Viewer Questions on DSG Transmissions, Podcast Episode 30
Hey everyone. Today we are talking about DSG, or Direct Shift Gearbox transmissions. I posted on Facebook asking for YOUR questions on DSGs. The reason for that is, Jason from Engineering Explained joined me in the shop for a very in depth video on the DSG. I wanted to use that opportunity to answer your questions before his video comes out. Let me say, you guys are going to love that video.
Join me as I answer your questions on:
- Using the Factory fill tool
- Measuring the proper fluid level
- Clutch wear life
- The beer I am drinking 😉
- Issues with hesitation at start
- Awkwardness in stop and go traffic
- Why does my DSG roll after pulling it in park
- DSG vs PDK
- DSG in a MK4
- Why are they replacing manuals
- DSG in a MK1 (WHAT THE WHAT??)
- Showing some love for Engineering Explained AND EricTheCarGuy
If you are having problems viewing, watch “Viewer Questions on DSG Transmissions, Podcast Episode 30” on YouTube.
Thanks again to Jason from Engineering Explained (check out our VR6 video) for hanging out, and doing some fun video work. Remember, if you have a question you want to submit for a show like this (DSG or otherwise), email me Charles(at)Humblemechanic(dot)com, be sure to put QUESTION FOR CHARLES in the subject.
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Great Video, I am looking forward to the additional info on the DSG. How well does the DSG do with 300+ hp, like in the new Golf R?
Also looking forward to the video then I’ll have about a thousand questions. Fun thing to do with a DSG for the nubes out there, power-brake one sometime. Freaked me out the first time, “OH @$#&, I broke it!”.
I am thinking about buying a passat cc 3.6 fsi, 2010 i am not just sure about it… is this car reliable? is the maintenance expensive?
I bought a used RHD 2013 1.8 TSI Passat from Singapore.
1. When parked on a slight incline, (a) It would be stiff/hard to shift the gear lever from park to drive, and (b) the car would roll back during the few seconds it took for me to switch my foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal.
2. On the 10th day of ownership, I was driving it in traffic and like the car stopped changing gears. It felt and sounded like I was over-revving. I didn’t take a note of what gear I was in but because of the traffic, I probably was in 2nd gear. I switched off the ignition and turned it back on and the car started working fine again. Luckily, it was the same day I had to take the car for transmission servicing.
3. Only about 2.5 liters of transmission fluid came out. There was no inner drain plug like what I see in several youtube videos. There also was no transmission filter under the air filter tunnel. No transmission dip stick. He put back in 4 liters of transmission fluid using a tube attached to a hand pump.
4. There was a second drain plug on a pan about 8 inches in front of the transmission drain plug. The mechanic assumed that by removing that plug more of the, ‘missing’ transmission fluid would drain out. Instead, green fluid came out which he said was gear oil. He said the gear oil had particles in it. The mechanic said he was going to put back in enough gear oil to replace what he drained out. He was supposed to do it on the second day of the service. By the time I arrived the second day they were already working on the car and didn’t refill the gear oil while I was there but he said he did. So basically I can’t say for sure whether he did.
5. While I was outside the shop I heard a loud explosion. It turned out that the mechanic had removed an oil-filter-looking part from the top part of where the gear oil came out. He mistook it for the transmission filter. He had it in a table-mounted vice grip, trying to open the ‘cannister’ thinking the filter was inside. The force of the explosion destroyed the vice grip. He found some way to close back the ‘cannister’. I asked him, since it seemed to have so much pressure built up in it, whether it would be a problem that he just closed it back by hand. He said the pressure would build back up after heat-exposure.
6. After the service, I turned on the car and started to shift the gear lever through the different positions (P R N D S). While doing this, the mechanic interrupted me and instructed me to put the car in D and rev it through the gears. When I did so, the gears were not shifting at all initially and then started shifting sporadically. The mechanic said he believed it was because the car was so smart that it knew that the car was jacked up without the wheels on and that it would be different once we start driving it.
7. Right after the service, the mechanic and I went for a drive. The car performed 10 times worst than how it performed before I took it for servicing. The gears failed to engage numerous times and would just cut off. It was really scary because when driving out of park on the incline, the car started to roll back and pressing gas was doing nothing to move the car. I was pressing the pedal right down to the metal and it wasn’t moving.
8. We drove the car right back to the shop for further work today. The mechanic said he believes either that the transmission is gone and needs replacing/rebuilding or that we put too much fluid back in the transmission. Remember we took out 2.5 and put back in 4.
What do you think is going on? Help please.
VW Singapore advised me that my hydraulic accumulator (the cannister part referred to in item 5 of my previous comment) was compromised when my mechanic opened it and I might need a replacement mechatronic unit. I’ll start first with a replacement accumulator.
VW Singapore also said that the occurrences in item 1 of my previous comment are normal. For the incline, I need to press the auto-lock button on the gear box.
Just bought 2015 sportswagon dti, just wondering if you could help me in purchasing a maintenance repair manual?