How bad are DSG (S Tronic ) boxes
Discussion
Morning all,
I am looking for a new car, at the moment I am stuck between a Merc E300 and an A4/5, all in petrol. The Audi would be the 40 TFSI. Any car would be 2019 or newer.
I read around online that the DSG boxes are prone to failure and expensive to repair, however I also see a huge amount of newer Audi's on the road so question are the boxes as bad as I am reading.
If the service is done every 40k will they last, how reliable are they and how expensive are they to repair if they do fail. Is the Merc box that much better than the Audi box?
I am looking for a new car, at the moment I am stuck between a Merc E300 and an A4/5, all in petrol. The Audi would be the 40 TFSI. Any car would be 2019 or newer.
I read around online that the DSG boxes are prone to failure and expensive to repair, however I also see a huge amount of newer Audi's on the road so question are the boxes as bad as I am reading.
If the service is done every 40k will they last, how reliable are they and how expensive are they to repair if they do fail. Is the Merc box that much better than the Audi box?
BlinkyD said:
Morning all,
I am looking for a new car, at the moment I am stuck between a Merc E300 and an A4/5, all in petrol. The Audi would be the 40 TFSI. Any car would be 2019 or newer.
I read around online that the DSG boxes are prone to failure and expensive to repair, however I also see a huge amount of newer Audi's on the road so question are the boxes as bad as I am reading.
If the service is done every 40k will they last, how reliable are they and how expensive are they to repair if they do fail. Is the Merc box that much better than the Audi box?
There are many different DSG boxes in the VAG range. Some are very good, some not so.So do your research carefully, as you’re about to get a dozen different replies, from a dozen different people..I am looking for a new car, at the moment I am stuck between a Merc E300 and an A4/5, all in petrol. The Audi would be the 40 TFSI. Any car would be 2019 or newer.
I read around online that the DSG boxes are prone to failure and expensive to repair, however I also see a huge amount of newer Audi's on the road so question are the boxes as bad as I am reading.
If the service is done every 40k will they last, how reliable are they and how expensive are they to repair if they do fail. Is the Merc box that much better than the Audi box?
Others will be able to go into more specific detail on the different DSG’s I am sure. I’ve had a few, mainly in VW’s, and they’ve been fine bar one issue in a 2016 Golf which was fixed under warranty. You are right in definitely getting it serviced every 40k miles. Also would the Audi be bought from approved used network as then it would come with an Audi warranty?
From my own experience I would say the Audi is going to be a lot more reliable overall than the E Class is going to be. I did over 60k miles in three years in an SQ5 (2019 model) with no problems at all. By contrast I had a 2017 E Class last year (with low miles) and cost me over £3k repairs in electrical issues. My auto electrician confirmed he has those and Mercs in general in for repair more than any other manufacturer. Lovely cars to be in of course. Knew I was possibly rolling the dice buying one but thought I’d get away with it due to mileage and history. That being said, again like the Audi, if you stick an MB warranty on it then huge peace of mind
From my own experience I would say the Audi is going to be a lot more reliable overall than the E Class is going to be. I did over 60k miles in three years in an SQ5 (2019 model) with no problems at all. By contrast I had a 2017 E Class last year (with low miles) and cost me over £3k repairs in electrical issues. My auto electrician confirmed he has those and Mercs in general in for repair more than any other manufacturer. Lovely cars to be in of course. Knew I was possibly rolling the dice buying one but thought I’d get away with it due to mileage and history. That being said, again like the Audi, if you stick an MB warranty on it then huge peace of mind
I have a Seat Lean 2.0 tfsi with the 7 speed DSG wet clutch box and it been brilliant (so far) Just had it serviced, new oil filters etc at 40k .
Gentle driving its seamless, smooth shifts, push on and it's quick shifting. Sport mode it's rapid shifting, blips the down shift etc, paddle shift is instant.
Very pleasantly surprised as I had heard some stories, but for me so far it has been a joy.
The only thing I would say is in standard mode it looks for the highest gear it can as soon as possible, economy.... just pop it into sport and it holds the gears as you would driving a manual.
Gentle driving its seamless, smooth shifts, push on and it's quick shifting. Sport mode it's rapid shifting, blips the down shift etc, paddle shift is instant.
Very pleasantly surprised as I had heard some stories, but for me so far it has been a joy.
The only thing I would say is in standard mode it looks for the highest gear it can as soon as possible, economy.... just pop it into sport and it holds the gears as you would driving a manual.
There is a known window for the 7 speed wet clutch box for mechatronic failure .
It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
cliffords said:
There is a known window for the 7 speed wet clutch box for mechatronic failure .
It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
What’s the fault code, or dash message you get with this sort of failure ?It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
This is the company I used for the repair of the unit .
Click on the car / gearbox you are considering and it will give you an explanation including fault codes and dash warning.
https://www.ecutesting.com/categories/dsg-mechatro...
Click on the car / gearbox you are considering and it will give you an explanation including fault codes and dash warning.
https://www.ecutesting.com/categories/dsg-mechatro...
I'm currently on my second DSG, the first was an early, 6 speed in a 2004 A3, 3.2 in which I did 90k miles with no bother, my current is a 2014 S4, 7 speed currently on 50k miles and no bother so far.
Both were serviced as per manufacturer's spec, in fact I had the oil change done early on the S4.
My only issues were with the older model on the A3 which was a touch 'grabby' whilst slow manoeuvring up to, say a wall so it was trickier to get a gentle 'creep' and it didn't like it if the car was started with a low battery - this car suffered from battery discharging and if started with low voltage it would cycle many errors including, on a couple of occasions gear shift errors but they all went away after restarting with a decent charge or having a good battery so it was a voltage problem rather than a DSG fault.
I'm a fan.
Both were serviced as per manufacturer's spec, in fact I had the oil change done early on the S4.
My only issues were with the older model on the A3 which was a touch 'grabby' whilst slow manoeuvring up to, say a wall so it was trickier to get a gentle 'creep' and it didn't like it if the car was started with a low battery - this car suffered from battery discharging and if started with low voltage it would cycle many errors including, on a couple of occasions gear shift errors but they all went away after restarting with a decent charge or having a good battery so it was a voltage problem rather than a DSG fault.
I'm a fan.
The dq200 and dq381 are the ones that fail, I think it’s clutch position solenoid 2 that usually comes up as a the fault, on the dashboard it’s something about reverse gear. For use it’s around £1500 by the time you have done, that includes genuine oil and filter and all of the seals and mechatronic sump. We currently have one in bits at work.
My own car is the older 6 speed, they really need a remap to make them function better. I don’t trust its longevity when towing. The bmw zf8 walks all over it for smoothness.
My own car is the older 6 speed, they really need a remap to make them function better. I don’t trust its longevity when towing. The bmw zf8 walks all over it for smoothness.
cliffords said:
There is a known window for the 7 speed wet clutch box for mechatronic failure .
It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
Will this impact *all* boxes made until late 2019?It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
the-photographer said:
cliffords said:
There is a known window for the 7 speed wet clutch box for mechatronic failure .
It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
Will this impact *all* boxes made until late 2019?It's two small solenoids that fail , originally Bosch supplied .
It's cars up to late 2019 when the unit was adapted.
There are two or three companies now carrying out a repair at around £400/500 . You need to remove the unit and send it to them.
My son is a mechanic and he did the removal and replacement for me .
With the repair and oil and filter plus gasgets and bolts it was near £900. We also used Vag software to recalibrate it .
If you dare hunt YouTube for this known fault it will put you off buying all these cars , yet clearly most of them are still working ok.
When I bought the parts at the VW /Skoda dealership the parts guy said they were doing two a week now. Charging £3500 if outside warranty as they replace the mechatronic, not repair it .
citizen smith said:
Perhaps the DSG issues, have been down to not following the correct servicing schedule for the DSG box including Filter.
No the common failure is an electrical component called a clutch position solenoid .Made by Bosch and this is the component that fails regardless of oil and filter changes or otherwise. Skoda actually said it was lifetime oil before they realised it was a service revenue opportunity. When I changed oil at 50k it's appearance and smell was as the new oil . The filter was unmarked.
cliffords said:
No the common failure is an electrical component called a clutch position solenoid .
Made by Bosch and this is the component that fails regardless of oil and filter changes or otherwise. Skoda actually said it was lifetime oil before they realised it was a service revenue opportunity. When I changed oil at 50k it's appearance and smell was as the new oil . The filter was unmarked.
Wow, you live and learn every day.Made by Bosch and this is the component that fails regardless of oil and filter changes or otherwise. Skoda actually said it was lifetime oil before they realised it was a service revenue opportunity. When I changed oil at 50k it's appearance and smell was as the new oil . The filter was unmarked.
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