Can I ask the forum's opinion please. Mechatonic and clutch faults at coding for gearbox fault at 30k. No longer under warranty. Should I let AA recommended gearbox specialist repair components for £3000, Skoda replace the parts for £3500 but can't guarantee costs of inspecting and own diagnosing  (no goodwill as 7y old), or get rid.

 Love the car but worry how long after a fix the car will live on reliably. Or can anyone recommend a more reliable petrol automatic in similar seating position. Thank you

Maybe it's too early in the morning and my mind is befuddled .... but I thought you raised this. or something remarkably similar, in a recent, but seperate, thread?

Have Skoda UK been contacted about making a contribution towards the cost of this seeing as know issues, known by Skoda / VW and premature failures?

They do contribute towards the cost in some cases as they know their are fundamental design, manufacturing and material / component failings, 

even when the vehicle is out of manufacturers warranty.

Or have been doing.

 

 

Skoda Main Dealer new Mechatronic Unit and replace clutch packs will have a 2 year warranty on parts & labour. 

Best get the quote from a Dealership with the Techs with the equipment and knowledge to do the work.

No need for the Diagnostic cost of £85 plus VAT or more if they are getting the job.

 

Could be less than the £3,200 (£2,800) @Sittingbull had to pay.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/444617-7speed-dq200-dsg-failure

 

Edited 23 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

No goodwill. Believe me I tried. Skoda UK were deeply disinterested, said "old car" (7y ..but only 30k), and neither they nor my dealer had ever seen/heard of dsg problems before. Blah.

Left with difficult choice of whether to replace likely components (AA and gearbox specialist codings), at £3500 BUT plus "diagnostics and inspection costs " at £100 per hour or they won't guarantee the fix. I'll only throw more money at it if a fix means it wont have similar problems again-being a dsg7, how can you be confident that even new parts will last reliably when this gearbox has failed so young?

Edited 23 December, 20187 yr by Sarah18

I think you need to contact Ms Cornish a Resolutions manager @ Skoda UK.

 

Because they know damn well of the failures.   If she does not she needs to talk to 'the team' as they do as does Rod McLeod.

 

The reason you can trust the Repair by Skoda Main Dealers is there have been hundreds requiring the repairs in the UK as Skoda UK know as plenty were done under Warranty.

The issue was not only with Skoda across the models it was with VW, Audi & SEAT. 

Probably thousands of repairs from 2009-2018.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/315115-service-campaign-dq200-dsg-oil-changeecu-update-in-uk/?page=8

 

Edited 23 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

Sarah 18, I think you are asking a bit much from Skoda about a 7 year old car even if it is low mileage, even Kia / Hyundai cars would have been out of warranty by then.

VW were so aware of issues that by 2012 were getting ready to to a World Wide recall which did not include Europe.

In New Zealand vehicles with a DQ200 DSG had a new MCU fitted as part of the service campaign.

By May 2014 there was a Service Campaign started in the UK.  Oil changed and a software update.

 

It is not really asking too much really of a manufacturer that knew of the problems of their making due to Component or Fluid choice and software.

Honesty should be the minimum that Skoda UK employees should be giving to owners of the vehicles with premature failures.

7 year old vehicle, but at under 40,000 miles with a DSG that has no Service Schedule or guidelines.

1 hour ago, Skoffski said:

I think you need to contact Ms Cornish a Resolutions manager @ Skoda UK.

 

Because they know damn well of the failures.   If she does not she needs to talk to 'the team' as they do as does Rod McLeod.

 

The reason you can trust the Repair by Skoda Main Dealers is there have been hundreds requiring the repairs in the UK as Skoda UK know as plenty were done under Warranty.

The issue was not only with Skoda across the models it was with VW, Audi & SEAT. 

Probably thousands of repairs from 2009-2018.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/315115-service-campaign-dq200-dsg-oil-changeecu-update-in-uk/?page=8

 

Skoffski -Thanks but I did all that. Ms Cornish at Skoda UK is the one that made those comments above, wouldn’t offer any goodwill. How do I get to ‘the team’/Rod McLeod? The main question left, after 2 months without a car that drives, is whether its worth repairing or taking 2k in scrap. Is the dsg gearbox any more reliable long term once repaired ? No car and rather broke at Christmas. Tough decision..

Personally i have not heard of a DSG that had a new MCU fitted then failing.

Or of a new MCU and clutch packs.

 

A member recently had a Used DSG fitted to a Fabia.  I will link that thread for you.

 

I think £2,000 is too little for your Yeti for Spares or Repair.   But best look see what you could get from the likes of WBAC or Evans Halshaw if not faulty and do the maths.

 

Buying a used DQ200 DSG & having it fitted is a big gamble.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/458660-dsg-gearbox-codes

 

Edited 23 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

I am sure I read of someone who repairs the mechatronic units for far less than this? The clutch pack could be changed at the same time?

Skoda only replaces the whole mechatronics unit.

 

Worth doing a search.

 

EG on a repeat for Wheeler Dealers a few days ago a very expensive originally car needed a replacement ABS unit at £2k for the part. This part had been deliberately built to be tamperproof but were known to suffer from damp ingress.

A company has devised a way to open the sealed unit, remove the anti-tamper epoxy, repair and refurbish with parts which don't have the original issues, all for £395 at the time, complete with long warranty.

 

 

^^^ Maybe in this thread.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/457990-yeti-dsg-gearbox-failure-at-34k-miles

 

As no one has answered your question about other auto equivalents here are some suggestions: Peugeot 2008, Suzuki Vitara, Mazda CX-3, Citroen C3 aircross. All have conventional torque converter autoboxes which are much more reliable than DSG boxes.

I am on my third Skoda with DSG boxes and haven’t had any problems but, undoubtedly they are potentially more troublesome than torque converters. DSG boxes were said on launch to be as economical as a manual and much more fuel efficient than conventional torque converter autos. However, the latest generation of torque converter auto boxes are as efficient as DSG boxes so one wonders how long DSG’s will carry on. Note that Ford have already dropped their Powershift DSG auto boxes and developed much better economic torque converter boxes.

Sarah, we were in the same position as you earlier this year with our mk2 Fabia vRS, as referred to above, and although it ended up costing us £2800 it's worth remembering that the final figure did include a goodwill contribution from Skoda of £400, taking the full bill to £3200 for new mechatronic unit and clutch packs.

 

Our contact at Skoda UK, and they are aware of failures for this particular unit as they were doing service actions, including to the same box fitted to mk3 Fabia, was a lady named Gemma Gough. We ended up speaking to Gemma after my wife insisted on escalating to Rod McLeod. It's a sore fight to be honest, their intransigence and ostrich like ability to stick their head in the sands when it comes to problems with Skoda's is not fitting for the VAG group, supposed manufacturers of the people's cars.

 

As for reliability, well it comes with a 2 year parts and labour warranty, ours has been faultless so far and in fact is rather like driving a new car again. But it was a tough decision for us to make, £3200 repair bill on a car worth 5000 or so. But we plan on keeping the car, know it also has a new engine, and as we're happy overall we spent the money. Your decision is also a tough one, that only you can make as you know your finances and motor overall better than any of us.

 

Other petrol automatics are easy to find, not many drive as well as a good working DSG though, and others also come with problems. Ford had a problem with the powershift option available across their range, some of the boxes in the Citroen range are prone to issues as well. So it's not plain sailing to find one that you will have 100% confidence in after this experience. We are still rebuilding our trust to be honest, still occasionally find ourselves looking for the dreaded flashing white spanner appearing again. It does that to you despite the car driving perfectly.

My sons ford focus 1.6 powershift was 3 years old and had done 22K when he bought it. It was an ex motability car. It became clear after only a few days that the clutch pack was failing as it juddered every time it changed into 2nd or 4th. The clutch was replaced under warranty, and all fine for a while, but 2 years on and another 20k miles or so the same fault is starting to be evident again, and no warranty now.

 

I think you have been unlucky with the mechatronic issues, and it may well be the legacy issue that should have had a recall, as has happened elsewhere it much hotter areas. However as I understand it the fault was really only an issue with persistent long hot temperatures not suiting the oil used in the gearbox?

 

The clutch though should last at least twice as long as you would expect with a manual, around 160k, if used correctly. It is possible to ruin the dry clutch used in the petrol car dsg by incorrect use, in a mileage similar to yours or even less.

eg

Letting car trickle along very slowly in second gear in heavy traffic, where it has to slip the clutch to avoid stalling. (The car has a tendency to go straight to second as soon as it is moving). Better to select manual first in this situation so the clutch is fully engaged and the car travels at very low speed, or stop and wait for a gap ahead and move off again with clutch fully engaged. Alternately, i have tried following advice to select sport mode in heavy traffic, this does stop the car going to second so quickly, but will still change automatically if traffic speed permits.

 

I have also seen drivers of dsg cars stop at traffic lights, engage the handbrake like on a manual and take their foot off the brake. This forces the clutch to slip to avoid stalling the engine and is terrible for the clutch. (I watched a courtesy driver from Skoda taking me to where I work when my car was in for a service doing exactly this at every stop on the journey!!)

 

Whilst the wet clutch on the more powerful cars does not wear like a conventional clutch, as it is shear in the oil between the plates which transmits the drive and the plates don't actually touch until they are travelling at the same speed; the dry clutch has to rub the plates together to initiate drive to the wheels until they reach the same speed and clamp together. This has to cause wear and they have only so much material from the surface which can be lost before needing replacement, as in a manual clutch car. (I have come across reports of a wet clutch taxi with over 500k miles on the clutch and still working. There is someone with a tuned Superb, over 500ps, happily going through a wet clutch for drag strip use; but you could never do this with the dry clutch which can only be used on the lower powered engines.)

 

 

^^^

This was June 2013.

Then March 2014 and Skoda start the Service Campaign.

http://autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/vw-uk-no-dsg-recall-required

 

 

So there was a 'Service Campaign' a voluntary one on DQ200 DSG's in Europe for ones from 2009-2013, 

& as weather can be the same as New Zealand anything 'Skoda UK or VW went on about was rubish..  In New Zealand all DQ200's had a new MCU fitted.

Heat of the country not the issue. Humidity and internal corrosion and sulphur being the issue.

'34F7'.

 

Then there is a Service Campaign 2013-2015 DQ200's.  '34F5'.  Due to heat / pressure / failure issues for some boxes.

 

The White Spanner issue has been with DQ200 DSG from the period of boxes being not covered by '34F7' or '34F5' as supposedly they had Synthetic Oil in from the factory and did not require a Software Update.

 

Important to note that the person that sadly died and that is mentioned was later said to have not been driving a  car with a DSG box.

Anyone interested might like to check the latest on that from reports of the Court Action in australia.

 

 

Edited 28 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

As said in your other thread, at 7 years old your car is old and expecting Skoda or any other manufacturer to take some responsibility or offer any good will is frankly ridiculous, even if the mileage is low.

Edited 28 December, 20187 yr by Llanigraham

Really ridiculous, but they have been accepting responsibility to a degree.   Amazing or what?

What happened was that the 'New heid in came in and then they went all hard balls'.   But then VW knew what they were doing making Rod McLeod the latest Brand Manager'.

 

Paul Willis the head of VW UK has gone now though. Pastures new. 

 

There was a 10 year / 160,000 km Extended Warranty given on DQ200 DSG in some World Regions where VW crapped themselves.

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Edited 28 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski