New clutch on an S5 S-Tronic

[CerberusRogue]

does anyone know at what mileage/age an S-Tronic S5 would need a new clutch? My car goes in for a service tomorrow and also for a possible gearbox fault.

[Adrian E]

clutch packs don't usually fail on these - more likely a mechatronics module or internal gearbox fault. Hope you've got a warranty as the usual suggestion is to do the mechatronics first for circa £1k and if that doesn't work it's new box territory, as a rule....

[CerberusRogue]

thanks.

It had the mechatronics replaced last year under warranty. It went in today and Audi say that there is a software patch for the issue that they are going to download and apply to it. He reckons that'll fix it as the symptoms are almost identical.

[Adrian E]

Is it throwing any errors, or just something about the way it behaves that isn't quite right? Just out of interest really as ours has been OK apart from throwing a fault code once that seems to be covered by a TSB but Audi wanted to see it come on again before applying the software update on ours....something to do with cold weather gear changes...

[CerberusRogue]

No errors at all. there is simply a slight thump sensation when it shifts up or down to 2nd gear, and sometimes 3rd. It happens when the gearbox isn't under load, i.e. creeping along in a traffic jam.

There is no pause in the gear shift or stutter in the acceleration, it just isn't its usual undetectable self - the very thing I love about the dual clutch boxes is that you can't feel the gear shifts, even when you're putting a lot of power through the gearbox. And this is the reason why I noticed it.

[Dr G]

Yeah, there's a software update for that specific one. Usually sorts it.

[CerberusRogue]

Picked up the car yesterday. Dealer says they didn't apply this patch as after resetting the gearbox memory the problem went away, they reckon the memory was corrupt.

I got two miles down the road and noticed the issue is still happening . So now it needs to go back. It also actually seems a little worse now.

Dr. G, I don't suppose you have a reference number or something for this patch? After telling me that there was one available the dealer changed his mind and said that there wasn't.

Oh, and the scuffed the bumper and denied doing it!

[CerberusRogue]

Car has gone back to Audi now. It is actually "thumping" on the even gears rather than just second. Definitely 2nd and 4th, but I'm not 100% that 6th does it or not, a little too hard to be sure.

[CerberusRogue]

Another update... Audi mechanics couldn't work out the cause of the problem so escalated to Audi Germany for advice. The answer that came back was simple: install a brand new gearbox!!!

I am well chuffed that my 4 year old car gets a brand new S-Tronic gearbox, and really impressed that Audi have gone for this option straight way rather than persist in trying to solve it with small fixes.

Factory ships the gearbox today :-)

[Adrian E]

There's nobody in the UK doing s-tronic box rebuilds on these - there's a place in Eastern Europe that can do them, and that's about it!

If there's sufficient symptoms to suggest it's an internal component issue then a new box was more or less inevitable. What mileage was on it?!

I'm glad to hear they're covering the cost without quibble. It's about £6k I believe!

[CerberusRogue]

car has got 49k miles on it so I'm well chuffed the gearbox will be new. they told me it would be about £6,000 to £7,000 if I had to pay it myself :-)