Why You Should Not Buy A Dsg Transmission

[croppz]

I'd rather do it myself and chalk it up to a learning experience rather than getting shafted by a dealer.

 

[scdevon]

So does your wallet. I could do it THRICE for $700. Wow.

I know. What ripoff joints are these people getting their cars "serviced" at?
I'm a 6MT manual guy, but all of this stressing about servicing DSG boxes is just anal retentive nonsense. The DSG box is no more difficult than servicing an old Ford C4 box or a GM TH350 etc; maybe not even AS difficult.

In a pinch, an amateur DSG owner could carefully measure the exact amount of fluid removed from the DSG and replace it with the same amount of new fluid and be perfectly fine without all of the temperature measurements, etc. provided that the unit wasn't losing any fluid externally to begin with. Pre-soaking the new filter with new fluid would even account for the amount of fluid retained by the old filter.

The amount of money that owners waste on DSG gearboxes boggles the mind.

 

[makattack]

Ok, this isn't quite a DSG issue...it's more a manual tranny issue coupled with the VW GSW's "hill hold" feature.

I've never driven a car before with hill hold. My history of privately owned cars is limited two three because I previously drove them nearly into the ground before replacement. The two previous cars were Subaru manuals (Legacy wagon and Impreza WRX). My VW GSW was me wanting to try something different -- VW & TDI.

I'm loving every aspect of it. There was some growing pains. The VW reverse, and forgetting that there's a 6th gear was fairly quickly sorted out by my brain.

What I CANNOT seem to get used to is this "hill hold" feature.

It's caused me to stall out about every 200 miles or so when I'm on a hill, and forget I have this feature. It seems I let the clutch out way too soon when the hill hold is engaged and I'm trying to start in first. It seems as if I need to slip the clutch a little hovering around the friction point without giving too much throttle to "break" this hill hold.

Does that sound about right? It's weird. I rarely stall out my Subarus, but feel like I'm learning to drive for the first time with the VW.

 

[LRTDI]

My kids have a bet every time we go to England and rent car. Its how many times Dad will stall it getting out of the rental lot.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Touching the accelerator breaks the hill hold.

 

[panthers89fan90]

.

MT = Security device

The only security device that gets better with age.

 

[makattack]

My kids have a bet every time we go to England and rent car. Its how many times Dad will stall it getting out of the rental lot.

Haha, true story: First time driving in the UK, I "hired" a Golf TDI in 1998. They drove the car to the exit point gate, so I wouldn't have to navigate the car park. I get in, sort out the seat, mirrors, and was just sitting there staring at the shift knob trying to see if it's the same pattern as in the US. Before I know it, I heard a friendly beep-beep behind me as the next customer was ready to drive out. In one motion, I look up into the sky, out the right/driver's side door looking for the rear-view mirror (which I had just adjusted and knew was on my left) and slammed my shifting hand hard into the door reaching for the imaginary right-hand shifter.

Needless to say, after that, I was "sorted" as they say. Surprisingly was able to just drive right out and stay on the correct side of the road after being startled like that.

@IndigoBlueWagon, thanks for that... I'll have to play with giving a touch of throttle as I hit the friction point. I'm too used to keeping my foot on the brake while letting up on the clutch until I hit the friction point. I guess I'll just have to trust the hill-hold.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It was an adjustment for me, too, but once I started touching the accelerator when I wanted to go things went smoothly.

It surprises me when I've driven on the left side of the road that adjustment is pretty quick, despite having to shift with your left hand but having pedals in the same locations. Real issue I found is recognizing that there's a lot of car to the left of you. I terrified my wife driving around London, as I was closer to cars on the left on one ways than I realized.

 

[Diesl]

Off-topic but interesting: the confusion and added caution from switching a whole country from left- to right-side driving (or vice versa) makes overall accident rates go DOWN for a certain amount of time (several months). The amount of time is apparently a function of the number of drivers in the country, i.e. the effect lasted longer in Sweden than in Iceland.

 

[gmcjetpilot]

I know. What ripoff joints are these people getting their cars "serviced" at?

I'm a 6MT manual guy, but all of this stressing about servicing DSG boxes
is just anal retentive nonsense. The DSG box is no more difficult than
servicing an old Ford C4 box or a GM TH350 etc; maybe not even AS
difficult.

In a pinch, an amateur DSG owner could carefully measure the exact
amount of fluid removed from the DSG and replace it with the same
amount of new fluid and be perfectly fine without all of the temperature
measurements, etc. provided that the unit wasn't losing any fluid externally
to begin with. Pre-soaking the new filter with new fluid would even account
for the amount of fluid retained by the old filter.

The amount of money that owners waste on DSG gearboxes boggles the
mind.

Correct you can use the drain, measure and fill method, assuming the
factory had the correct level. However it is so simple to over-fill and burp...
Then you are sure you have the exact LEVEL... It is actually more work to
measure and try and match that with fresh fluid.

The big "trick" is getting fluid to go uphill... you fill from the bottom drain
with a stand pipe; you have to squirt it up there (using gravity or pump or
pressure). So you need a fitting, tube and bottle fitting. The fitting/tube to
fill it is a few bucks DIY, borrow or you can buy off the shelf from cheap to
exotic fancy. You can also top fill through oil filter port, but that is more
time consuming. Never tried it.

Service Kit cost about $120, and on sale about $99, oil, filter... That is it. If you meant having it done at dealer? Yes they charge a lot, but that is
because they get $125 an hour and to be fair, from start to finish it is
about 2 hour job (charge). A fast Tech can do it in an hour.... it's a money maker.

When you say anal retentive, what are you referring to? The anal part I assume you are talking about is temperature, jacking and level car:

Temp: You are to burp the extra fluid at a specific temperature, which
requires VCD cable to measure fluid temp, although some use a hand help IR gun on the trans case, I find if you start with a hot transmission, work at reasonable span of time at normal warm garage, the oil is at Temp almost right after you start the car up (you burb trans with engine running).

Level: Yea that is a must.

Jacking: You are to jack the car level, to get access, however when
burping they want you to put transmission drive, allow the front tires to
spin. If you use ramps or lift letting the tires spin is not possible. So
people just put the car in drive with foot on brake. It seems to work fine.
However ideally jacking level so the front tires ore free to spin is a bit of a trick if you do that.

 

[redbarron55]

You need to be about level, but it makes less difference than you might think since the drain snorkel is pretty near the center of the area. The part up hill is about the same as the amount down hill etc.
I just use a new dedicated garden sprayer and a modified drain plug to put the oil in.
It costs about $20.00, $5.00 for the plug. Drill and tap for a quick connect fitting and you got a quick easy way to do the job.
You can also make a small diameter J hook out of some copper tubing and hang it through the drain snorkel over the edge. Pump in oil until it runs back.
I don't know why this is such an issue.

 

[Ol'Rattler]

I don't know why this is such an issue.

I agree with that. although the DSG is not all that hard to service correctly, the additional service requirements are just plain lame. Given that and the completely stupid mind numbing expense of repairing them when they do malfunction, which they will at some point, makes owning a DSG a poor choice.