DSG "False Neutral" Yesterday...

[Bassik]

What you have experienced is what golf owners started calling the "false neutral" phenomenon. It seems on the surface to be more prevalent in the 7spd DSG cars.

First off, you are not alone, many people have had it happen. Secondly, it is not your dsg "breaking down" or failing. It is a software issue that stops the gearbox from engaging properly. I have spoken with a service tech on this and he explained to me (Umai Na might help confirm this) that the dsg has an inbuilt safety measure that prevents the clutches from overheating. If they get too hot then the clutch will disengage, not what you want when you are trying to take off in a hurry. As I have found, it is more likely to happen in traffic, especially after a spirited run so this could be one possibility.

Personally I have tried to replicate the phenomenon and have been able to which leads me to believe that it could be linked to the hill hold feature as well because that is how I have been able to replicate it but replicating it isn't an exact science either but again, it's only in manual mode so this could be linked to the clutches overheating and disengaging.

Hey I was going to mention also that I was on a slight hill when it happened and I did just end a heated run. I also realized I should let the car heat up before giving it a little push. I think you hit the nail on the head, I'll mention it to the VW service guys and see what they say.

The VW service guy told me that the campaign 37G7 DSG update was just a European update for when storing the car after long periods of time the DSG can fail upon restart, this prevents that and that the update serviced no other purpose!

[Molotov]

Hey I was going to mention also that I was on a slight hill when it happened and I did just end a heated run. I also realized I should let the car heat up before giving it a little push. I think you hit the nail on the head, I'll mention it to the VW service guys and see what they say.

The VW service guy told me that the campaign 37G7 DSG update was just a European update for when storing the car after long periods of time the DSG can fail upon restart, this prevents that and that the update serviced no other purpose!

Gavs, VW should be paying you a 'goodwill' commission. You always have an in depth answer.

[gavs]

"an update for storing the car for long periods of time so the dsg doesn't fail..."

Yes, and the moon is made of green cheese.

Seriously, some of these answers are so good they have to be taught how to bulltish customers! How can a mechanical item fail from being stored for a Lon period of time? What is the technical definition of "a long period of time"? When forcebly watching sex and the city, half an hour is a long period of time for me!

[GTI mk6]

@ Gav....mate, you crack me up...along with the great in depth advise you give....every now and then you chuck in some great one liners....so thanks

[JonW]

When forcebly watching sex and the city, half an hour is a long period of time for me!

Too funny, but ohh so very true!

[VDUbNewb]

What you have experienced is what golf owners started calling the "false neutral" phenomenon. It seems on the surface to be more prevalent in the 7spd DSG cars.

Yup, noticed that on my 4 month old Jetta last night. I had noticed it a few weeks ago too, but was convinced I was imagining things!). At a set of lights, on a slight incline (enough to engage the hill hold), and was driving in manual mode. Not the most pleasant thing to experience in evening traffic. And yes, it decidedly did feel like the car was in "neutral" while still obviously engaged in "1" (on Manual Mode.

The only way out was to restart the car. I guess as with computers, a reboot always helps.

[Bassik]

Yep and again this happened to me last night. Pulled up to a set of lights (in manual) lights went green hit the accelerator and bam nothing. The gear "1" on the screen was blinking and then i promptly put it into auto and it worked.

That's kinda scary if you ask me, merging into a right lane and looking for a quick getaway and then nothing happens... could cause an accident

[gavs]

Think of it this way. Would you sit at a set of lights, in traffic, in a manual car holding the clutch pedal at the friction point continuously? Maybe do what I do and flick it back into D when sitting in traffic so the gearbox drops out of gear/releases the clutch.

Yes, i've had it happen and i have been able to replicate it in some respects (about a 40% consistancy) so I know how disconcerting it is but people have to learn more about how this type of gearbox opperates. Yes, VW should inform customers better and do more / better real world testing to try and erradicate these intricasies / cater for joe public but logic dictates that if you wouldn't do something in particular with a manual gearbox, why do it with a dsg?

Note that I have also changed the thread title as your gearbox did not fail per-say.

[Bassik]

Awesome work gavs thanks....for name change.

Now that you have mentioned this it got me thinking, I thought about it last weekend actually. I was wondering if there is a guide to driving a DSG gearbox. Because as you say I have no idea how it should be treated? Being new to VW I have no idea how to drive these babies?

Maybe a sticky, for newbies???

[gavs]

It not really that hard, treat it like a manual is the best advice. It's just more temperamental, that's all