also an auto, torque converter type. 

Edited 22 August, 20232 yr by Phoenixboy

“Poke n hope” diagnostics aren’t something that should be associated with any main dealer, I think I’d be talking first to the service manager and then to Skoda UK but ultimately you might find the cause a lot quicker using  an independent transmission specialist. 

Thanks for the suggestions 😀

Lots of videos o U_Tue+ o replacing the gear lever detect switch o the top of the gear change linkage. took i 2 hours & £65 

Also ECU repair company will rebuild your mechatronic unit via post  Sorry about grammar lost some keys o the laptop

Hi,

can you please help me to know if you solved the problem? If so, what was the issue?

i have the same situation on my skoda Octavia 3 , dsg 7, from 2014. 

ABS reluctor ring on wheel hub failed, maybe?

Edited 7 January, 20251 yr by Woslxn

I have had this warning lights pop up this morning. Restarted engine and all systems were normal.   The car is only 4 years old and only done 9000 miles. Is this something to worry about? 

On 07/01/2025 at 22:14, jazzyjeff said:

I have had this warning lights pop up this morning. Restarted engine and all systems were normal.   The car is only 4 years old and only done 9000 miles. Is this something to worry about? 

We’d a similar issue on a Kodiaq less than a year after the mechtronic was replaced under warranty, additionally it wouldn’t engage gear. Call to AA brought a man in a van who was a bit of a Skoda nut (he’s on here somewhere) who found a raft of faults in the log, very few of which related to the actual faults but the stand out seemed to be the things that flagged low battery voltage. Next up a battery check and bingo!

 

£150 and a new battery later and alls been well since.

On 21/08/2023 at 09:33, tsu3000 said:

Hello

 

My DSG Octavia estate recently broke down suddenly with a strange issue. I was at the traffic lights and the engine was still running (star/stop is disabled) and I was about to pull away and the car would move at all. I turned off the car and tried to restart and I got a series of messages on the dash saying (in no particular order):

 

1. Error: stabilisation control (ESC)

2. Error: Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

3. Apply Brake to start

 

The "P" light started to flash on the gear lever. The engine would not turn at all but electrics did turn on.

 

I managed to push the car to the side whilst I waited for the AA. Once the AA arrived the car started without any intervention. They did see a whole load of errors in the logs when they connected their laptop to the car. They suggested I take the car to Skoda.

 

I took the car to Skoda to see what the cause of the issue could be. They told me it could be related to the DSG gear lever unit and that was replaced for about £1500. But during their road test the car broke down with similar messages. Now they think it could be the "mechatronic unit board". The replacement would cost about £2,500.

 

My car is 10 years old and has been super reliable up to this point. I am reluctant to spend more money on a replacement board since Skoda told me its no guarantee to fix the issue.

 

Has any seen this issue before and what was the fix please?

 

Thanks.

Hi lads new to this site so bear with me but was wondering has this issue been resolved I am having same problems with 181 vrs dsg ..it's been in an independent garage now 4 months and as u can imagine I'm pulling my hair out ..very same symptoms as tsu3000 so any info would be greatly appreciated

On 21/08/2023 at 09:33, tsu3000 said:

it could be related to the DSG gear lever unit

On 21/08/2023 at 09:33, tsu3000 said:

that was replaced for about £1500

A good rule of thumb is not to let a "could" be leveraged into a £1500 bill that doesn't fix the problem.

On 21/08/2023 at 15:22, Ootohere said:

What it needs is an actual diagnosis and not someone saying what it COULD be and throwing out prices.

This, a 1000 times this. ☝

You cannot solve a problem you do not fully understand.

But you can milk an unwary customer of a lot of money by iteratively trying to fix a problem you don't understand.

As George says, get a proper diagnosis of the problem.

12 hours ago, brenfen said:

I took the car to Skoda to see what the cause of the issue could be. They told me it could be related to the DSG gear lever unit and that was replaced for about £1500. But during their road test the car broke down with similar messages. Now they think it could be the "mechatronic unit board". The replacement would cost about £2,500.

Somebody at your skoda dealer is gaslighting you. First things first, have a look at the DSG gear selector sensor. This is a well known problem; a quick google will show you that sensors can get dirty as well as fail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T28cSO8IoN8 shows you that it is a relatively easy fix. The replacement sensors are cheap (less than £100).

I suspect that once youve replace the sensor, your issue will go away. The mechatronics unit will need investigation if that doesn't fix it. We also need a proper scan via VCDS/ODBEleven.

I suggest you find a good local VAG specialist in your area.

Edited 6 March, 20251 yr by varaderoguy

On 21/08/2023 at 09:33, tsu3000 said:

Hello

 

My DSG Octavia estate recently broke down suddenly with a strange issue. I was at the traffic lights and the engine was still running (star/stop is disabled) and I was about to pull away and the car would move at all. I turned off the car and tried to restart and I got a series of messages on the dash saying (in no particular order):

 

1. Error: stabilisation control (ESC)

2. Error: Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

3. Apply Brake to start

 

The "P" light started to flash on the gear lever. The engine would not turn at all but electrics did turn on.

 

I managed to push the car to the side whilst I waited for the AA. Once the AA arrived the car started without any intervention. They did see a whole load of errors in the logs when they connected their laptop to the car. They suggested I take the car to Skoda.

 

I took the car to Skoda to see what the cause of the issue could be. They told me it could be related to the DSG gear lever unit and that was replaced for about £1500. But during their road test the car broke down with similar messages. Now they think it could be the "mechatronic unit board". The replacement would cost about £2,500.

 

My car is 10 years old and has been super reliable up to this point. I am reluctant to spend more money on a replacement board since Skoda told me its no guarantee to fix the issue.

 

Has any seen this issue before and what was the fix please?

 

Thanks.

What was the issue in the end? Did you get to the bottom of it?

My 2013 has just done the same!

Mechtronic unit replaced so here's hoping..no issues yet ..very disappointing with only 120 thousand kilometres on the clock

7 minutes ago, brenfen said:

Mechtronic unit replaced so here's hoping..no issues yet ..very disappointing with only 120 thousand kilometres on the clock

I had a new mechatronic in 2017 with 57k miles on the clock, I’ve done 183k miles not and hoping I don’t need another one, love my DSG but this might just put me back to manual, £3k in mechs will be ridiculous!!

@Cbiggs Was your DSG a 6 Speed DQ250 or a 7 Speed DQ381 like @brenfen has?

Important for those looking in to be aware what is what, and just how many DQ381,s are failing prematurely.

Often before 80,000 miles and any schedule oil changes, some from being low miles / km.

Globally it still looks like VW Group are not being pulled up on this.

Hopefully in some Country there might be a Class Action on this.

1 hour ago, Ootohere said:

@Cbiggs Was your DSG a 6 Speed DQ250 or a 7 Speed DQ381 like @brenfen has?

Important for those looking in to be aware what is what, and just how many DQ381,s are failing prematurely.

Often before 80,000 miles and any schedule oil changes, some from being low miles / km.

Globally it still looks like VW Group are not being pulled up on this.

Hopefully in some Country there might be a Class Action on this.

Mine was a 7 speed, I am not sure which model this is, although Skoda advised that mine does not have replaceable oil in the DSG and that it is lifetime, so nothing has been changed at any service since the mechatronic was replaced in 2017, and since then I have covered another 125k miles, albeit without issue until now.

The car lost drive again today, ESC error and TMPS error with the gear indicators flashing, my home ODBII reader just says loss of comms with the TCM, I have managed to get to a master tech garage and they will have a look at see if they can diagnose, the only thing that stands out is that this seem to happen when the car is hot?

@Cbiggs it would be a DQ200 DSG then. Which has 2 oils, in the box and in the MCU.

A 7 speed twin dry clutch.

1.8 TSI or Smaller or a 1.6 TDI or smaller, 180 ps max with a Skoda / 250 Nm max.

(There are now 2.0 TDI with 115 ps with a DSG200)

Handy if people say what engines cars they have, then people might know which DSG.

Lifetime oil in a DQ200 DSG, does not mean that the oils can not be changed, after all the World Wide Recall excluding Europe but there was a service campaign had the Synthetic oil changed to mineral oil.

Edited 10 April, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I don't understand. If it is throwing all sorts of error codes this points to a wiring fault, probably something gross like a loose multi-pin connector. WTF has it got to do with the DSG?

If there is something possibly wrong with the DSG then you need someone who knows how to properly diagnose and fix the problem. There is no excuse for main dealers to be selling you possible guess fixes at ££££ cost to you.