Lunched a gearbox in the Arteon

[DreamensioN]

tl;dr Arteon is at VW dealership waiting on a new gearbox from Germany

For weeks (maybe even months) now - I've noticed the gear shifting in the Arteon becoming more noticeable, especially on the downshifts. It was never at the point where I thought it was a problem - it was just noticeable. Then the other day I go to the shops and at slow speed, I noticed a real jerk with the gear upshift. It was at this point I think "Yeah that's not right"

I then start driving home and I can feel something is different with the car - it didn't have the power it did. At about 500m from home, pull up to a roundabout to give way to traffic, and I get a "Gearbox Fault" (or maybe it said Gearbox Failure) warning come up right in the middle of the dash, and the car goes into neutral. Luckily I still had enough momentum to keep rolling and pull over.

I put the car in park, turn it off and back on again - and surprisingly the gearbox comes back. I'm able to limp the car home, but there is a noticeable loss of power. I pull into my garage, shut down the car and get out - and I notice all this clear fluid (like oil) dripping out everywhere under the car. I'm figuring it's DSG fluid or something (as it clearly wasn't engine oil).

I call VW Roadside assist and the car gets towed to the dealership where I get all my servicing done. They call me today after they've had a look at it...the gearbox is completely blown. They said there's a hole that has blown out the side of it.

Because it's a 2017 model, the car is out of it's 3yr manufacturers warranty, but I bought the extended warranty for 1yr (which is basically just insurance for mechanical repairs), however this only covers up to $5000 worth. Talking to the lady at the VW dealership - she reckons VW Australia (should) cover this as it's a....wait for it.... known fault . Worse case is VWA covers most of it and we use the $5000 from my "extended warranty" to cover the gap so I'm not out of pocket.

It could be up to 2 months before I get my car back. Luckily we are a 2 car family and we're also in lockdown here in QLD - so there's no immediate need for another vehicle. But I will likely use my 10 days car rental from VW Roadside Assist, and then whatever the dealership can loan me until my new gearbox comes from Germany.

So guys - something to be mindful of and/or - if you have a chance to extend your warranty - lol...do it.

[rjt86]

Lunched a gearbox in the Arteon

Wow, that’s scary, is your car completely stock and how many km’s?

I would love to hear a bit more info from you as to this “known fault” when you chat with VW further,
That’s a little concerning.

[ope126]

6spd or 7spd? Never heard of this before...
Who has the car, Cricks at Springwood? That's were I go...

[DreamensioN]

Wow, that’s scary, is your car completely stock?

I would love to hear a bit more info from you as to this “known fault” when you chat with VW further,
That’s a little concerning.

Yep - completely stock apart from the "Audi mod" which is hardly a mod. Dealership said they'll keep me up to date - so if I get any more info I'll post here. When I got home and saw fluid pouring out everywhere, I did a search on it and found this video from the TDIClub forums. DSG Leak? - YouTube (this is what the underside of my car looked like) - there are also other links on VWWatercooled where people have had DSG fluid leaks and it seems to be a problem related to the filter and/or filter seal. So I thought maybe it was just that....I had a problem with the seal, I lost fluid, and that's the problem. Replace the filter/seal, top it back up - easy fix.

But after the car went to the dealer and they explained the issue I was like "Daaaaaaammmmmmnnnn". Her exact words were "Did you hear a really loud bang at any point?"

I'm just glad it is being covered under warranty. No way am I pulling $20K out for a new gearbox. If it came to that I'd just buy a whole new car.

6spd or 7spd? Never heard of this before...
Who has the car, Cricks at Springwood? That's were I go...

Yep - Cricks at Springwood. Though I bought the car from Cricks at Maroochydore and my "extended warranty" is with them, but Springwood is honoring it (if they need to). And it's a 7sp DSG (wet).

[rjt86]

6spd or 7spd? Never heard of this before...
Who has the car, Cricks at Springwood? That's were I go...

It will be a 7 speed, from memory DQ 381


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[Buzy_Robot]

Oh man, that's sux!! Do let us know the outcome. I just took mine in for it's 60,000 km service. Oil consumption remains on the higher side needing a top up between services, but so far hasn't been as dramatic as your ownership experience. How many kms has yours done?

I can't help notice in your signature your Mrs has a 140TDI Superb Wagon. I presume the sensible choice is still going strong??!?

[DreamensioN]

Oh man, that's sux!! Do let us know the outcome. I just took mine in for it's 60,000 km service. Oil consumption remains on the higher side needing a top up between services, but so far hasn't been as dramatic as your ownership experience. How many kms has yours done?

I can't help notice in your signature your Mrs has a 140TDI Superb Wagon. I presume the sensible choice is still going strong??!?

Yep for sure - I'll keep this thread updated with what happens. I'm up to 68,000km in mine so far.

And yep - we've had no major issues with the wife's car. One annoying issue that took a while for Skoda to believe us (to get it properly looked at), was the fan kept running after the engine was turned off. We realise this is normal for a diesel if a regen of the diesel particular filter was happening when the engine was shut off. However the problem was the fan would go on full speed non-stop until the battery went flat.

This actually happened a few times and each time Skoda would say it's normal. One time it happened at 11pm at night when my wife was by herself and she had to wait for roadside assistance to restart the car. Then a week later it happened at home while the car was in the garage - this time the car hadn't even been running and the fan just turned on until it drained all the battery power.

After that Skoda finally believed us and we had it towed to them. Turned out the relay for the fan controller was faulty. Since then we've had no issues at all with it and it has been a great car.

[Buzy_Robot]

They are really great cars, but it ain't nice when there's a glitch and the dealership resorts to the stock standard 'it's normal' response or 'there are no fault codes present' response.

Kevin Dennis Volkswagen have a new service manager who is actually listening to me about the engine oil consumption issues happening between services. He told me if it happens over the next 7,000kms to bring it in & they will drain the oil pan, measure the weight, refresh the oil, get me to come back after 1,000kms, repeat same process and re-assess the situation.

I've been with them for almost 10 years, so treating me as an intelligent and informed customer goes a long, long way at keeping me with them and the brand itself.

Good luck, mate! Good to read VW agree the time frame and kms traveled for the DSG to fail means it was never fit for purpose and are replacing it with no charge to you.

[PDRx]

It will be a 7 speed, from memory DQ 381


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DQ 381 - Is that the same one as in the Golf R?

I had one replaced after an incident involving children leaving a storm drain cover open. Thanks to VW and insurance it didn't cost me a cent of the $18 000 to replace the gearbox and some suspension parts.

[rjt86]

Lunched a gearbox in the Arteon

DQ 381 - Is that the same one as in the Golf R?

I had one replaced after an incident involving children leaving a storm drain cover open. Thanks to VW and insurance it didn't cost me a cent of the $18 000 to replace the gearbox and some suspension parts.

The storm drain cover accident wouldn’t have been fun.

Correct other then the Arteon the DQ381 is generally found in MY18 Mk7.5R, S3, Passat B8 206Tsi maybe a few others.

[DreamensioN]

So that wasn't so bad... 6 weeks and I now have the car back. Drives like brand new. They weren't very forthcoming with what the actual issue. The service sheet says...
- Found hole in back of gearbox causing oil leak
- Scanned vehicle, opened diss
- Carried out test plan as per TPI and found old pressure pump exceeds 8 BAR pressure
- Need to replace gearbox

To VW's credit, and that of Cricks...I was hardly inconvenienced by any of this. VW Australia organised a hire car for me immediately, and I had a few update calls from the dealership just letting me know where things were at. Then the other day I get told the car is ready to be picked up and I went and got it, then took the hire car back.

Even though the car was 6-7 months outside it's manufacturers warranty - it only had 67,000km on the clock. And lets face it... a gearbox shouldn't let go on a car this "new". It's not like I was doing burnouts in it bouncing off the rev limiter or anything. So even if VW said they weren't going to fix it, I would have a good case under consumer rights to challenge them. But I'm glad I didn't have to and they just said straight up they would cover it.

If you have the 5yr warranty - that's good, and if you plan on keeping the car - maybe buy an extended warranty if you can (not that it'll do much good if it has a $5000 limit like mine). Or if you notice a little jerkiness on the downshifts - maybe get your service department just to make note of it. So if something does happen (like it did to mine), you've got an issue noted while it was still under warranty.

[rjt86]

So that wasn't so bad... 6 weeks and I now have the car back. Drives like brand new. They weren't very forthcoming with what the actual issue. The service sheet says...
- Found hole in back of gearbox causing oil leak
- Scanned vehicle, opened diss
- Carried out test plan as per TPI and found old pressure pump exceeds 8 BAR pressure
- Need to replace gearbox

To VW's credit, and that of Cricks...I was hardly inconvenienced by any of this. VW Australia organised a hire car for me immediately, and I had a few update calls from the dealership just letting me know where things were at. Then the other day I get told the car is ready to be picked up and I went and got it, then took the hire car back.

Even though the car was 6-7 months outside it's manufacturers warranty - it only had 67,000km on the clock. And lets face it... a gearbox shouldn't let go on a car this "new". It's not like I was doing burnouts in it bouncing off the rev limiter or anything. So even if VW said they weren't going to fix it, I would have a good case under consumer rights to challenge them. But I'm glad I didn't have to and they just said straight up they would cover it.

If you have the 5yr warranty - that's good, and if you plan on keeping the car - maybe buy an extended warranty if you can (not that it'll do much good if it has a $5000 limit like mine). Or if you notice a little jerkiness on the downshifts - maybe get your service department just to make note of it. So if something does happen (like it did to mine), you've got an issue noted while it was still under warranty.

Glad it’s all fixed, a bit disappointing they didn’t state the cause of the fault, maybe the local techs didn’t pull it apart as it goes off for investigation overseas or the likes.

last I was at the dealer they mentioned there was a DSG software update they applied to my car. I doubt software would prevent this sort of mechanical failure however but we’ll see how long mine lasts.

[Buzy_Robot]

All's well that ends well! DreamensioN, what did they give you as a loan car?

[DreamensioN]

what did they give you as a loan car?

I actually had 2 loan cars over the 6 week period. A Nissan XTrail and a Mitsubishi Outlander.
Both just base models with a CVT gearbox. I freaking hate CVT transmissions. Feels like driving a manual with a constantly slipping clutch.

The Outlander was the nicer of the two vehicles, but their infotainment screen was horrible. So soooooo laggy.

[Mr_206]

Glad you got it sorted and honoured to do the job!. My car has 15000kms and 3.5 yrs old and had an error saying instrument cluster fault and VW Aus wouldn't even help. I had to take it to a dealership for them to look at it which was going to cost me almost $200! Luckily fault went away and i didn't take it in. But just sux they wouldn't even help me out!