Big DSG Problem

last night, my car got stuck in some weird mode where it wouldn't shift. It was like it was in sport mode without being in Sport mode (it was in D). It seemed like it didn't go higher than 2nd. The gear indicator showed nothing, no D, S, or numbers. It also felt like the power was very jumpy, and at times sluggish. Then this morning, I put the car in reverse to pull out of the driveway, and it did nothing. Just rolled backwards a few feet. When I hit the gas it revved but did nothing. I then put the car in park, turned it off, restarted, and when I shifted to reverse, i heard a nice hearty "klunk", and then everything was back to normal as thought it never happened, it seems to run a bit rougher now though, not sure, it may have been the asphalt rather than the engine. Has anyone seen or heard of anything. 5040 miles when it happened.

Wow....sounds like something major...make an appt w/ the service dept ASAP

My wife had something like that happen with her GLI. Twice. First time they replaced the whole tranny. Second time believe it or not it was a bad coil pack. 'Nother good reason why I will never get the DSG: Veeeeeery expensive to fix, should one decide to mod ones car and forfeit ones warranty. Ones.

Sounds pretty bad. Mine is still good though. Just over 5,000miles too.

Do you always park with the hand brake?

Sounds like the car was in limp mode.

It should have thrown a code. Take it to the dealer to find out why it went into limp mode.

I then put the car in park, turned it off, restarted, and when I shifted to reverse, i heard a nice hearty "klunk", and then everything was back to normal as thought it never happened

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If it were a control system problem, that might have been the "Ctrl Alt Delete" that re-booted the system

keep us posted on the outcome... I feel your pain!

fokker said:

Sounds like the car was in limp mode.

It should have thrown a code. Take it to the dealer to find out why it went into limp mode.

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I had a 2004 TT 3.2 DSG (first gen production DSG) and this very situatoin repeatedly happened to me.

The explanation given by Audi technical support (to the dealer) was that the programming encountered a situation that the DSG control unit (DCU) could not resolve so it goes into a "safe" mode to protect the tranny (basically puts the car in neutral no matter where you are, what speed you are traveling, etc). What they did to correct it the first, second and third time was reflash the firmware for the DCU. Utimately, Audi had the dealer replace the entire DCU and that solved the problem (I was told, because by that time, I traded the TT in for an A4 Avant).

bubuski said:

Sounds pretty bad. Mine is still good though. Just over 5,000miles too.

Do you always park with the hand brake?

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Is it good or bad to park with the hand brake?
I would think using hand brake takes the load off the transmission.

i use the hand brake, but im also used to driving a manual.

I haven't had any issues yet since the other day, so I am just waiting for it to happen again and thinking it was a freak accident.

MrClean: did yours come out of the problem, or did you have to get it towed in to the shop?

The first Summer I had my MK5 DSG GTI, I was gunning it down the highway, and switched into Sport Mode. I decided I didn't like it continuously downshifting for me, and switched back. When I did this, the car basically just went "dead" on me. Pressing the gas pedal did nothing, I was just coasting. So I pulled over, turned it off and back on, and then everything was back to normal. I took off fine, and have never had any problems since.

*shrug*

I think these cars just have the demons in them...

I need an old priest and a young priest!

SoFlaGTI said:

I haven't had any issues yet since the other day, so I am just waiting for it to happen again and thinking it was a freak accident.

MrClean: did yours come out of the problem, or did you have to get it towed in to the shop?

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It was weird.

The very first time it happened, my wife was driving. The car went into safe mode, which is basically neutral. She coasted to the side of the road and turned the car off for a moment then restarted it to find the car operating normally. She gingerly drove the car home without issue. Took in to dealer, flashed DCU, sent us on our way.

The second time it happened, I was driving to work on the freeway, as I was exiting (about 50 mph) the car went into safe mode (neutral) and I coasted to a stop on the off ramp with no where to pull off. So, I ended up in the way of traffic and several attempts to "reset" the DSG, as my wife did, failed. I ended up calling Audi Roadside for a tow (and the police because of the unsafe situation of a stalled car on a blind off ramp to the hwy). Car was flat bedded to the dealer, two days of trouble shooting, one reflash sent on our way.

The third time it happened, I was driving to work (avoiding the hwy b/c I no longer had confidence in the car). I was driving 45 mph went into safe mode again, coasted into a parking lot, called Audi Roadside again. Said 45 min response time. I let the car sit for 2-3 minutes, then restarted the car and it work. However, the car did the safe mode at least 4 more times in 5 miles; luckily I was able to pull off the road safely each time. By the time I got to the dealer, I was fuming!

I called Audi Customer Care and told them to keep the car! I then contacted my salesman and he worked out a deal for me on an Avant, but not before I had to drive the TT again to have it do it again!

Once Audi replaced the DCU (DSG control unit), I was told by my salesman the car was test driven extensively without issue. The car was certified and resold to someone and did not experience the problem again, as I was told.

I broke a cardinal rule of mine with this car, NEVER BUY THE FIRST YEAR OF ANY NEW CAR/TECHNOLOGY!

MrClean said:

I broke a cardinal rule of mine with this car, NEVER BUY THE FIRST YEAR OF ANY NEW CAR/TECHNOLOGY!

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Didn't you just buy a 2010 GTI?

(I know, I know, it's mostly proven stuff from the mkv)