DSG stalling ?

[timjfw]

On two occasions now my 2.0 diesel DSG has stalled. The first time was reversing into a space in a carpark with the car in reverse and my foot on the brake to control the speed. The second time was pulling up to a busy roundabout up a very slight incline again with my foot on the brake to slow down. Both times though it would not start again for about 10 seconds. Was this because you have to put it into park to re-start the engine?

1) How can a DSG stall ? Shouldn't it always regulate the clutch if you are using the foot brake or the acelerator? I could understand it if I had applied the handbrake with no acceleration. I know that it has a clutch cut-out but surely the car can cope with stop start traffic on the flat with an occasional short incline? If it can't, then it's not fit for purpose.

2) Is it a safety device that it won't start in Neutral?

Not very happy - not a nice feeling having angry commuters behind you whilst your car stalls.

[cng]

I think most if not all automatics have a safety switch in the gear selector which prevents you starting up in gear, so it has to be in the park position ( sometimes or neutral ).

I can remember an article in What Car mag about a Golf TDi DSG that was on long term test that had a tendancy to stall. I think they eventually got it sorted by the VW deller . An issue to present to your dealer I suggest.

[timjfw]

The car does start in neutral - i tried it out. So there must be a problem with the immobiliser kicking in. I'm taking it to the dealers on Monday

[gilesk]

This is not meant to happen, I have never been close to stalling. The dealer should be able to help, can you post back with the results for all of the rest of the DSG users, cheers.

[johnpritt]

I agree with other posters, there is something wrong there. The gerbox is perfectly capable of dealing with stop/start traffic and with parking manoevres where you're controlling speed with the brake rather than accelerator.

Also, just to confirm, the DSG box prevents you starting the car in gear, but does let you start in either Park or Neutral.

[ProfessorFrink]

This has happened to me once. I reversed out of a parking space, went thru neutral to drive, took my foot off the brake and then it stalled. That was about a month ago and it hasn't happened since.

Prof

[timjfw]

But did it refuse to restart ProfessorFrink? It was really embarrassing since I had absolutely no control over the stalling and the delayed re-start.

I will advise on the outcome Gilesk. Hope it's just an easilly resolvable question of the engine not revving enough. I am now putting the car in neutral and applying the handbrake no matter how short the hold up.

[ProfessorFrink]

No, it restarted straight away. As I said it hasn't happened since so I have no idea what was wrong.

Be interesting to find out the cause.

Prof

[timjfw]

Well they ran the diagnositics test and found nothing wrong. There only suggestion was that it could be a faulty starter motor but that doesn't explain why it stalled in the first place. I have to run it for a while and see if it happens again and then call the AA if it doesn't start. Not exactly a helpful response!

[gilesk]

Well they ran the diagnositics test and found nothing wrong. There only suggestion was that it could be a faulty starter motor but that doesn't explain why it stalled in the first place. I have to run it for a while and see if it happens again and then call the AA if it doesn't start. Not exactly a helpful response!

You are right how very helpful, even a mechanically challenged person like myself could have given you that answer, maybe they need to adjust the idling. good luck!

[timjfw]

Stalled again today at lights on a roundabout. Getting sick of it! Is it something I am doing wrong? i put it into neutral and apply handbrake and then put it into drive. Does anyone leave their foot on the brake whilst waiting at the lights ? Does that make the clutch protection system kick in ? Is that what is causing it to stall?

[peterg1955]

SWMBO's Golf GT TDi with did stall a few times when cold and then it stalled at a T junction and the dash display flashed a lot but after 5 mins it started OK and it didn't reoccur but we mentioned it to the dealer for its service and they flashed the firmware and after another30k mo problems there has been no further probs

[runboy]

I've only done 5000 miles with a DSG gearbox in start/stop traffic, plus the drive into my garage has a small lip to get over and despite getting the timing wrong, the revs always rise enough to get the car over the small lip.

However my last car was a new Toyota avensis with a convential auto box and this stalled a few times. It turned out to be a software problem and after the fix there was no stalling.

I did ask the question on here last week about a DSG software update but no one knew if there was one.

[octavia5]

I have had my 140pd with DSG for 18months now and never had a problem with stalling and I do a lot of stop start driving, sometimes with foot on the brake when stopped sometimes into neutral and handbrake on.

Given the operational design of the DSG this must be an engine fault, as someone suggested maybe a simple tick over adjustment needed which is unlikely to pop up a fault code. Sounds like the dealer isn't listening to your description to closely and relying on the electronics.

[DubFlyer]

I have the 6 speed Automatic (not DSG) I have 3000k on the clock so still fairly new.

I have never had this problem.

I did notice that on the first start up in the morning you can feel the car change into second and third but after that its pretty smooth.

My normal driving is putting the car into Drive and not touching it again until I am getting out at the other end.

At lights I just hold the car on the foot break. Not sure if this is good or bad but it works for me.

[woodenspatulas]

are you using the service centre of the supplying dealer? might be worth going back in and speaking to the sales person who sold you the car. By getting him/her on side they might be able to speak to the engineers and get tehm to flash the software on the car. if it is a small glitch in the programming it wont show up as a fault as the car is perfroming to the required programme. Or just ask them to do it directly. personally i would rather a customer of mine came into see me so i can kick the service dept up the back side

[timjfw]

I bought it from Jamjars so the garage it came from was up in the Midlands and I'm on the Isle of Wight, I took it into the local dealer and they ran diagnostics but found nothing. Although it's only happened 4 or 5 times since I've owned the car ( Jan 07) it's getting to the stage where I am nervous about pulling up to junctions on slight inclines and I'm trying to compensate by keeping my foot on the accelrator and using the handbrake when pulling off ( almost like a clutch). Personally I don't think there are enough revs. What's worse is that when it stalls it's as though the immobiliser kicks in and I can't start immediately. Great when you've stalled at a junction and can't move for 20 seconds.

[Tech1e]

There was an engine ECU update covering stalling a while back on vw Golf and Jetta with DSG, pretty sure there should be the same with Skoda.

No need to change into neutral though when stopping though, wont harm the gearbox.

[dilly]

"I bought it from Jamjars so the garage it came from was up in the Midlands and I'm on the Isle of Wight"

Isn't this one of the problems with buying through DTD, Jamjars, etc? Surely the local dealer on the I of W has no incentive to fix a problem on a car he didn't supply? I'm surprised he didn't tell you to take it back to Jamjars and get them to fix it.

There must be some concern that online suppliers are going to send dealers out of business. Fewer dealers would be a pain for all of us.

dill

[marcevo1]

i had a A3 dsg 140 s line a few years ago - 60k in one year! -;-)

suffered the same problem in reverse - eventually stalling in forward as well when cold.

audi investigated and said ........ porous cylinder head!

fingers crossed its not the same problem!

i changed jobs - so car went back to audi so never did find out if that was the problem (they werent very good on the warranty front so i imagine it was never sorted)

marc