DSG pump whine / Low fluid on L&K - fixed

Dear all,

On my MY20 L&K, I've just spent out on a DSG gearbox oil change and filter change. Car runs with a DQ381-7F.

The vehicle has done 19k; ever since we pick up the car it's had a whine (which we thought was an aux belt and dry bearings), but I wanted to say that in-fact, this turns out to have been the DSG pump complaining through lack of fluid.

Other symptoms included; hard to change into gear (especially when gearbox was cold) e.g. change from Park into Reverse.

Car was always reluctant to get going. Never happy to get moving quickly. Gearbox in sports mode was always problematic (high revs, not a lot of go). Downshifting was also jurky.

The signifier (and this why you should ALWAYS have an ODBELEVEN dongle to hand) is that when I looked at the pressures on the gearbox when moving forward, requested pressure was at 25 bar; actual pressure was never any higher than 14 or 15 bar. In other words the pump could not deliver the pressure needed or requested.

One gearbox fluid and filter change later, I have a TRANSFORMED car. Gear selection is now faultless and you now cannot even feel the gear changes.

Had to pay for the fluid change myself, but trying to claim it back on my Skoda used-car warranty (not holding out much hope as it's a poor quality insurance and has LOADS of exclusions).

My recommendation is that if you have a MY19 or MY20 Octavia with a DQ381-7F or DQ381-7A gearbox and it doesn't seem to drive correctly (either excessive slippage or just get moving forward properly), it's a high chance that the factory didn't fill up the gearbox fluid properly. For me...the 315ukp for this service is a lot of money but it's cheaper than a new gearbox/mechatronics unit

Edited 28 May, 20242 yr by varaderoguy
updated