7-Speed Dry Clutch DSG Recall 35C1

[wai]

Well, I just received my letter from Volkswagen Group Australia.

I have a MY11 (Feb 2011) Caddy Maxi Life with the problematic gearbox.

Interestingly, the letter says (among other things):

"Volkswagen is currently preparing the campaign and will contact you in writing again when the required parts for your vehicle are available."

So they will not be fixing transmissions straight away. It looks like it might be a while before things get done.

It will be interesting to see what the response is from the dealer when it has its 30,000 km service on July 9. I alerted them when I booked it in, and they were quite dismissive saying that if "there were no faults logged, they would advise VW and there would be nothing further done"!

[ill0gitech]

"Volkswagen is currently preparing the campaign and will contact you in writing again when the required parts for your vehicle are available."
So they will not be fixing transmissions straight away. It looks like it might be a while before things get done.
It will be interesting to see what the response is from the dealer when it has its 30,000 km service on July 9. I alerted them when I booked it in, and they were quite dismissive saying that if "there were no faults logged, they would advise VW and there would be nothing further done"!

This seems reassuring. The recall notice could have been read either way - sounds like they are actively replacing parts, not solely on vehicles with "logged faults"

[Stanton]

Small percentage are having problems so VW are being pretty good about it, unlike Volvo who are having virtually 100% failure with their GM sourced autos.Don't google XC90 Transmission it will scare you.

[wai]

Yep, every manufacturer has problems. I had a Torana with the faulty Trimatic clutches where the lining would literally flake off in strips. Mine was out of warranty and the recall only applied to vehicles still under warranty. In those days you had a 12/20 warranty. I had to pay just under $1,000 for the clutches to be replaced. I then had it for another 320,000 km before I sold it.

In one of the offices I worked in, one of the guys had a Toyota Tercel where the oil supply to the transmission output bearing would fail and the bearing would seize. You replaced the bearing and waited until it went and just kept repeating this. There was no solution other than replacing the power plant completely with one that came from a Corolla. This is one reason why the Tercel did not stay around too long.

The difference here is that there has not been the same PR issue with the Volvo, at least it has not made the mainstream media the way VW handled this issue.

[gavs]

7-Speed Dry Clutch DSG Recall 35C1

Small percentage are having problems so VW are being pretty good about it, unlike Volvo who are having virtually 100% failure with their GM sourced autos.Don't google XC90 Transmission it will scare you.

26% of all vehicles sold in that period are recalled including all engine and gearbox combos. The fact that the wording is pretty much along the lines of 'all vehicles sold within the specified timeframe with the dq200 are being voluntarily recalled' would leave me to believe that the effected vehicle make up a massive percentage and its not a matter of if the affected vehicles have issues, but when...

[BluChris]

One of the reasons the XC90 transmission issue did not get the publicity is because it only affected 1 variant, the T6, made between 2003 and 2005. None of the others used the GM transmission. Also, this was more like the issue with the VW 6 speed torque converter auto - some failed, some didn't. You could have a bad run with a failure relatively early in life, but some of the failures happened at 140-150,000 km or more. Early to mid 2000s XC70s also had auto transmission failures, but typically north of 100,000 km.

While costly to fix, a total rebuild is still much less than a total DSG rebuild.

I suspect had Volvo used the tranny in all variants and failures happened uniformly at low mileages there might have been lots of noise made about it.

[hitman]

I was told by me dealer in Melbourne that parts for the recall will not be in until about September!

I have 2 Octavia's that are getting done. Both have been checked and both are down for recall work on Mechatronic unit (one got the in D but car not moving fault). One is also having clutch packs done in August.

[wai]

I was told by me dealer in Melbourne that parts for the recall will not be in until about September!

It would not surprise me given the extent of the recall worldwide. In this day and age, manufacturers carry little excess stock if any. Manufacturing would have been programmed to fill orders, so they now have to order more, and/or allocate some production stock for the recall. Then they have to work out where the replacements will be fitted, and then they have to organise delivery.

In reality, even September might be a touch optimistic.

You also have to organise loan cars, and make sure that dealer staff know how to do this. Many dealer mechanics might never have had to get at the mechatronics unit, so will probably need some sort of a training session. Then you have to coordinate this with owners. All this while carrying our routine dealer servicing!

It is a huge task, which is why VGA probably hoped it would go away.

[pologti18t]

It is a huge task, which is why VGA probably hoped it would go away.

Or VW knew it didn't have enough parts so they started in China where the recalled was initiated by the government.
It may have always planned to spread the recall across Asia/Pacific as parts came online. We will never know.

[wai]

Well, I had the 30,000 km service today. All went well. Interestingly, there were "communication errors" detected when they checked things out.

I now have to wait until VGA contacts me to say that the parts (Mechatronics unit) are ready to be installed.

The loan car I had for the day was a Golf 118TSI. Quite nice, but the mirrors are tiny when compared to my Caddy Maxi Life. They are quite convex so that you can get a reasonable image in them. From appearance only, the inside rear vision mirror looked a touch too "square" - the corners were not rounded. Just looked out of place with all the other soft curves.

On getting in, the first thing was how low the seats are. On the seats, it is extremely painful for me getting out. As a result of a road accident, I have to manually swing my right leg out first, and the plastic around the seat height adjuster is not protected in any way. Very painful trying to slide over it. For me, I would not have been able to live with it had I been looking at getting one. I mean, one option I did consider was a Golf Wagon but never got to test drive it.

On driving it, the first thing I noticed how much more positive the clutch engagement is when moving off. Some would say "harsh". Also, all the changes up and down are much more positive than on the Caddy. I don't know which box it has. It is a 7-speed DSG, but I don't know if it is a dry or wet clutch. It was also more noisy as far as road noise is concerned than my Caddy.

So now it is the long wait for the new mechatronics unit. Ok, and I have to find a replacement high level brake light. The usual online sources don't seem to be able to come through. I might have to enlist the help of a cousin of mine in the UK.

[ill0gitech]

On getting in, the first thing was how low the seats are. On the seats, it is extremely painful for me getting out. As a result of a road accident, I have to manually swing my right leg out first, and the plastic around the seat height adjuster is not protected in any way. Very painful trying to slide over it.

My dad has similar issues with many cars because of his hips and knees. It's amazing how few cars are any good for him to get in and out of - as a driver, or a passenger.
Unfortunately he'd never be able to get "up into" your caddy.

[wai]

My dad has similar issues with many cars because of his hips and knees. It's amazing how few cars are any good for him to get in and out of - as a driver, or a passenger.
Unfortunately he'd never be able to get "up into" your caddy.

Well, I get my almost 93 year old mother into my Caddy. What I had to do was get a "step aerobics" step from some "sports shop" for $72 (ouch). It's only 150 to 200 mm high, but is just enough for her to first get on to it and then it's much easier for her to get in. The biggest problem for her is that the seat is much further in from the door than most other sedans, and so she cannot "sit back" into it.