What is this all about?

Well, in November 2010, I bought a brand new Volkswagen Touran (model 2011). Not long time after I bought the car, I started noticing the strange behaviour when it would shift gears. This was my first DSG car, manual transmission with automatic gear changing; So I didn’t know what to expect and it was snowy so I contributed the behaviour to slippery surface.

When in lower gears and at low RPM’s there would be shaky and jerky behaviour  So, as I mentioned above, I thought it might be snow/ice and ESP system that tried to keep the car stable. This has happened few times in the winter months while roads are covered with snow. So I didn’t think much of it.

But then, in spring of 2011, I would notice it occasionally. Also, a noise was coming from the car while this was happening. I would notice it sometimes, but mostly I would notice people on the sidewalks turning back and looking at the car. I was a bit proud, because I naïvely thought they were looking at my shiny new car. This was still new model, and only few have been sold in Denmark. But as noise became gradually louder and louder I realised that it was the noise people were reacting to and not the car. Best description of the noise would be, grinding. Like metal parts are grinding against each other.

Grinding/rattling noise is audible mostly in second and third gear. Shifting from third to second is where it is most audible. But definitely also from second to third there would be change in the frequency of the sound.

I went to dealership and mention this to them, but as it was periodic They couldn’t do much about it, they said. As time progressed and I kept on driving the car in this condition, noise and jerking/shaking became more frequent and more symptoms started showing. Went to dealership again and showed them behaviour and noise and they decided to replace the DSG7 gearbox.

It was a bit strange that the gearbox would be defective after only few thousand kilometres  but I wanted the issue resolved and thought they know what they are doing. So I agreed that they should replace it. But this didn’t help. After this they told me that this is normal behaviour and that I shouldn’t worry about it.

Driving some more, and engine started stalling and throwing out of gear. Here I was offered flywheel replacement, and this has helped. But issue came back a year later. So after that, clutches and mechatronic unit has been replaced as well. But the problem is still present.

So now I have decided to go public as I am not happy with responses from VW Denmark…

Doing research online I can see a trend on the complains with DSG7 gearboxes. So instead of VW re-calling defective gearboxes back they are ignoring the problem and covering it up, as “it should make that sound”. But for me, car worth of 500.000 DKK (67.135 EUR) is not supposed to make any sounds that are not coming from the combustion engine. I could have bought a Trabant if I wanted a car that is not operating as it should and was loud for no clear reason.

In short, while VW service in Denmark, have been troubleshooting the problem, they replaced following on my car.

  • DSG7 gearbox
  • Flywheel
  • Software update to mechatronic/engine/gearbox
  • Dual Clutches
  • Mechatronic
  • Dual Clutches and Flywheel

And counting… At current, the car has been in shop since July 26th…

10 Comments

  1. Dear Nihad,

    We are more than a hundred to confirm your testimony.
    We gathered in a Facebook page called “SOS CLIENTS VW”.
    The situation is getting more serious in France because most of DSG7 drivers are reaching the end of basic waranty.
    While we discovered in China, the basic VW policy on 2 years waranty had been upgrated to 10 years, specificaly on DSG7. Some of us are starting to press charges now.
    I am going to post your very precise testimony on our page.
    We would be very glad to see a few words from you, by any chance.

    Vi ses snart.

    Facebook presenting page (french)
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/SOS-CLIENTS-VW/184071751667510?sk=info
    English translation
    http://lnk.nu/dl.dropbox.com/22i3.pdf
    Twitter account
    https://twitter.com/SOS_CLIENTS_VW

  2. An important detail, we have noticed that the acoustic and dynamic problems of the DSG7 gearbox are increased by higher temperature (engine and wheater).

  3. Sound much like my Golf TSI DSG 7…. same noise, nearly same problems and have gearbox replaced and clutch replaced twice and still we have these problems. This is the worst gearbox VW ever made.

  4. Thank you for letting me know about the group.
    Good to know that I am not alone.

  5. I hope it will, very soon … Otherwise I am gonna complaint to the authority for car sales that we have in Denmark. I just wanted to give VW DK a chance to fix the issue first. But this is ridiculous.

  6. Why not starting your complaint to the autority and retire it if VW acts correctly towards you ? They only react to pressure. Saddly, good sense is not an option for them.

  7. I am planning to, just need to have a little bit of time to do so… was mostly waiting on VW to see if they can get to their senses…

  8. I am in Cyprus having the exact same problems with my VW Touran, & guess what – no-one wants to know! I am now going to find your facebook page relating to this problem – thanks


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