GTI MKV DSG died on Monday morning - Mechtronic fail

[Duane]

I joined this group after researching threads on 'Mechtronic Units'. Apologies if I am covering old ground.

Driving up the Pacific Highway on Monday morning (peak hour) my GTI suddenly popped out of gear and no matter what I did I could not get it back into gear. The car slowly rolled to a halt. The engine was still running but it would not go into Drive/S/R/Anything?

I went to push the car off the road but found it was somehow stuck? Almost like it was still in gear? 4 hours later, tow truck arrives, 2 days later my mechanic gives me the bad news - Mechtronic Unit is dead. He has quoted me $4800 to replace it.

I am resolved to the fact I need a new Unit but I guess I want to know a couple of things. 1) Do I have a case with VW - my 2007 model has 72000Ks. Unfortunately out of warranty. 2) In other peoples replacement examples, how long does it take for the part to arrive? I have a new baby and my wife really needs a car at the moment.

Would appreciate any advice and suggestions.

[Umai Naa!!]

While I can't speak on behalf of your dealer or VW, you may get some assistance through VW if you have full dealer service history, and that you bought the car new. How much assistance you get will vary.

The Sydney and Melboure warehouses usually carry a couple of Mechatronics on the shelf. Failing that, Singapore is a 7-14 day boat ride for one.

[Capercat]

It pays to take out extended warranty just by virtue of having DSG.

[blutopless2]

I doubt you will get anywhere with VW as your car is out of warranty but its still worth a try if its not long out of it.... Timing will depend upon the dealership and where its located. I had mine changed out last year the same day it was at the dealership for a check up.
As for the price I would be ringing around to get the best deal, also try independant VW specialists as they may be able to do it lots cheaper even factoring in towing to them etc...
hope it turns out well...

[jazd]

Anyone know how physically big and heavy these things are and if they can be sourced from overseas e.g. Europe? There has to be a cheaper option than paying $4800 for one of these damn things. I cant see how that price is justified, when you can get a whole Mk5 with DSG for under $15000.

I'm just worried that mine might be on the way out Making contingency plans.

[stickshift3000]

Even if it weighed a couple of kg's it would be cheaper to sopurce from the UK in my opinion. You would need the part number to confirm this.

[Duane]

Thanks for the advice. I only wish I joined this group afew years ago. I would have got the extra warranty for sure.
Apparently the Unit costs $3000 - with labor, towing, etc etc its going to be closer to 5K. My wife suggested we get another car but the problem is I love those GTI's so much!

[TomC]

While I can't speak on behalf of your dealer or VW, you may get some assistance through VW if you have full dealer service history, and that you bought the car new

I doubt you will get anywhere with VW as your car is out of warranty but its still worth a try if its not long out of it

This is not entirely true. I know of at least one example (straight from the dealers mouth, so to speak) where a car came in more than a year out of warranty, second owner and serviced from new at an independent (never dealer) and VW Aus still paid a large percentage - 80% if I remember correctly - of the cost. Something like a gearbox failure can be argued pretty well under stat. warranty if you know your stuff as it is reasonable to expect that it shouldn't break within just a few years and (relatively) low kms.

[Umai Naa!!]

It varies on so many levels.

We had a customer who bought a 6 year-old T5 ex-Police vehicle with 150,00oklms on it with a trashed auto, and VW still wore a large percentage of the cost of a new transmission.

I've got other examples, but it's all irrelevant. Each case is assessed indiviually. I'd suggest booking the car in with the dealer (Preferably complete, and in the condition it was in when it faulted) so that they can perform diagnostics on it, and go from there.

[Creniac]

Hey Jazd, your earlier query about sourcing a cheaper one out of Europe may not be possible either..... I recall when my mechatronics failed there was a delay for a new unit.... it arrived within a week (from Germany) but had to be sent back due to the unit having to be coded to the car, this apparently had to be done in Germany (so I was told)...... I was without mine for nearly 4 weeks.
I've moved to a manual now, love VW's but couldn't risk this again with DSG.