Undiagnosed noisy DSG - potentially very big repair bill

[SirEdUK]

New here but can see there is a wealth of knowledge on these forums so interested in any guidance or suggestions.

 

I have a 2018 (67 plate) Superb 1.4 TSI ACT DSG with 33,000 miles on the clock. Bought it in July 2021 with a 2 year extended Used Skoda Warranty.  Car had 11,000 miles on when I bought it and was like new. Been serviced by local main dealer since purchase.

 

Car has been a delight to drive and all going well until around a six weeks ago it started to run a but rough.  Very hard to explain the initial symptoms but the car was clearly not it's usual smooth self and over the next week or so got steadily worse with squeaking/rattling coming from the gearbox area especially at low revs under load, occasional juddering felt through the entire car when idling, and a definite "squeak" as the engine stops under the start/stop system.

 

Called up the dealer to book it in and cutting a very long story short, it took nearly a month to get it into the main dealer. Worth noting that I kept the car off the road whilst waiting so as to not cause any further deterioration. 

 

The car is issuing no fault codes on the gearbox or engine etc. but the service center agree there is something not right and it is a suspected DMF failure and/or clutch problem. Due to the absence of error codes, only option is to pull the gearbox to investigate, at a cost of £764 in labour alone.  Once they've done that it's looking like £1,000 if the DMF needs replacing, £850 if clutch packs need doing, or absolute worst case £5.8k for a new gearbox.  The biggest problem is they don't actually know what the problem is so there is no clue as to how expensive this is going to get.

 

Given the car has no warning lights/codes on the diagnostic, is still running pretty much ok (just a bit rough and noisy at times), and power seems to be fine, I'm totally divided on what to do.

 

Dealer told me there won't be any good will because the car is well outside of warranty but when I cited Consumer Rights Act they said I should raise a case with Skoda UK Customer Care so I've done that but they've been pretty useless so far saying they can't agree to good will when they don't know what they are agreeing to.  My point is that I can't agree to spending £764 just to find out what the problem is if I don't know if they will support me with good will.

 

I've investigated local independents but they've told me they can't do the work and I need a transmission specialist and there's none around here.

 

I don't know what to do as I don't want to take the car back and drive it until it "properly" breaks as surely that'll guarantee a higher repair bill but equally I'm not willing to spend thousands getting it fixed, I'd rather get rid whilst it's minor and buy something else.

 

Any ideas or suggestions welcomed.

 

Thanks

[Danoid]

I don’t blame you for not wanting to spend loads, but you’d need to workout if spending up to £5.6k is better than buying another 2nd hand car, especially if  nothing takes your fancy for what you can afford.

 

The only other option is to sell it via webuyanycar, they only do an extremely short test drive and don’t mention it, bit cheeky but they only put them in an auction anyway, then it’s someone else’s issue for buying at auction where all cars are dodgy.

 

Just don’t mention any issues! 
 

Past experience has shown me that selling via webuyanycar offer at 1 price, then if you leave it a few weeks and do another quote it’s much lower.

 

So if you go that route, have a good think first then commit to first price and be done with it

[SirEdUK]

I have considered the WBAC route. If I get decent amount from them for it and then add at least part of what I would have to pay repair bill wise (Which I suspect would be £1,800 minimum as reckon it's the DMF at the very least) I could get a decent car for the money. 

 

I think I'm done with DSGs though.  Read lots about problems with them in the lower power, lower torque engines.

[MarkyG82]

The DQ200 gearbox on that engine is definitely one to watch out for.  They are serviceable if you can fine the right place to do the job.  Maybe that is something to look into as a fresh set of fluids can work wonders.  Did the independents let on why they didn't want the job?  If it is flywheel related then that should not be a gearbox specialist job in my opinion.  Unless they are unsure how to remove said gearbox.  At that point I would be questioning their knowledge.  Not a short journey but I've heard VAGtech in MK are good.  At least they are in your end of the country and can't hurt to call them.

[SirEdUK]

Thanks MarkyG82.

 

The independent said they could do the flywheel but when they opened the box up, if the flywheel had damaged the clutches (which can often happen apparently) they said they can't do those because they require specialist alignment equipment.  They also said they think Skoda should be supporting with good will as even though it's 6 years old it's only 33k miles.  I do get the impression the indie don't want to do it for whatever reason but I'd rather that than them take it on when they're not confident about their ability to do the job properly.

 

I really don't think I'm inclined towards travelling to a specialist to get it done but I appreciate the pointer and might give them a call for a chat at least.

 

On a completely separate note, how do you find your IONIQ.  I'm seriously considering one myself.

[MarkyG82]

The Ioniq is excellent.  It's the newer version of the old shape so bigger battery and water cooled too.  The efficiency is spot on.  In the summer it say 195 miles when unplugged and will genuinely do that if not a little more.  It's my aim to get over 200 miles from a "tank" this summer.  Winter less so as you'd expect but the GOM is still accurate at around 165 worst case.  Comfort wise and power are perfect for a small-mid size family car.  It's smooth and very responsive.  A few things I dislike are the constant bings about lane departure or other road users etc., the fact you have to turn on autohold each time you start up and how hard it is to keep at 30.  It will more comfortably cruise at 35 ish.  But the radar cruise is very good so I just set it and let the car hold the speed.