# TTS/DSG-S/Tronic problems



## mikef4uk (Jan 15, 2006)

Just for TTS owners with S/Tronic gearbox please!

The gearbox should be very smooth, no kangerooing in traffic, no missed changes, no flashing displays etc


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## Bryn (Feb 12, 2004)

Why is this Pole TTS exclusive?, is the S box different to standard TT's then or something? :?


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## mikef4uk (Jan 15, 2006)

Bryn said:


> Why is this Pole TTS exclusive?, is the S box different to standard TT's then or something? :?


From my perspective there just seems to be a higher 'problem' rate with the TTS


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## newt (May 12, 2002)

mikef4uk said:


> Just for TTS owners with S/Tronic gearbox please!
> 
> The gearbox should be very smooth, no kangerooing in traffic, no missed changes, no flashing displays etc


Why do you say no flashing display, that is normal if the gearbox overheats says so in the handbook. Main cause holding the car to long on the brake.


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## powerplay (Feb 8, 2008)

Just had my Controller replaced under warranty. All problems now resolved, gearbox 100% smooth.

Never had any flashing display problem, my issue was just juddering/lurching at slow speed when the gearbox was warm, and sometimes some hesitation or jolting when changing gear.

When everything is working as intended its a great driving experience, and my dealer was very quick to diagnose and fix the problem


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## mikef4uk (Jan 15, 2006)

Looks like about 1 in 3 have developed faults amd we need to remember some cars will have low miles, mine only started kangerooing after about 6000miles, as stated the box is faultless when it's working correctly


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## bdzy88 (Apr 7, 2009)

Mine has 20,000kms (no idea how many miles, sorry guys - Im just a simple aussie)

Um, It used to do the whole 'hesitation of death' but that has resolved itself thanks to APR.

Also, the other day it over heated and the PRNDS flashed at me, pulled over turned it off turned it on and we were all good again...

No clunking or jamming or kangarooing (we just call it jumping here - really :lol: :roll: )

Not sure,...


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## ross2280 (May 11, 2005)

No probs with mine either.. 14.000kms in, and no indication of any of the usual problems whatsoever..
I do try to not keep the car with the brake for long periods though. I just put it in neutral and let the engine ease.. I think its better than having the clutches engaged and trying to move, while keeping it still for long periods in traffic e.t.c..


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## JPTT (May 22, 2011)

My TT judders more than other autos I've had when I am in drive at a stand still with my foot on the brake. I can feel the car shaking a bit. The dealer said it was normal. Also sometimes when I pull away it can be quite a jolt, think this may just be my use if accelerator pedal sometimes though. The engine starts a bit funny sometimes, not sure if this is to do with gear box. Shall I get my car looked at again?


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## Inny (Jan 3, 2010)

So what's the verdict on slight intermittent juddering on take off? I had an A3 S-tronic loaner recently and it was perfectly smooth every time from a stop, no juddering at all, felt as smooth as a tiptronic!
Something to worry about or get looked at during the warranty period?


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## R8lover (Jan 11, 2012)

Hi I am very new to this, I'm an Audi lover with 20 years experience of the reliable Brand. After many years of trying I finally convinced my in laws that they change their alliance with BMW (much spitting) to Audi, They purchased a 2007 3.2 TT with Stronic (good place to start)last saturday. It is awsome but today at my Mother in laws work it refused to move, forward or reverse? after calling for assistance she was advised by a friend to lock and open again ( a usual IT fix) at which point it worked. It is going back to Audi Saturday but any advice would be helpful in advance of the excuses from the salesman. Many thanks


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## Tom41 (Apr 7, 2007)

Hi all, I have only had my tts s-tronic for 8 weeks but sraight away taking up drive is clunky and changing down is quite harsh, thought it was me not used to it yet as I have only done 300 miles and coming from a manual to s-tronic,but now really unsure it's a 10 plate with 5k miles. Also what's the best way of approaching the dealer?

Thanks Tom.


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

newt said:


> mikef4uk said:
> 
> 
> > Just for TTS owners with S/Tronic gearbox please!
> ...


Where does it attribute gearbox over-heating to holding the car on the foot brake for long periods? I can't see any reference to this at all other than a reference to not over - using the brakes which can cause brake over-heating - no mention of any adverse affect on the gearbox.

In the manual the only given cause of gearbox over-heating I can see is allowing the car to 'creep' for overly long distances in an auto mode with no revs applied.


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## newt (May 12, 2002)

igotone said:


> newt said:
> 
> 
> > mikef4uk said:
> ...


I don't have the manual to hand but I thought it suggested you should not leave it in gear when stationary for long periods, could be wrong of course.


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

newt said:


> I don't have the manual to hand but I thought it suggested you should not leave it in gear when stationary for long periods, could be wrong of course.


Not that I can see. There seems to be a prevailing opinion that holding the car on the footbrake in an auto mode for long periods is harmful to the box. If this is the case, I find it amazing that there's no words of caution about this in the manual. Let me say straight away that I'm a handbrake/neutral trained monkey from way back and that's what I do for all but the briefest stops. I certainly wouldn't sit through a whole traffic light sequence with my foot on the brake with a manual gearbox, but that's as much about not blinding the person behind me (particularly at night) as much as the obvious good safety drill and I don't see how s-tronic boxes are different in this respect.

I know we've discussed this in other threads, but I'd take a lot of convincing that there isn't some mechanical or electronic linkage between the footbrake and the s-tronic box with such an advanced system which eliminates potential slippage and wear while held on the footbrake. Anything else just seems against the while idea/ethos of the auto box. Whether it's good driving practise or not is another matter of course.


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## newt (May 12, 2002)

I have not heard or seen any info on a mechanical or software device that disengages the clutch if you spend to long in gear stationary. The only feature that comes to mind is the limp home but I think that only happens when there has been a failure. I am sure I have read somewhere (thought it was in the manual) that you should dis-engage drive if you are stationary for a long period, I can only assume if you did not, clutch wear would take place and there would be a rise in gearbox temp. My gearbox is the wet type, dont know if later cars are dry clutch, whatever a slipping clutch will cause a temp rise, the issue is how much.


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

newt said:


> I have not heard or seen any info on a mechanical or software device that disengages the clutch if you spend to long in gear stationary. The only feature that comes to mind is the limp home but I think that only happens when there has been a failure. I am sure I have read somewhere (thought it was in the manual) that you should dis-engage drive if you are stationary for a long period, I can only assume if you did not, clutch wear would take place and there would be a rise in gearbox temp. My gearbox is the wet type, dont know if later cars are dry clutch, whatever a slipping clutch will cause a temp rise, the issue is how much.


Well, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I find it amazing that if this were the case it isn't really spelled out in the manual. I know someone in another thread queried this with Audi USA and was told the gearbox went into neutral when the footbrake was engaged. That probably wasn't the best description but it does seem to indicate that there is some sort of disengagement going on.

It's incredible that for something as important as this we can't seem to get a definitive answer! :?


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## SuzukaGrey (Mar 24, 2011)

RE:

I am having problems with my RS Dsg box, its still with local audi for past ten days and they are still trying to figure out the problem.

will update if i hear anything from them.


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## newt (May 12, 2002)

When you press the foot brake you can feel a hydraulic switch operating in the gear selector if you are holding it, this enables you to depress the interlock button on the gear selector and then select a gear option. I am fairly sure that pressing the brake does not disengage the clutch. With the box in N and your foot on the brake you can feel the clutch engage when when you select D. If Audi US tell there customers that it does it may explain why they have so many gearbox issues. Of course there is always the possibility that the US cars are different, but I doubt it.


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## SuzukaGrey (Mar 24, 2011)

Update on RS- Dsg Issue,

My car has been in for 2 weeks now with local audi, they have finally informed me that they will be replacing mechatronic unit on my gearbox and it wont be done until part has arrived, so looking at another 10 days.

Cheers


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## TTS_illa (Nov 27, 2011)

Coming home from the airport the other day in the TTS after a week working in LA, I reach the A127 exit off of the M25 and pull across onto the exit lane. It's quite a long lane and before I know it I'm stuck behind someone doing 50mph, so I check my mirror and pull back into the slow lane to my right, stick the box in 'S' and plant it to overtake.......nothing! Stick it in 'D' and still nothing! then in neutral and back in drive, and then the gearbox finally gives me a gear. I'm bloody glad it did give a gear as I would of had a BMW and a lorry or two in the boot by now. Not impressed after 6000 miles.

I jumped in the TTS the other night to head out and get some beer, came to a nice stretch of road and again chucked in S put my foot down and nothing happened again - the revs just sit there about 2k but it's as if it's in neutral....put it in neutral and back in drive and all ok again. Weird.

Going back to Audi on Wednesday afternoon to see what's happening....

anybody else had this?


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## Bryn (Feb 12, 2004)

TTS_illa said:


> Coming home from the airport the other day in the TTS after a week working in LA, I reach the A127 exit off of the M25 and pull across onto the exit lane. It's quite a long lane and before I know it I'm stuck behind someone doing 50mph, so I check my mirror and pull back into the slow lane to my right, stick the box in 'S' and plant it to overtake.......nothing! Stick it in 'D' and still nothing! then in neutral and back in drive, and then the gearbox finally gives me a gear. I'm bloody glad it did give a gear as I would of had a BMW and a lorry or two in the boot by now. Not impressed after 6000 miles.
> 
> I jumped in the TTS the other night to head out and get some beer, came to a nice stretch of road and again chucked in S put my foot down and nothing happened again - the revs just sit there about 2k but it's as if it's in neutral....put it in neutral and back in drive and all ok again. Weird.
> 
> ...


Had exactly the same thing on my TTS when I first bought it a couple of years ago.
Driving to work one morning and felt vibration coming up through the floor (bit like driving over a cattle grid)
Couple of miles further down the road suddenly I loose all drive, try D nothing, try S nothing, back in to D and all of a sudden drive comes back - very scary moment, fortunately I was in fairly slow moving traffic at the time.
Sent it back to Audi, they replaced the Mechatronic unit and all has been well since


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## Graham Grant (Jul 23, 2011)

Bryn said:


> TTS_illa said:
> 
> 
> > Coming home from the airport the other day in the TTS after a week working in LA, I reach the A127 exit off of the M25 and pull across onto the exit lane. It's quite a long lane and before I know it I'm stuck behind someone doing 50mph, so I check my mirror and pull back into the slow lane to my right, stick the box in 'S' and plant it to overtake.......nothing! Stick it in 'D' and still nothing! then in neutral and back in drive, and then the gearbox finally gives me a gear. I'm bloody glad it did give a gear as I would of had a BMW and a lorry or two in the boot by now. Not impressed after 6000 miles.
> ...


DITTO, I had the same problem with a new TT in November 2011 after covering just 1k miles. After complaining to Audi Customer Services and the dealer, they decided to order me another new TT. What a great service from Audi uk and my local dealer, hats of to them


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## Seansy (Apr 9, 2012)

Sorry for the hack of the original posters topic,

Today my DSG 3.2 started to operate erratically. When in gear one I started to move off then the revs just dropped, instantly no power. Then seconds later, instant power. But throughout the ten minute journey whichever gear I was in there was a cut in power and at one point on a hill start out of a junction the car stalled. I turned the car off and restarted and it was fine.

Whilst driving I noticed on the display that when there was a loss of power, the gear it was meant to be in wasn't displayed.

I feel it's a gearbox issue, can anyone shed more light?

Many thanks.

Seán


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## KingMarty (Jul 18, 2012)

mikef4uk said:


> Bryn said:
> 
> 
> > Why is this Pole TTS exclusive?, is the S box different to standard TT's then or something? :?
> ...


Perhaps it's the drivers with the higher 'problem' rate. A bad workman always blames his tools.


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## missile (Jul 18, 2011)

igotone said:


> newt said:
> 
> 
> > I don't have the manual to hand but I thought it suggested you should not leave it in gear when stationary for long periods, could be wrong of course.
> ...


I think we are the exceptions. I find almost every automatic and many manual car drivers sit with their foot on the brake when I am stopped in a queue.

You must be able to feel the car trying to creep forward when in drive with handbrake on? The clutch slipping, generates heat.


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## BigAardvaark (Mar 5, 2012)

Not TTS but mine's currently "in the shop" for the 2nd time since May with s-tronic woes. Mechatronic replacement only fixed kangarooing, still had juddering and harsh or slow takeoffs, no middle ground. Clutch pack now being replaced, hopefully by the end of today.


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## Shaddow (May 21, 2012)

I've been quite fortunate - my Golf MK5 DSG and TT-S S-Tronic have not ever hassled me. I did actually find on both instances that after loading APR software on the G5 and Revo on the TT-S, the box was slightly smoother. I think it has to do with the amount of "load" the software allows when changing gears.

In any case, over here in SA, i would estimate that 1 in 10 people with these boxes seem to have a mechatronic issue - out of these, re-setting the sofware at the dealership seems to fix the issue in 9/10 cases. On the odd occasion, the mechatronics has to be replaced - not a cheap exercise if your warraty has expired!


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## Seansy (Apr 9, 2012)

Seansy said:


> Sorry for the hack of the original posters topic,
> 
> Today my DSG 3.2 started to operate erratically. When in gear one I started to move off then the revs just dropped, instantly no power. Then seconds later, instant power. But throughout the ten minute journey whichever gear I was in there was a cut in power and at one point on a hill start out of a junction the car stalled. I turned the car off and restarted and it was fine.
> 
> ...


Any word on the above?

S


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

BigAardvaark said:


> Mechatronic replacement only fixed kangarooing, still had juddering and harsh or slow takeoffs, no middle ground. Clutch pack now being replaced, hopefully by the end of today.


Are you getting the juddering, harsh/slow takeoffs from stand once when switching from "N" to "D"?
Mine has been like yours since I had my mech unit changed back in Feb and at times wonder whether that it's the way it should be or is it still not right.

On the other hand from a stand still if left in "D" ( and not changed to "N") and then I move off it 's okay.


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

igotone said:


> I know we've discussed this in other threads, but I'd take a lot of convincing that there isn't some mechanical or electronic linkage between the footbrake and the s-tronic box with such an advanced system which eliminates potential slippage and wear while held on the footbrake. Anything else just seems against the while idea/ethos of the auto box. Whether it's good driving practise or not is another matter of course.


You are correct. When the engine is idling and a gear is selected a pre-set torque is applied to the clutch to allow creep speed manoeuvring: with the brake applied that clutch torque is reduced and I believe that the reduction is proportional to brake pressure.


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

Seansy said:


> Seansy said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry for the hack of the original posters topic,
> ...


The reduction in engine power will be in response to the gearbox ECU identifying some problem based on what the numerous sensors tell it. That could be a real problem or a failed or failing sensor. 
The first course of action must be to get the car scanned by VCDS or VAS (dealer) systems to see what, if any, fault codes have been logged.


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## BigAardvaark (Mar 5, 2012)

ajayp said:


> BigAardvaark said:
> 
> 
> > Mechatronic replacement only fixed kangarooing, still had juddering and harsh or slow takeoffs, no middle ground. Clutch pack now being replaced, hopefully by the end of today.
> ...


With mine it doesn't matter what I do, it judders unless setting off quickly. So in stop/start traffic, it's annoying to say the least as that's where an auto should come into its own and make things more relaxed. I would say yours isn't perfect either. My A3 DSG was smooth as silk, never missed a beat in the 30-odd thousand I did in it so I know what these boxes are capable of and it's lovely! Hopefully I will have this loveliness again very shortly!


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

BigAardvaark said:


> ajayp said:
> 
> 
> > BigAardvaark said:
> ...


Thanks for posting back, it will be interesting to see what the out come is and whether the clutch pack fixes the issue.
I hope so, then I will be back onto my dealers case. Although I did report this as soon as I started seeing this but they said nothing was wrong! This way I may have some ammo against them - fingers crossed!!


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## Seansy (Apr 9, 2012)

brittan said:


> The reduction in engine power will be in response to the gearbox ECU identifying some problem based on what the numerous sensors tell it. That could be a real problem or a failed or failing sensor.
> The first course of action must be to get the car scanned by VCDS or VAS (dealer) systems to see what, if any, fault codes have been logged.


Thank you Brittan, I shall do.

S


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

brittan said:


> igotone said:
> 
> 
> > I know we've discussed this in other threads, but I'd take a lot of convincing that there isn't some mechanical or electronic linkage between the footbrake and the s-tronic box with such an advanced system which eliminates potential slippage and wear while held on the footbrake. Anything else just seems against the while idea/ethos of the auto box. Whether it's good driving practise or not is another matter of course.
> ...


Now that makes perfect sense and it's the best explanation I've heard so far.

There's obviously no such function when just the handbrake is applied as you can hear and feel the gearbox trying to overcome the handbrake resistance so it's obviously not the thing to do, but a reduction in torque depending on footbrake pressure makes perfect sense.


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

It might have been a good idea to add a couple of further options in the poll for those who have had problems to show whether they occurred in or out of warranty to try and tie down likely problems a little tighter?


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