Advice on rebuilding a DSG tranny?

[SeaChiS4]

So, long story short, my car was dumped with a TD1 due to tune - had problems with no reverse and skipping even gears in Drive - my dealer says it needs a new tranny - they ruled out the mech unit board. Anyway, needless to say, I moved the car to an indy shop that specializes in VW/Audi - so, if we going to rebuild the tranny, we going all the way with this car, beefing up clutch packs etc. - anyone have experience/advice?
The service manager tried talking to the factory rep and they were not prepared to do anything due to 'numerous' issues with tunes! Anyway, I basically sucked it up as paying to play, so I'm actually looking forward to mod the crap out of this car and make it the ultimate sleeper.
My other car is a 2015 M4 DCT, so needless to say, I'm a bit gun shy to tune just yet!

[Scotty@Advanced]

Testing that is going to be fun!

[bhvrdr]

I saw a used dsg on car parts . com the other day with only 10k miles on it for 2500. I'd probably do that before Itrusted a place to rebuild it.
Mike

[Pilfer]

see if you can import an RS4 S tronic, that would be sweet.

[Hansel]

They can't be rebuilt according to Laurel Audi, they gave me an estimate of 8900 for a new one installed. This is a week after I had them replace the mechatronic unit, which I got discounted to 1550.00. Needless to say, it's gone now. Jumped ship, back to BMW for me.

[Davido1]

Make sure they checked the fluid. I went through something similar. Took It to someone else when the dealership quoted me 13k for a new transmission. Drain plug/fluid was gone. Transmission was not damaged at all somehow. Mech replaced at 16k miles as well if that matters.

[Johnnycash]

They can't be rebuilt according to Laurel Audi, they gave me an estimate of 8900 for a new one installed. This is a week after I had them replace the mechatronic unit, which I got discounted to 1550.00. Needless to say, it's gone now. Jumped ship, back to BMW for me.

pretty sure you can rebuild anything, take it apart replace the damaged parts and put it back together.

[boomtime]

So, long story short, my car was dumped with a TD1 due to tune - had problems with no reverse and skipping even gears in Drive - my dealer says it needs a new tranny - they ruled out the mech unit board. Anyway, needless to say, I moved the car to an indy shop that specializes in VW/Audi - so, if we going to rebuild the tranny, we going all the way with this car, beefing up clutch packs etc. - anyone have experience/advice?
The service manager tried talking to the factory rep and they were not prepared to do anything due to 'numerous' issues with tunes! Anyway, I basically sucked it up as paying to play, so I'm actually looking forward to mod the crap out of this car and make it the ultimate sleeper.
My other car is a 2015 M4 DCT, so needless to say, I'm a bit gun shy to tune just yet!

Which shop is it?
The owner sounds brave!

They can't be rebuilt according to Laurel Audi, they gave me an estimate of 8900 for a new one installed. This is a week after I had them replace the mechatronic unit, which I got discounted to 1550.00. Needless to say, it's gone now. Jumped ship, back to BMW for me.

The dealer needs 10k to do this job and they are probably right about the new/rebuild thing. Do you really want training day with techs making $18 an hour rebuilding your DSG. Not in America. Maybe in Germany.

Make sure they checked the fluid. I went through something similar. Took It to someone else when the dealership quoted me 13k for a new transmission. Drain plug/fluid was gone. Transmission was not damaged at all somehow. Mech replaced at 16k miles as well if that matters.

its only 13k if your from boston.

pretty sure you can rebuild anything, take it apart replace the damaged parts and put it back together.

Be prepared to buy all those special tools. I am betting you and the OP are not going to.

[Hansel]

pretty sure you can rebuild anything, take it apart replace the damaged parts and put it back together.

I was told by the regional audi rep that it's a sealed transmission. The dealers do not have the tools/training to rebuild the DSG trans.

[Frag]

SeachS4, on many miles on your car? Is it a B8 or B8.5? Hate hearing a DSG failure... Does it happens a lot around here!!??

[B8 S4]

I was told by the regional audi rep that it's a sealed transmission. The dealers do not have the tools/training to rebuild the DSG trans.

They make clutch packs for the trans so must have been shooting off some BS to you

[Hansel]

Who knows, maybe they did. It's over and done with now, cars gone. I'm back in a new X5, I'm happy. I just couldn't justify spending 9K to fix something that's worth less than 30K. Didn't make much sense.

[boomtime]

Who knows, maybe they did. It's over and done with now, cars gone. I'm back in a new X5, I'm happy. I just couldn't justify spending 9K to fix something that's worth less than 30K. Didn't make much sense.

You could have gone Q5 instead of M5. The Q is faster and cheaper.

[shadycrew31]

The DSG trans is fully serviceable, accessing, replacing the mech unit (most often mode of failure), and buttoning up the trans costs about the same as a new trans using average dealer labor costs so they just replace the trans.

If you are out of warranty and are using an indy shop it should be significantly less.

Shoot even the mech unit should be serviceable if you know what you are doing.

If it were me, I'd get a new mech unit and upgraded clutch packs, after that I'd flush that trans fluid whenever I felt the slightest hiccup.

Also I'd look into a better cooling solution for the DSG fluid, I feel that was a major failure on Audis part.

[LINDW4LL]

Buy a used transmission. There is no point to spend $$$ building the DSG beyond factory specs IMO as it can hold more than you'll be able to throw at it.

[skiracerblah]

I know coming from the Evo world and friends with GTR's, when they get "built" dual clutch tranny's done to handle higher torque levels, the ECU controlling the transmission typically gets retuned to handle the new clutchpacks and whatever else they do...

[skiptowncat]

I was told by the regional audi rep that it's a sealed transmission. The dealers do not have the tools/training to rebuild the DSG trans.

Yep, cast in one piece with all the gears inside and everything, it's magical how they do that��


To op, I saw a guide on YouTube about replacing the clutch packs.

[Johnnycash]

Who knows, maybe they did. It's over and done with now, cars gone. I'm back in a new X5, I'm happy. I just couldn't justify spending 9K to fix something that's worth less than 30K. Didn't make much sense.

i totally understand your logic in getting into a different car, makes sense.

Be prepared to buy all those special tools. I am betting you and the OP are not going to.

LOL i never said i was going to rebuild a dct gearbox, just simply pointing out that technically it is possible to do. is it cost prohibitive in the sense that a brand new one might be around similar price to rebuilding one sure...

[Frag]

Someone knows what hp level the dsg trans is built for?

Does not even know but ... Does the rs4 has the DSG has an option? If yes, is it the same tranny?

[mrmomo313]

These have been out for some time now: http://www.sspperformance.com/audi-s4-dsg-s-tronic.html

I don't know anyone who is using them though

[chillindrdude]

So, long story short, my car was dumped with a TD1 due to tune - had problems with no reverse and skipping even gears in Drive - my dealer says it needs a new tranny - they ruled out the mech unit board. Anyway, needless to say, I moved the car to an indy shop that specializes in VW/Audi - so, if we going to rebuild the tranny, we going all the way with this car, beefing up clutch packs etc. - anyone have experience/advice?
The service manager tried talking to the factory rep and they were not prepared to do anything due to 'numerous' issues with tunes! Anyway, I basically sucked it up as paying to play, so I'm actually looking forward to mod the crap out of this car and make it the ultimate sleeper.
My other car is a 2015 M4 DCT, so needless to say, I'm a bit gun shy to tune just yet!

interesting you have a F82...
When did you acquire the TD1 designation? (hindsight is 20/20) but if I had some inkling that the DSG needed major work, I would have gone to any length to reflash back to stock before going to the dealer.

They can't be rebuilt according to Laurel Audi, they gave me an estimate of 8900 for a new one installed. This is a week after I had them replace the mechatronic unit, which I got discounted to 1550.00. Needless to say, it's gone now. Jumped ship, back to BMW for me.

Big reason why I jumped ship. The Audi DSG shifts well (when it works), but prone to grenading with power upgrades. The M DCT has clutch packs that are replaceable AND the F8X DCT is the same as the one in the M5. So no worries about accepting power up to 600 HP.

[boosted dub]

They can't be rebuilt according to Laurel Audi, they gave me an estimate of 8900 for a new one installed. This is a week after I had them replace the mechatronic unit, which I got discounted to 1550.00. Needless to say, it's gone now. Jumped ship, back to BMW for me.

Just curious, what does one do when facing a $9k repair bill to get out of it? Did they make you an offer for the car? I have a 2010 DSG, no TD1 but out of warranty. I have no issues yet but it always sticks in my mind that a lot of people do and would be great to know some other options should I ever have to be in that situation. Thanks.

[AudiYes]

Very interested in your results as I'm looking to build mine too

[Fobia]

This whole thing sounds like a nightmare.. I have a year left on my warrenty. I have a dsg as well is there anything I can do to better prepare myself so I don't run into this issue?

[madman4you]

Upgrade the DSG stage 2 and NOS!!! Run 10s and call it a day.

[shadycrew31]

Upgrade the DSG stage 2 and NOS!!! Run 10s and call it a day.

I'm with this guy.

[paul]

Definitely serviceable and yes dealers do take them a part to do so. Earlier on I think the s-tronic gearboxes were not to be serviced by the dealer and instead replaced (if warrantied) by the manufacturer. I think after so many mech & gear position sensor failures, the manufacturer and Audi had to repair them rather than outright replacement.

[Fobia]

oh my.. 9000 for that.. come on.. .

[SeaChiS4]

Thanks Paul - also, just scanning online for used transmissions - seems like there's 4 types out there - my '11 is code MSE - then there's DSG codes NHS; PWW and NSC as the years progress - are these inter-changeable? And, the crazy thing is the newer model years are significantly cheaper than the older - just my fkn luck!

[SeaChiS4]

oh my.. 9000 for that.. come on.. .

My stealership quoted 14K!! Roughly half the price of an '11 S4 with ~70k miles!

[amz]

Thanks Paul - also, just scanning online for used transmissions - seems like there's 4 types out there - my '11 is code MSE - then there's DSG codes NHS; PWW and NSC as the years progress - are these inter-changeable? And, the crazy thing is the newer model years are significantly cheaper than the older - just my fkn luck!

Can you replace your older DSG with a newer & take advantage of 1800rpm's @ highway cruising speeds?

[cspcrx]

There was a time when mechanics actually fixed stuff, at dealers. Like rebuilding a motor or a transmission. Growing up my father was a mechanic for a Jag dealer and they did full rebuilds. Now days its just remove and replace. I guess when they do the math on man hours and cost they just figure its cheaper and easier to replace it.

[Johnnycash]

There was a time when mechanics actually fixed stuff, at dealers. Like rebuilding a motor or a transmission. Growing up my father was a mechanic for a Jag dealer and they did full rebuilds. Now days its just remove and replace. I guess when they do the math on man hours and cost they just figure its cheaper and easier to replace it.

unfortunately we have become a throw away society.

[Fobia]

well i planned on keeping this car for 150k plus?? but is that even a reality anymore even if i do my dsg fluid changes at a normal interval? this car seems like an investment nightmare

[bhvrdr]

well i planned on keeping this car for 150k plus?? but is that even a reality anymore even if i do my dsg fluid changes at a normal interval? this car seems like an investment nightmare

If you plan on keeping ANY audi for 150,000 miles or longer you should probably be comfortable either working on the car yourself or paying somebody else to work on it. You can pick up a used DSG for 2500 bucks and could have it swapped in for a grand so its not really a "nightmare" but these cars are nowhere as maintenance free as a lexus. Roll the dice when it comes to Audi. You could always get lucky and have zero failures of major items...or not.

Mike

[Frinkferta]

If you plan on keeping ANY audi for 150,000 miles or longer you should probably be comfortable either working on the car yourself or paying somebody else to work on it. You can pick up a used DSG for 2500 bucks and could have it swapped in for a grand so its not really a "nightmare" but these cars are nowhere as maintenance free as a lexus. Roll the dice when it comes to Audi. You could always get lucky and have zero failures of major items...or not.

Mike

So far the 100k+ mile cars haven't had much issues, if any. Take care of your car and it will take care of your wallet...most of then time haha!

[cspcrx]

^what he said. We, my wife and I, keep our cars for 10 years as a rule. We get every dollar out of them, but we also keep them very well maintained inside and out. They serve us very well and when it is time to sell we have people asking to buy our cars/trucks.

[Fobia]

well i had an b7 a4 for nearly 10 years chipped at 30k and it is still going on apr 93 150k miles no issues with anything engine related. (stock clutch to!) granted i had that brand new day 1.. the previous owner's only two of this car have brought it in 1k or 2k each interval of scheduled maintenance plus the car is in great shape so i can only have high expectations i guess.

[sergzz]

Curious to see the outcome of this


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[AudiYes]

Any updates?