1.6 CR DSG clutch judder

HNT

Active Member
Feb 22, 2015
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Hi

Purchased a 2010 altea 1.6 CR TDI with the 7 speed DSG gearbox. Loved the car for the first week or so until now. I seem to be getting a 'judder' through the gearbox when the car shifts from first to second gear. Seems worse when the car is warmed up/in warmer weather and when needing to accelerate hard e.g. turning from a B road junction to a faster A road. I've had the tranmission fluid and filter changed at 40k service (which is when I bought the car). Hasn't made any difference.

I've done some research and there appears to be hundreds of posts regarding an inherant problem with the 7 speed dry clutch setup. I'm now massively regretting buying the car to the point I'm going to trade it in for a toyota. I was wondering if anyone else has had the same issue? Replacing the clutch apparently doesn't work despite and apparent modified update. Neither does updating the DSG software. I don't fancy spending 4K on a new gearbox or £1500 on a new clutch pack :(

My friend has a Golf GTI with wet clutch setup and it feels loads better than mine in terms of shift quality. Also no judder whatsoever no matter how hard you push it!
 
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HNT

Active Member
Feb 22, 2015
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Just a quick update. Clutch judder has been progressively getting worse to the point the car suffers very bad clutch engagement and struggles to take up the drive (especially when the ambient air temp increases). It seems that the more the car shifts up and down gears the worse it becomes. I really think there is a design flaw with the dry clutch system as it seems to overheat which compounds the problem.

I've now reluctantly traded the car in after just two months of ownership (only lost about £50 overall which isn't bad)! I really loved this car and it drove impeccably and I really wanted the DSG to work! Its totally put me off buying a car with DSG in the future. I think the technology is 'almost' there with dry clutch system but it just hasn't been around as long as the wet clutch to be as reliable. I would highly recommend anyone considering buying one with 7 speed DSG to get a car that is still under warranty as the net is littered with 7 speed clutch judder problems!

I had a Saab Aero auto before that and had zero problems with it (however it had a torq converter). Until VAG sort the problems out I'll go back to manual.
 
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RadCordy

Active Member
Aug 2, 2002
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I have the same model/engine/box and mines started doing it this week, not all the time, depends how smooth you are on the throttle.

I dont think the oil change was an official recall for SEAT, might have been VW only
 

HNT

Active Member
Feb 22, 2015
10
0
Hi

When I bought the car it didn't have much history hence i got it quite cheap so I wasn't sure if it had been done. I was going to check if it had been done/had the software update but it was just out of the warranty and to be honest I couldn't be bothered with the chew. Besides that my local SEAT dealer is crap. They don't bother to answer the phone most of the time so I would be reserved to allow them to fix a dsg tranny which is quite specialist and relies on fitting correct shims etc. If the gear change on was anything to go by probably not as it shifted up quite early which was supposedly fixed with the update.

I did do some research on the issue and apparently replacing the clutch pack helps but the problem does come back eventually. There are loads of threads on Australian 7 speed DSG forums if you google it. Some people say its due to a faulty shim and others say the clutch surface overheats which causes the judder. In my case it only ever did it when I had been driving it up and down the gears and in warmer weather so unlikely to be the shim. To me it felt like the clutch just wasn't biting. On one occasion I could smell burning clutch.

The software update doesn't always work apparently as the only thing it does is keep the car in the lower gear longer so putting less straign on the clutch (although it does alleviate it so I've read). The garage I bought it from did change the oil in the gearbox at 40k (but not the mechatronic). I don't think changing the oil makes any difference anyway is the clutch is dry clutch and the only thing the oil does is lubricate the transmission, unlike the wet clutch DSG where changing the oil makes a big difference to shift qualty, clutch engagement.

There was a tech bulletin that I read but I can't find it now talked about a re-designed clutch actuator on later 7 speed DSG cars. If I find it I'll post it on here. I have to say I much prefer going back to a manual. I found that the DSG had odd gear changes at times and sometimes pulling away from a junction was a bit scary. The worst thing was when you needed power coming out of a junction/roundabout. If you floored it, it would bang the shift down to first and I felt a huge thud. I never really experienced that with my saab aero auto and it didn't do it on the DSG golf GTI. Also it had a random clonk when it did its first shift into second when cold occasionally. After that it was fine.

Hope that helps!
 

MJ

Public transport abuser
Apr 22, 2008
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Manchester
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The reason for the recall was the wrong oil was used from the factory. The gear oil is very much manual gear oil but what happened was the oil used did not protect the gears enough and caused premature wear on the gear sprockets and syncros, this produced swarf which coated itself to internal gear box parts and caused resistance. This would eventually cause the main fuse to blow, the clutches to open and the car to free wheel. The new oil prevented this.

It's not the software that makes the difference it's the recalibration of the clutches and mechatronics unit.

The gear box has 2 parts:

mechatronics unit - uses hydraulic fluid and is sealed for life
gear cluster - just like a normal manual box
 

HNT

Active Member
Feb 22, 2015
10
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Hi MJ

You'll know a lot more than me :) I bought the car from perry's peugot in Bolton and I think they actually asked a SEAT garage in Manchester how to change the oil as the mechanic hadn't done one before (not sure if it was you!).

Mind you I've still read about people having the software update which and the judder is still there. Was there ever an updated clutch pack?

I probs should have had it adjusted and maybe wouldn't have had a nightmare with it! Anyways I made a bit of money back from it so it was all ok in the end. I'm sure the new owner will be cursing me now!
 

davipt

Active Member
Aug 8, 2015
7
0
Hello All,

Mine just came back from the shop.

I complained about the car vibrating when starting, both in 1st and 2nd gear, as if the clutches were worn down. I've also complained about less power and more consumption, which kind of happens when it's reaching the thirty thousand km for the oil change, but this time it was looking worse. The car is 57 thousands km.

They got the whole mechatronics replaced, and I'm still not sure if they replaced the clutches or not, and argued the power problem was also caused by the automatic gear issue.

I'm not quite sure it was, as the reports on the internet mentions the gear switching to drive, and stuff like the OP reporting issues in every gear. I had none. Just vibrations when starting. My guess is that the repair shop took advantage of the SEAT recall / guarantee to fix the gearbox.

As the car is Renting from my employer, and they're the ones paying the bill, I have no more details about prices or exact stuff that was fixed.

But basically if there is something with the DQ200 gearbox, just complain and try to include the repair on the recall.