Warning About 1.4 DSG

Dear all,
a warning about the 1.4 Tsi 150 DSG.

I have the same engine with DSG in a 1 year old Seat. The Seat has covered 23,000 miles. The Stealer tells me the engine and gearbox are exactly the same as in the Golf.

It has suddenly lost power and stopped 5 times. This can be extremely dangerous - twice other cars have had to brake suddenly and swerve to avoid hitting my car.
It has been back to the Stealer 3 times. They cannot find the fault. Seat "customer service" are a complete joke. As the stealer cannot find a fault, Seat HQ and VW HQ will take no action. I have written to the MD who sends the e-mails back to the call-centre, so I get another script read to me.

So I am stuck with the death trap, and all that Seat say is to keep driving it so that it can happen again.

If it were a plane, it would have been grounded. If it were a tool in the work-place, H & S would have been all over it.

As it is a car, VW Group seem happier if I kill myself or my daughter rather than do anything about it.

They have problems in Aus and China with this set up.

AVOID !!!!

Isn't this due to the corrosive ATF they used in the early years.... which a recall was put out for to swap to a different ATF - Currently used in all MK7 VW DSG DQ200 and DQ250 transmissions. Reports of these issues stopped across the GLI/GTI line late 2011 when the remaining issues seems to be resolved..

mstoochn said:

Isn't this due to the corrosive ATF they used in the early years.... which a recall was put out for to swap to a different ATF - Currently used in all MK7 VW DSG DQ200 and DQ250 transmissions. Reports of these issues stopped across the GLI/GTI line late 2011 when the remaining issues seems to be resolved..

Click to expand...

This seems to be exactly the fault that is subject to a dealer notice to have the gearbox fluid replaced with a non-corrosive type when it is next in the garage, but not a full recall. I think the problem is the fluid coming into contact with a switch which then leads to the loss of power you describe.

The paperwork I have from when it was done states "Carried out product enhancement 34F6 and 45D4". I had a leaking oil sump plug which was replaced at the same time so I expect the gearbox fluid relates to one of these codes.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/84572/volkswagen-recall-25-million-cars-affected

November 14, 2013 Volkswagen Group announced a major world wide recall over problems with the 7-speed DSG gearbox (model: DQ200) which might lead to loss of power, covering some 1.6m cars including those carrying the Audi, Skoda and SEAT badges.

The cure has been to change the synthetic transmission oil, which was causing corrosion and subsequent shorting of electrical contacts within the mechatronic unit (hence power loss), to a mineral based oil.

Time to contact BBC's Watchdog :

https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/contact

dickt said:

Dear all,
a warning about the 1.4 Tsi 150 DSG.

I have the same engine with DSG in a 1 year old Seat. The Seat has covered 23,000 miles. The Stealer tells me the engine and gearbox are exactly the same as in the Golf.

It has suddenly lost power and stopped 5 times. This can be extremely dangerous - twice other cars have had to brake suddenly and swerve to avoid hitting my car.
It has been back to the Stealer 3 times. They cannot find the fault. Seat "customer service" are a complete joke. As the stealer cannot find a fault, Seat HQ and VW HQ will take no action. I have written to the MD who sends the e-mails back to the call-centre, so I get another script read to me.

So I am stuck with the death trap, and all that Seat say is to keep driving it so that it can happen again.

If it were a plane, it would have been grounded. If it were a tool in the work-place, H & S would have been all over it.

As it is a car, VW Group seem happier if I kill myself or my daughter rather than do anything about it.

They have problems in Aus and China with this set up.

AVOID !!!!

Click to expand...

dickt: As others have already said, this has been the subject of a worldwide recall (34F6). The link below explains the nature of the recall (note: whilst the document is specific to certain vehicle, the same issue applied to DSG gearboxes in other model cars - including the mkVII:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/for...s/download/doc/UCM447515/RCMN-13V568-9034.pdf

We had similar concerns here in Australia where (it was claimed) that a fatality occurred in Melbourne (my home town) because a Golf stopped suddenly on a freeway and a truck ran into the back of it.

As I understand, the truck driver and the family of the driver argued that the car had instantly lost power. The truck driver asserted that he never saw any brake lights appear on the Golf. However, my recollection was that the Coroner who investigated the unfortunate accident found no evidence of systemic safety issues with the car. I'm pretty sure that his conclusion was that the telephone call that the driver had made at the time of the accident was likley the major contributing factor.

This doesn't mean that the incidents that you describe on your car are not serious safety issues - they just appear to not be the issues of importance to the fatality we had here (notwithstanding the claims made to the Coroner)

This is a late 2012 car, so I am sure that it is not affected by the oil in gearbox problems of the 2011 and before DSG boxes.

The other problems in Aus and China - since the DSG gearbox re-call, (or non-recall in the UK!!!!!). Have all related to sudden loss of power.

I am sure there is an issue here that VW Group care choosing to try to ignore.

On the Melbourne fatality, IMHO, the judge unfairly put the burden of proof well away from VW.

Gerry,
thanks for that. I will give it a go. I've just put the car back in with another stealer, so I'll give them a chance, first.

Hi Dickt, as a rule of thumb....I'd allow a manufacturer 3 attempts at fixing what I'd deem a serious fault....after that I'd reject the car.

You shouldn't have to use another Dealer but it's a wise move IMO.

Good luck

The Australian death was not a DSG gearbox - it was a manual transmission.

This seems to document the history of the DSG, and also mentions individual country and worldwide recalls - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-shift_gearbox#Problems_and_recalls_of_DSG-equipped_vehicles A good source of info?

dickt said:

This is a late 2012 car, so I am sure that it is not affected by the oil in gearbox problems of the 2011 and before DSG boxes.

The other problems in Aus and China - since the DSG gearbox re-call, (or non-recall in the UK!!!!!). Have all related to sudden loss of power.

I am sure there is an issue here that VW Group care choosing to try to ignore.

On the Melbourne fatality, IMHO, the judge unfairly put the burden of proof well away from VW.

Click to expand...

The gearbox fluid problem relates to the current generation of cars. My car was manufactured at the same time as yours (Mk7 1.4 GT Golf with 7 speed DSG) and had the gearbox fluid changed for this reason at its first service a few months ago. I've given you the code for the recall and someone else has confirmed it. If the dealer has replaced the fluid and you are still having the problem then it will be something different.

Until the fluid has been changed you are simply telling us something that was in the news 6 months ago.

Let's just re-cap the facts.
The gearbox oil change for this engine/gearbox combination from Seat was allegedly carried out for all Seats earlier than it was for the Golfs with 7 speed DSG.
Allegedly, Seats made in 2012 did not need the oil change as they encountered the problems in 2011 and changed the oil for 2012.

So I am warning people about other problems. I do not know what they are.

They involve sudden loss of power in dangerous situations. The fact that the problems has not been diagnosed means that all the 1.4 150s potentially have the same problems. Seat's problems have come earlier than the Golf's as Seat used this engine earlier.

dickt said:

Let's just re-cap the facts.
The gearbox oil change for this engine/gearbox combination from Seat was allegedly carried out for all Seats earlier than it was for the Golfs with 7 speed DSG.
Allegedly, Seats made in 2012 did not need the oil change as they encountered the problems in 2011 and changed the oil for 2012.

So I am warning people about other problems. I do not know what they are.

They involve sudden loss of power in dangerous situations. The fact that the problems has not been diagnosed means that all the 1.4 150s potentially have the same problems. Seat's problems have come earlier than the Golf's as Seat used this engine earlier.

Click to expand...

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/52452/dsg-gearbox-problems-in-seat-ibiza-cupra-

Odd that 2012 and 2013 SEATs were part of the recall then.

The TSI 1.4 150 DSG is a new variation on the TSI 1.4 140 DSG and only a recent change to the Mk7.

Is this about the 140PS version or the 150PS version?