Gearbox in emergency mode Tiguan 2017

[Guest001]

Scan booked at parramatta vw service centre fingers crossed!!!
Can someone help me turn dashboard colour to blue again please tried to do it with obdeleven app but its red not blue

Dont need OBD just go into the menu of the mmi and its in there in interior lighting

[csplayer]

thanks for that Hillbilly
ive tried that and what i can see is this any advice i can get is great.
i think when you get stock tiguan it shoud be blue what i can remember

[11ONDA]

Hi All,

I just had the same problem pop up. I own a 2017 2.0 TDI with a DSG. Purchased the car used with 40,000kms on it and it has been working fine until 2 months ago. I've had a check engine light problem twice and took it to Liverpool VW and after over 2k, they fixed the issues with it. They also did the scheduled service and replaced the DSG oil, engine oil and oil filter. The funny thing is that when I got this message about the gearbox 2 days ago, I checked the engine oil and its black as it can be and it has only been a month ago. I contacted Liverpool VW to take the car to them to look into the gearbox issue and confronted them about the colour of the engine oil and they reassured me that they had cameras in their workshops and that this particular issue with the gearbox now is just pure coincidence. I told them that 3 check engine lights in 2 months doesn't seem like a coincidence. I had the car booked for the 10th but they called me and pushed me back till the 16th because of a shortage of staff due to Covid with no offer of a loan car or anything, completely left me hanging.

I managed to reset the car and get rid of the check engine light after watching a video on youtube and the car drove fine for 2 days and now the same message is back. I booked the car with an independent VW specialist for a second opinion and to check what Liverpool VW had actually done on the car before I confront them. The dealers obviously say the car isn't safe to drive, how is everyone taking their car to the workshop? I'm assuming on a tow truck? does the VW centre cover the cost of that? I'm unsure of what to do right now and it seems like it is going to be a major headache. I can't wait to fix the car and trade it in for a Japanese car. I'm done with VW for life.

[BeigeJet]

Hi All,

I checked the engine oil and its black as it can be and it has only been a month ago. I contacted Liverpool VW to take the car to them to look into the gearbox issue and confronted them about the colour of the engine oil.

I'm done with VW for life.

The oil colour you see is typical of pretty much all diesel engines and not just VW. I have a Landrover Discovery Sport Diesel that after a service, looks quite clean but within 500km the oil is black.

Our current MY21 VW Tiguan 147TDI with 1,200km on the clock is showing the dark coloured oil. I expect this to only get blacker as more mileage is on the vehicle/engine.

The MY06 VW Jetta 2L TDI that recently left my ownership after 275,000 fairly reliable kilometres also had the black oil.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Volkswagen ownership. It can be very a polarising relationship where they either love you or hate you and therefore you love them or hate them back. I do hope your issues are resolved quickly.

[Guest001]

Hi All,

I just had the same problem pop up. I own a 2017 2.0 TDI with a DSG. Purchased the car used with 40,000kms on it and it has been working fine until 2 months ago. I've had a check engine light problem twice and took it to Liverpool VW and after over 2k, they fixed the issues with it. They also did the scheduled service and replaced the DSG oil, engine oil and oil filter. The funny thing is that when I got this message about the gearbox 2 days ago, I checked the engine oil and its black as it can be and it has only been a month ago. I contacted Liverpool VW to take the car to them to look into the gearbox issue and confronted them about the colour of the engine oil and they reassured me that they had cameras in their workshops and that this particular issue with the gearbox now is just pure coincidence. I told them that 3 check engine lights in 2 months doesn't seem like a coincidence. I had the car booked for the 10th but they called me and pushed me back till the 16th because of a shortage of staff due to Covid with no offer of a loan car or anything, completely left me hanging.

I managed to reset the car and get rid of the check engine light after watching a video on youtube and the car drove fine for 2 days and now the same message is back. I booked the car with an independent VW specialist for a second opinion and to check what Liverpool VW had actually done on the car before I confront them. The dealers obviously say the car isn't safe to drive, how is everyone taking their car to the workshop? I'm assuming on a tow truck? does the VW centre cover the cost of that? I'm unsure of what to do right now and it seems like it is going to be a major headache. I can't wait to fix the car and trade it in for a Japanese car. I'm done with VW for life.

Loosen off the fuel cap and see what happens That warning can be several things needs to get fault codes read and diagnosed

Oil in diesels always goes black in a very short time so dont worry about it is perfectly normal.

[csplayer]

Update on the repair. VW Australia is paying for everything including loan car lucky me since warranty expired last year Jan. They told me it was mechatronic issue and hoping to get the car back in 2 weeks.

[FlyTSI]

Hi guys. My 2018 Tiguan seems to have similar issue. Goes into emergency mode (uses every second gear) and also displays a "fault in exhaust system" warning light. It initially occured after longer drives but now even on short ones 5-10mins. It resets back to normal mode when the ignition is switched off but happens again soon after driving. I'm having a hard time getting this diagnosed. I have been to vw service twice, the first time the fault wasn't active so was difficult for them to find any issues. Today I went in with active fault (was just driving past and they were kind enough to have a quick look). Today they reset the mechatronics unit but it didn't make any difference. Its booked in for another service this week but I'm starting to get frustrated. Is this likely to be the same issue with the mechatronics unit that others have had?

[Timmy35851]

Yes - common traits of a mechatronics issue unable to select certain gears. If you get not luck, go to another dealership if possible.

Hi guys. My 2018 Tiguan seems to have similar issue. Goes into emergency mode (uses every second gear) and also displays a "fault in exhaust system" warning light. It initially occured after longer drives but now even on short ones 5-10mins. It resets back to normal mode when the ignition is switched off but happens again soon after driving. I'm having a hard time getting this diagnosed. I have been to vw service twice, the first time the fault wasn't active so was difficult for them to find any issues. Today I went in with active fault (was just driving past and they were kind enough to have a quick look). Today they reset the mechatronics unit but it didn't make any difference. Its booked in for another service this week but I'm starting to get frustrated. Is this likely to be the same issue with the mechatronics unit that others have had?

[smarty]

Yep looks like another mechatronics unit here
2 months out of my 5 year warranty
Just had the 90k service done
I asked them I thought there had been a couple hard shifts between gears before, they ran all the checks and said all good
Today driving home after doing say 200kms, came to a stop from highway and bang gearbox went into emergency mode.
Either was overheating (unlikely as wasn’t driven hard duration of the trip) or is the mecha unit is cactus which I think is the likely culprit. It didn’t reset after the first restart, same issue. Whether or not after an hour or so I’ll have to see. Now just having to anticipate either not driving it, or only parking where potentially I don’t need to reverse out…. Aghhhh

[FastMitch]

... the car is out of warranty although I don’t expect this type of failure after 3.5 years of minimal driving.

Yep looks like another mechatronics unit here
2 months out of my 5 year warranty

Cynical me but with the dodgy coding of the computer chip to bypass testing that came out of the VW Diesel-Gate saga, it would be trivial to write code (on a chip) for parts to throw catastrophic error messages soon after the warranty ends

[smarty]

So I left it for half hour then got in it again
Check engine light was on but it didn’t appear the box was in that mode as it seemed to drive normalish
I only really drove down the street and then reversed it into the shed. I think I’m just gonna leave it till it gets looked at in a fortnight.

[FlyTSI]

Yes - common traits of a mechatronics issue unable to select certain gears. If you get not luck, go to another dealership if possible.

Fortunately I took out the extended factory warranty so hopefully that saves a a few $$. I'm just hoping they sort it quickly as city driving to the service centre in limp mode with dodgy gear changes is not a fun experience.

[VW Convert]

Cynical me but with the dodgy coding of the computer chip to bypass testing that came out of the VW Diesel-Gate saga, it would be trivial to write code (on a chip) for parts to throw catastrophic error messages soon after the warranty ends

But as history shows, VW always come to the party well beyond the warranty period.

[smarty]

Diagnosed as faulty transmission control module
Not sure if same as mechatronics?
Think they mentioned it’s still inside the gearbox? Maybe that controls the mecha?

They did say that they have started seeing more and more tiguans with this problem though..

[johnnyb]

Created an account to join the ranks of MY17 gearbox emergency mode sufferers.

Mine kicked in the day after a scheduled service. Front assist and ACC also offline. Service department said they are seeing this but VW head office is saying no systemic issue, mentioned online there is a lot of talk about mechatronic replacement but was told not that's not relevant.

Have now dropped it into the dealership service department 3 times, today they diagnosed low voltage faults and recommended changing the battery despite no battery warnings (for $300 more than RAC quotes, but OK it is 5 years old anyway). Picked up the car, drove it up to another car within the dealership car park, no front assist indication, tried switching on cruise control and ACC deactivated warning.

Walked back in and said it isn't fixed, so dropping it off for a fourth time next week.