Multivan with dreaded DSG issue :(

[Mum to 4]

We bought our multivan in August 2010 and have had fabulous motoring until last Thursday when i drove to the local shopping centre, took off around a corner, was approaching 60km/h and lost power, the car going into a 'false' neutral. I stopped and then started again and the issue resolved. The same thing happened on Friday, i noted that both times it was a cold engine when the issue occurred. Friday afternoon i called the local dealer (not where the vehicle was purchased from as we have moved) and was told the car was 1 week out of warranty but as there was a software recall they would look it over and provide a peace of mind check today. Incidentally we had no notification there was a recall on this vehicle at all and we are registered with VW Australia for other mailout info.

The vehicle continued to play up over the weekend, i did limit driving in it but it is the only vehicle we have that accommodated the entire family. Today i took it in to be looked at, i had video footage to show the mechanic that i caught over the weekend as i didn't want to be fobbed off. We'd also done some googling which showed this is a wide spread issue which we knew nothing about before being faced with the issue ourselves. Again they said the vehicle was out of warranty, again i told them we purchased in August as per the delivery date noted in the service manual, they said too bad the dealer put it on the system before that, despite the fact their warranty wording says warranty begins at the time of delivery and the dealer must enter the correct information.

So anyway, after they look at it they call to confirm that there is a sensor fault which will need replacement and they will send all info to VW Australia with a 'good will' request as the vehicle is only 1 week out of warranty. However they are arguing that because the DSG fluid wasn't replaced at 60,000km we have voided the transmission warranty, so the 5 year transmission warranty wont stand up and the 3 year warranty is already over. Clearly they are preping me for a 'no' from VW Australia.

I have contacted the mechanical centre (not VW) who did the 60,000 service and they have no record of the DSG oil being changed at that time, but they advise you can easily go 80,000 without replacing. We are at 75,000 now. The service manual has a tick box stating 'DSG gear box oil change as required' and in the front of the book they have it listed as change 60,000 and 4 years, kind of ambiguous.

While we are waiting for a response they have given me the vehicle back stating it's safe to drive. I don't think so and it's parked on the drive and wont be moving until it's fixed. I'll be waiting for a call tomorrow to hopefully sort everything out. Anyone have any advice for me??

[IN2VWS]

Sorry for your trouble.
1. I have never received a letter from VW about recalls/campaigns on my T5. So I am not sure if this is something that is meant to occur or not, or if it is something that is meant to occur when the vehicle gets serviced at VW.......But, if you never get VW to service your van, then you are not going to know about these updates/recalls.

2. As far as I know, the recall was for the lag in the shifting, not sure if that would cause the problem that you have now.

3.If it is a sensor fault, would an oil change or software update have prevented the sensor from failing??????

4. If the oil was not changed at 60,000km, I don't see how VW is responsible for this.

The DSG oil changes, has been discussed many times on here, and recommended due to the old 'sealed for life' chestnut from the previous transmissions. PAY THE EXTRA TO HAVE THE FILTER CHANGED ALSO, because VW will not do it, as it is not in the service schedule.
It looks like you are new to this forum.....maybe only now because you have a problem. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you can get the matter resolved.

John

[h100vw]

I too am sorry to hear of your issues.

The story with the oil change is, it should be changed at 60000km or 4 years in use.

If you only did 20000km in 4 years the oil would require changing.

If you did 60000km in 6 months, the oil would still require changing.

Your non-VW service place have failed you in this instance I feel. Making the statement, it'll go to 80000km easily doesn't help you in the warranty process with VW.

You will probably have seen VW in the news. So I wouldn't give up the fight. You should play the family on board, dangerous card at every opportunity!

Best of luck

Gavin

[Foxpuppet]

sorry to hear about your issues... any chance you can explain further the symptoms?

this is a (somehow upside down sorry) video of the strange shifting behaviour mine suffered whcih resulted in the van having the mechatronics replaced (1 week before warranty expired) I was told i would get a further extension on the gearbox warranty, but mine was ALWAYS serviced by local VW dealer.

brace yourselves VWW... i think this may be the start of many 'new' members with threads like this

[Mum to 4]

Sorry for your trouble.
1. I have never received a letter from VW about recalls/campaigns on my T5. So I am not sure if this is something that is meant to occur or not, or if it is something that is meant to occur when the vehicle gets serviced at VW.......But, if you never get VW to service your van, then you are not going to know about these updates/recalls.

2. As far as I know, the recall was for the lag in the shifting, not sure if that would cause the problem that you have now.

3.If it is a sensor fault, would an oil change or software update have prevented the sensor from failing??????

4. If the oil was not changed at 60,000km, I don't see how VW is responsible for this.

The DSG oil changes, has been discussed many times on here, and recommended due to the old 'sealed for life' chestnut from the previous transmissions. PAY THE EXTRA TO HAVE THE FILTER CHANGED ALSO, because VW will not do it, as it is not in the service schedule.
It looks like you are new to this forum.....maybe only now because you have a problem. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you can get the matter resolved.

John

Thankyou, yes we will pay to have the filter also replaced. We don't believe the sensor was impacted in any way by failure to replace the fluid in the DSG which wasn't intentional on our part. We have had advice from an independent mechanic to this effect also.

I not this morning the mass recall on other models has been announced for problems with DSG but the Multivan isn't part of that

[Mum to 4]

I too am sorry to hear of your issues.

The story with the oil change is, it should be changed at 60000km or 4 years in use.

If you only did 20000km in 4 years the oil would require changing.

If you did 60000km in 6 months, the oil would still require changing.

Your non-VW service place have failed you in this instance I feel. Making the statement, it'll go to 80000km easily doesn't help you in the warranty process with VW.

You will probably have seen VW in the news. So I wouldn't give up the fight. You should play the family on board, dangerous card at every opportunity!

Best of luck

Gavin

Thanks Gavin. Certainly it is unsafe. I am hoping to hear back from VW today but i guess their decision may now be delayed as they are likely to be swamped after announcing the recall on other vehicles last night.

sorry to hear about your issues... any chance you can explain further the symptoms?

this is a (somehow upside down sorry) video of the strange shifting behaviour mine suffered whcih resulted in the van having the mechatronics replaced (1 week before warranty expired) I was told i would get a further extension on the gearbox warranty, but mine was ALWAYS serviced by local VW dealer.

brace yourselves VWW... i think this may be the start of many 'new' members with threads like this

Yes, that is almost the exact footage i have. Goes from D3 to flashing D and the revs go through the roof because it's now in neutral and you have no power. In my instance i have been able to get back in gear by breaking and re-engaging in all but 2 instances. The other 2 times i had to come to a complete stop. When i went searching over the weekend to try and find out what was going on i have seen the same footage provided by a Golf driver too.

I still find it difficult to get over the 3 month discrepancy in the warranty. As far as we were aware we were covered until the August date. I will be arguing on that point too! I can see a call to MTA and Consumer Protection happening this morning.

[The_Hawk]

I still find it difficult to get over the 3 month discrepancy in the warranty. As far as we were aware we were covered until the August date. I will be arguing on that point too! I can see a call to MTA and Consumer Protection happening this morning.

I'm not up on all the practices, but Warranties generally will start when the vehicle is sold or when it becomes a demo car (which is then usually listed as "balance of new car warranty". I have heard stories of dealerships marking cars into this caregory to boost sales numbers (although it still leaves them with a car they have to sell) or for other strange reasons.

I haven't got my manual with me to check, but don't they write the dates into the front of the book??

[IN2VWS]

Was your van a demo model, or new when you bought it?
That might explain the warranty length.

[Mum to 4]

They do write the dates into the front of the book. They have dealer delivery at 16/8/10 on the front page. On the next page they have received by dealer from commercial dealer, or something to that effect 10/5/10. I'm not sure on the demo/new situation i thought it was new at the time, full warranty etc.

I'm not up on all the practices, but Warranties generally will start when the vehicle is sold or when it becomes a demo car (which is then usually listed as "balance of new car warranty". I have heard stories of dealerships marking cars into this caregory to boost sales numbers (although it still leaves them with a car they have to sell) or for other strange reasons.

I haven't got my manual with me to check, but don't they write the dates into the front of the book??

[SnowMotion]

The warranty will start from the date on the sale of the contract. Provided it is listed as a new car sale they have no choice but to honor the warranty from the date of sale. The CONTRACT is King in legal terms.
If the dealer has registered the vehicle prior to you accepting delivery and then unregistered it, it is an issue for VGA and the dealer to resolve but you are covered legally. It may require a visit to Court (CTTT) to make them honor it but your Contract is the defining piece of paper and the date it was delivered/sold.
I know my Van had this done by the dealer and have complained about it but have had no change to the best of my knowledge.
It is astounding the little respect that dealers show their customers. In my case the Warranty / Road side assistance card was dated 29/12/11 and I did not take delivery till the 3/3/12. When I spoke to VGA customer service they suggested I was the second owner because the car had been previously registered. It is a very poor tactic by dealers to make sales targets.

[IN2VWS]

I think you are covered by warranty. Go kick some butt at the Dealership.

[Mum to 4]

The warranty will start from the date on the sale of the contract. Provided it is listed as a new car sale they have no choice but to honor the warranty from the date of sale. The CONTRACT is King in legal terms.
If the dealer has registered the vehicle prior to you accepting delivery and then unregistered it, it is an issue for VGA and the dealer to resolve but you are covered legally. It may require a visit to Court (CTTT) to make them honor it but your Contract is the defining piece of paper and the date it was delivered/sold.
I know my Van had this done by the dealer and have complained about it but have had no change to the best of my knowledge.
It is astounding the little respect that dealers show their customers. In my case the Warranty / Road side assistance card was dated 29/12/11 and I did not take delivery till the 3/3/12. When I spoke to VGA customer service they suggested I was the second owner because the car had been previously registered. It is a very poor tactic by dealers to make sales targets.

I think you are covered by warranty. Go kick some butt at the Dealership.

Thankyou both. I don't have a copy of the contract for sale as the vehicle was paid for by a lease company as we salary sacrificed it's purchase. I will have to contact them for a copy but that shouldn't be a problem, they were great to deal with. Still waiting to hear back, guessing nothing is going to happen quickly but i will be standing my ground on the warranty front.

[Mum to 4]

No word from the dealer so i put a call in and they can't even access the VW Aust systems as the servers have crashed from traffic caused by the recall. This entire situation is crazy!!

[Sunny43.5]

Please keep us informed on your progress , it is starting to look like some problems are creeping into the DQ500 DSG after all despite what has been reported on this forum before , As I said earlier today we are approching the 3 year mark and in the next couple of years we will see whether this model is going to follow the others DSG's Lets hope not . I am off to check our paperwork to establish the correct dates on ours .

[Mum to 4]

I called the dealer back today and there is still no word from VW Aust I understand that they are busy since announcing the recall but they have had time to get together a team to answer calls etc so that others can attend to the regular warranty stuff they deal with all the time. They must have anticipated an avalanche of enquiries!! So, we continue to wait for a response. I'm now concerned that there will be a significant delay in obtaining the replacement part as other dealers will be proactively stocking up to attend to their clients as quickly as possible. I can see this saga lasting the best part of a month. In the meantime i have no way to transport my 4 children safely