VW Aust have agreed to replace my mechatronics unit 100% parts 30% labour

[Martin]

My son drives a 2008 holden commodore. We bought it cheap from friends who'd owned it since new. They drove it like they stole it and I doubt it ever went back to a workshop after the new car warranty ran out. It's done over 240,000klms and the automatic transmission still has no trouble getting through the gears.

Holden have their nightmares:
Timing Chain Stretch and/or DTC’s on VZ, VE, WL, WM, CG, RA with HFV6.
The 'beauty' of this fault is that it will usually present itself just out of the 3yr 100,000km warranty period.
Holden dealers try to get the owner to pay $3k to fix it despite:

• It's a known design fault that was rectified on later engine versions
• A call to Holden Customer Assistance (with a threat to contact consumer affairs) will result in Holden picking up the complete tab

Motoring.com.au mention it in their buying guide:
Buying Used: Holden VE Commodore Calais V6 (2009-11) - motoring.com.au

CHECK POINTS

• A small number of MY10 cars were recalled to fix a brake booster problem and around 2000 VE II Sportswagons were returned to dealerships to replace rear-seat locking mechanisms which could allow the seat back to unlatch during a crash or emergency braking.
• Reports are emerging of 3.0-litre engines in particular using a litre or more of oil in 5000 kilometres. Failure to check the oil level at least every 5000km — given that service intervals are now out to 15,000 — could produce serious engine wear and perhaps failure.
• Manual gearboxes are notchy and noisy but generally reliable. Make sure that the car doesn’t jump out of gear under hard acceleration
• Cars that have travelled 80,000 kilometres or more (and numbers are increasing) may suffer stretched and noisy timing chains. Ticking or rattling from the front of the engine, especially when cold, is the sound of money needing to be spent.
• Suspension misalignment will chop out the inner edges of rear tyres and the damage might not be noticed until the car fails a roadworthy inspection. When inspecting a potential purchase, feel inner tread edges for rounding or inconsistent wear.

[XXX-1.8T]

Sounds like the clutches are faulty.

Get VW to use the money you spent on labour for the mechatronics and everything should be even.

[Christine]

Sorry to hear of your troubles!

In hindsight, the whole transmission should have been suspect rather than just the mechatronic unit.

My old R36 6 speed had the whole lot replaced by VWA and the dealer through good will as the car had all services undertaken by VW here in Canberra so they're not all without fault.

The whole transmission was suspect, the dealer did request a replacement mechatronics unit AND clutch in the initial goodwill request, I guess VWA wanted to test it out with just a new MU to start with.

No they're not all without fault and if people don't know to ask VWA for a replacement VWA aren't going to offer which I think is a shame, certainly not good for the VW reputation.

Just out of curiosity had you been reversing up hills before your troubles started?

[Christine]

I can't understand your negativity towards VWA when they agreed to replace the faulty component as diagnosed by the dealer and they are now going through the process of determining the revised claim, a process that any manufacturer would go through before simply handing over a new transmission.

Have you ever had to phone VWA customer care? I doubt it, if you had you'd understand why I'm upset.

You've intimated that Subarus and Holdens are fault free but a quick Google search shows otherwise.

I am 53 years old and can only speak from my own personal experience with the cars I've owned. The VW Passat is the most expensive car I've ever bought, and from my own experience it hasn't been value for money.

You've also told us that VW should have recalled the 6 speed DSG when there is no cause to do so. I've been driving 6 speed DSGs for 10 years with not a hint of an issue so why would I want a recall to be carried out?

I don't know how many 6 speed DSGs have had problems and doubt I could find an exact number. The reason I came onto this forum was to spread the word to those who have 6speeds with issues to go back to VWA. You may not have had any issues but I know from reading this and other forums I am not alone. We were lucky, our mechanic is a mad keen VW enthusiast,lucky for us he knew the history of the DSGs and sent us straight to VWA.

As for your above comment to Umai Naa!!, he's a very respected member of this forum, a dealer trained mechanic whose advice to other members is greatly appreciated and valued. I'd suggest he knows a lot more about VWs than you or Io r the majority of the members on this forum.

I didn't realise when I started this thread I'd be talking to so many people who work for VW dealerships, of course you're not going to want to hear negativity towards VW. I'm not saying he's not an expert but to say my car's transmission problems are normal wear and tear seems a bit unreasonable. In my reference to the holden I was trying illustrate what I think is normal wear and tear. The Passat is only 5 years old, surely it's reasonable to expect the transmission to last longer than that. Between my husband and I we’ve owned lots of older cars with automatic transmissions that never gave us any trouble.

This forum is the place where owners come to discuss their cars and share knowledge about the good things and the bad things, in the main we like our VWs, some of course do not but if your sole purpose in coming on the forum is simply to bag VWA out when they are in fact working to resolve the situation, I'm sure you'll understand that some of us may suggest to you that is not what this forum is about.
George

My sole purpose for coming on the forum was to let people with 6speeds that do have problems know they’re not alone and to contact VWA.

I have one more comment and I'll leave your forum, sure wouldn't want to ruin anyone's day.

VWA have today agreed to replace the gearbox and clutch,100% parts, 30% labour. This is in addition to the mechatronics unit that was replaced last week. We were extremely relieved to hear this news. We have been without the car since before Christmas and have been sick with worry what we would do if they didn't come to the party with our goodwill request. Regardless of what you and the other forum members say I will always be of the opinion our car should have been recalled when the 7speeds were recalled. I think VWA know that too which is why they've agreed to replace the transmission and mechatronics unit. It just would have been nice not to have to go through what we've been through in the past month. Have you ever driven a car that has a false neutral, it's pretty scary. I am still a bit wary, the parts are on order, they'll be a couple of weeks. Until the car is back with us and driving as it should I can't completely relax. But on a positive note we purchased the car from Rockhampton Prestige, at the time it was also a very unpleasant experience, the sales man wasn't truthful and we felt let down. He has since moved on and I can say Rockhampton Prestige and been extremely helpful throughout this ordeal. Today when it was discovered there will be a delay in getting the new parts they offered us one of their cars to use while we wait, a very nice surprise. It's the little things that make the difference, shame VWA customer care have no idea.

[VW Convert]

I am 53 years old and can only speak from my own personal experience with the cars I've owned. The VW Passat is the most expensive car I've ever bought, and from my own experience it hasn't been value for money.

Why? Because it had a problem and VW are paying the lion's share of the replacement? Try getting that from Holden or Subaru. My observation is that VW are pretty good with courtesy claims much more so than some other manufacturers. Google Holden Captiva Problems, it's very entertaining reading.

I don't know how many 6 speed DSGs have had problems and doubt I could find an exact number. The reason I came onto this forum was to spread the word to those who have 6speeds with issues to go back to VWA. You may not have had any issues but I know from reading this and other forums I am not alone. We were lucky, our mechanic is a mad keen VW enthusiast,lucky for us he knew the history of the DSGs and sent us straight to VWA.

So, because a miniscule percentage have problems you suggest it necessary to recall every one? By your logic, every Subaru should be recalled because some have a problem with the airbag or some have a problem with head gaskets and all Holdens should be recalled because some use oil and some have timing chain problems, how much sense does that make? Absolutely none.

I didn't realise when I started this thread I'd be talking to so many people who work for VW dealerships, of course you're not going to want to hear negativity towards VW. I'm not saying he's not an expert but to say my car's transmission problems are normal wear and tear seems a bit unreasonable.

You have your wires crossed there, I do not and never have worked for a VW dealership, I've worked in the aftermarket area which is opposition to dealerships and Umai does not work for a dealership either, he has his own repair business. Secondly, he did not say that your car's transmission problems are normal wear and tear this is what he wrote "The car isn't a lemon. It has a worn-out transmission. They will put another one in, and all will be right with the world again."

In my reference to the holden I was trying illustrate what I think is normal wear and tear. The Passat is only 5 years old, surely it's reasonable to expect the transmission to last longer than that. Between my husband and I we’ve owned lots of older cars with automatic transmissions that never gave us any trouble.

There are numerous documented cases of low mileage Holden engines needing rebuild due to oil consumption issues and numerous cases of Subarus needing major engine work due to faulty head gaskets, surely it's reasonable to expect engines to last longer than that is it not?

I have one more comment and I'll leave your forum, sure wouldn't want to ruin anyone's day.
VWA have today agreed to replace the gearbox and clutch,100% parts, 30% labour. This is in addition to the mechatronics unit that was replaced last week.

So, just as Umai wrote, there was a problem and VW are fixing it, such an issue could occur with ANY brand of vehicle not only VW.

I'm no apologist for VW, in fact I've been scathing of them at times, but your anti VW stance ignores the realities of the world.

Cheers

George

[Christine]

I'm no apologist for VW, in fact I've been scathing of them at times, but your anti VW stance ignores the realities of the world.

Wow, you went to all that trouble to get back at me on every point except the two I really wanted to make.
You totally ignored the realities of the world I wanted to share:

1. The VWA Customer Care team are woeful and don't care.

2. VWA WILL PAY to fix 6speeds with DSG issues. It would be really nice if they just came out and told everyone, instead of waiting for people like me to get all upset and go through the stress of dealing with their customer care team. Which I'm still assuming you've never had to do.

Good night George, I'm signing out of your forum now and won't be back.

[ope126]

Wow, you went to all that trouble to get back at me on every point except the two I really wanted to make.
You totally ignored the realities of the world I wanted to share:

1. The VWA Customer Care team are woeful and don't care.

2. VWA WILL PAY to fix 6speeds with DSG issues. It would be really nice if they just came out and told everyone, instead of waiting for people like me to get all upset and go through the stress of dealing with their customer care team. Which I'm still assuming you've never had to do.

Good night George, I'm signing out of your forum now and won't be back.

Christine, I just noticed that you are still online.
I am glad that you will soon be back on the road and hopefully enjoying your Passat well into the future.
Having owned VW's (and numerous other brands over the past 20yrs) I can tell you they all have their positives and negatives.

As for your repairs to the DSG, hopefully this helps the next person who has issues.
Most people join the forum with problems and complaints and then pack their bags and go...
It would be truly appreciated if you could remain a valid contributor of our fabulous forum. In time you might change your mind and start finding the forum a very helpful environment and learn a few new tricks along the way!

On a final note, the labour at 30% is bearable, however getting the parts at 100% is great! The parts would have been your greatest expense as you are aware.

Please be aware that VWA is just as active on this (and other forums) as I am lead to believe.
Maybe, just maybe if you kept some of the negatives comments to yourself and tried a diplomatic approach with VWA, you might have been able to increase the 30% closer to 100%...just a though!

[Hillbilly]

just as an aside It hasnt been mentioned that the "Auto" box in a VW is not the same as the old Holden slush boxes.

It is a manual gearbox with electronically operated clutches, 2 of them in fact.

The worst thing you can do is drive them like a slushbox and creep in traffic with your foot trailing on the brake,hold it on a hill on the throttle or back up a steep drive in a similar fashion.. That will burn the clutches out and will do it faster in the 7 spd dry clutch box than the 6sp which has wet clutches.

Driving habits can cause more trouble than component problems.

[00100100]

It is a manual gearbox with electronically operated clutches, 2 of them in fact.

The worst thing you can do is drive them like a slushbox and creep in traffic with your foot trailing on the brake,hold it on a hill on the throttle or back up a steep drive in a similar fashion.. That will burn the clutches out and will do it faster in the 7 spd dry clutch box than the 6sp which has wet clutches.

Driving habits can cause more trouble than component problems.

Agreed, DSG is an automated manual gearbox. Hence it needs to be driven like a manual box to prolong the life of the clutch pack. Feathering the clutch (or riding the clutch) all the time is very bad for its life. So slowly reversing up hill is bad, sticking the peddle to the floor is bad and using the fuel peddle to creep behind heavy traffic can also heat up the clutch. Most of the time I let go of the brakes, let the clutch engage first before I fuel the car when taking off.

The problem is, for most people who have not driving manuals before, they will not necessarily be aware of this or have a trained foot for it.

Sometimes I also use the manual mode in the DSG to prevent unnecessary shifts. I even let go of the fuel a bit while shifting just like in a manual box so that not to load the clutch pack. However this has proven hard to do every time as the mechatronics tries to do it for me sometimes, so the gearbox jurkes.

[Umai Naa!!]

You must really love VWs to continue to defend them. I have been reading older posts on this site and see you are always quick to give excuses when people write in with VW problems. My son drives a 2008 holden commodore. We bought it cheap from friends who'd owned it since new. They drove it like they stole it and I doubt it ever went back to a workshop after the new car warranty ran out. It's done over 240,000klms and the automatic transmission still has no trouble getting through the gears.

Hi Christine,

I won't dare to hide my affinity with the Volkswagen product, which dates back to watching Herbie on VHS as a small boy...

I sympathise with your frustrations not only as an owner of several VWs, but also as being a former VW technician, and now an independant repairer. What I do bring to the discussion, is the other side of the coin.

The conventional automatic in your son's Commodore is a much simpler thing, compared to the DSG, which is basically a manual transmission, sans clutch pedal, cleverly disguised as an auto. Sure, the 6-speeds have their problems, but nothing of the same scale as the 7-speed, which had all the recalls.

As I said early on in the thread, failures of this type of transmission, by now, and at the distance yours has travelled, are pretty much largely unheard of. Even when failures were more common, we were still replacing Commodore transmissions probably twice as often. We had a Holden franchise as well.

FWIW, I've got maybe 3 or 4 cars on the books here, that have done well over 200,000kms on the really early version of the 6-speed. All perform faultlessly, and have never been replaced or repaired at any stage. I've got one that I've just taken on, that's done over 270,000kms that's never so much as had the oil replaced in the DSG. They are a pretty robust unit, and have been on the scene for around 15 years now. That's a lot of time in the automotive world to develop and refine them into what they are now.

I'm pretty confident your dealer will get on top of it as quick as they can. The warranty side of things can take some time to process, as evidence of the fault, repair and service history, etc, take time to procure and submit to head office for approval. Add in time for parts to be ordered and despatched, and then allocating time in the shop to fit them, it's easy to see how what's probably a few hours of 'clocked' time can look as though it's blown out to a week or two. I'm not really surprised the failed Mechatronics has damaged the clutches, but the main thing is they're still chipping away at getting a positive result for you.

All the best with it.