pfl 2016 s3 saloon stronic issue?

th1991

th1991

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hey

i have recently picked up an audi approved pfl 2016 s3 stronic, just after christmas i also got a stinking cold and the weather has turned foggy/icy so i havent done too much driving but a few times when driving the car either on auto or manual mode with the paddles if i boot it the revs rise the boost increases but nothing really happens until i come off the loud pedal then it speeds up a little whilst the revs settle down which seems like clutch slip ?

this is my first auto (having purchased hearing the manual clutchs are made of cheese ).Do you guys think its an issue with my driving having not learnt properly or the car ? difficult without a video i know ,my old golf had more power and it never did anything of the sort

thanks in advance

tommy
 
Those with more technical knowledge than me might help a bit more but what's happening doesn't sound right, especially in such a young car.
It should fly when you sink it and the boost comes in.
 
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Take it straight back to dealer to get it checked out, its under warranty after all!
 
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There's a inherent lag between the gearbox and engine....all S3's suffer from it
 
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Ok, if I understand this right, if you have it in manual mode, say in second gear and boot it the revs climb and you have no acceleration, then that is a slipping transmission and should be looked at right away....in auto mode you will get a brief momentary pause when you boot it, especially in comfort mode, as it selects the next gear...that is normal
 
jassyo06 said:
There's a inherent lag between the gearbox and engine....all S3's suffer from it
Click to expand...
Mine doesn't. I boot it and it goes instantly!!!
 
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I have a FL S3 2016 and this happens with mine, has done from 0 miles and I've wondered if it's down to my lack of knowledge of how to drive an auto.
 
will be going out this evening so i will try it again, are we talking auto mode in drive select or just on the gear stick ? having not driven auto or had a turbo car before i think im just being paranoid but with the paddles it works fine for a bit then if i really push the accelerator the boost builds the revs rise loads of noise but no actual acceleration until i come off the pedal and then the revs lower and it starts to accelerate , if this happened in auto it could be the car struggling to decide what its doing in regards to gears etc ? if it paddles then its ****** ?
 
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th1991 said:
will be going out this evening so i will try it again, are we talking auto mode in drive select or just on the gear stick ? having not driven auto or had a turbo car before i think im just being paranoid but with the paddles it works fine for a bit then if i really push the accelerator the boost builds the revs rise loads of noise but no actual acceleration until i come off the pedal and then the revs lower and it starts to accelerate , if this happened in auto it could be the car struggling to decide what its doing in regards to gears etc ? if it paddles then its ****** ?
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Auto in gearbox I think is what's being suggested

You say with paddles it works fine... Without paddles, are you putting the accelerator down hard, it then drops a gear ready to go and in the meantime you've thought "oh nothing is happening" and backed off the accelerator again just before it goes? There is only about 1 second (or even less really) it takes to shift down so I don't think this is the case... Sounds very strange if I'm not misunderstanding you. As you say once you've come off the pedal it THEN accelerates?
 
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Sounds like a slipping clutch to me. Get it checked out just the same. Without driving it, we're all just guessing and as it's under warranty you might aswell get them to look at it. When I did a long test drive in the S3 it was instant with hardly any lag between the box and the engine. I've never really driven an auto before either... sounds like something isn't quite right.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Ummm, that's a bit worrying as mine has done this from brand new, maybe it's a common fault that is emerging!
 
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dstill said:
Ummm, that's a bit worrying as mine has done this from brand new, maybe it's a common fault that is emerging!
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How come you haven't taken it back sooner? It would be almost un-driveable under any load by the sounds of it
 
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Apart from not having any time mate I thought it was normal as it the first auto I've had. It's certainly driveable but if I floor it it does nothing for a second then bursts into life.
 
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From my experience with VW's DSG gearbox (I've owned my R32 for around 8 and a bit years now) depending on what gear you're in, you will have a slight delay as it shifts from say 6th to 2nd as the electronic brain for want of a better phrase tells the gearbox whats going on. There will always be a gear either side of the one you're in pre selected but if you're accelerating then decide you're going to drop down a gear instead, you can get a bit of hesitation as it's expecting you to change up rather than down.

Hopefully that all makes sense as I started to lose myself towards the end haha
 
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Tom.H said:
From my experience with VW's DSG gearbox (I've owned my R32 for around 8 and a bit years now) depending on what gear you're in, you will have a slight delay as it shifts from say 6th to 2nd as the electronic brain for want of a better phrase tells the gearbox whats going on. There will always be a gear either side of the one you're in pre selected but if you're accelerating then decide you're going to drop down a gear instead, you can get a bit of hesitation as it's expecting you to change up rather than down.

Hopefully that all makes sense as I started to lose myself towards the end haha
Click to expand...

As Tom has said this basically may be the problem. If your in a high gear and then floor it, the box still has to change down to the right gear to get maximum acceleration. Best way to test it, is to manually swap down to 2nd or 3rd and then floor it. You should have pretty seamless and lag free acceleration. If the rev's flair up with no real movement, then you have a slipping clutch. But if you expect it to just move like the clappers from a high gear, then it won't happen. When your in a manual, you have to change down to the right gear to get max acceleration - same for a auto. The only box which gives you seamless punch is a CVT and they're crap. So, in summary, try the test above and if it pull straight away, then it's your driving and you'll need to adapt your style to suit. If not, then it's a problem somewhere and get it look at.
 
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dstill said:
Apart from not having any time mate I thought it was normal as it the first auto I've had. It's certainly driveable but if I floor it it does nothing for a second then bursts into life.
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Fair enough :)

That sounds normal though :) And matches my S3... What doesn't sound normal is what @th1991 is describing, sounds like a different situation to yours

As said above it is a computer at the end of the day so can only expect what it thinks you're going to do, it can never know for sure... I was pootling along the other day probably in 4th - 6th (just come off a roundabout) then saw an empty stretch ahead so pulled the stick back into sport, floored the pedal and made a couple of overtakes. It changed down fine to give me the kick I expected, but when making the first gear change UP as I was going through my overtake it gave a very strange and longer than usual pause before going quite jerkily into gear... I put it down to just being a bit of an odd situation and it not knowing what I was doing (going slow in auto one sec, then foot to the floor in sport the next)
 
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th1991 said:
if i boot it the revs rise the boost increases but nothing really happens until i come off the loud pedal then it speeds up a little whilst the revs settle down which seems like clutch slip ?

tommy
Click to expand...

By booting it, you'll obviously cause it to change into a lower gear and then the revs will rise. But if you then ease off, it probably "thinks" you want to just cruise gently, so I'm surprised it doesn't just change back into a gear close to what you were in before...?

What gear numbers do you see on the display when you are driving it this way...?

Also, does it behave differently in other Drive Select modes...?
 
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Gordo77 said:
By booting it, you'll obviously cause it to change into a lower gear and then the revs will rise. But if you then ease off, it probably "thinks" you want to just cruise gently, so I'm surprised it doesn't just change back into a gear close to what you were in before...?

What gear numbers do you see on the display when you are driving it this way...?

Also, does it behave differently in other Drive Select modes...?
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This is what I was trying to ask / explain in post number 11 but you did it better :) ha
 
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The s-tronic can and does have its moments, but it definitely sounds like an issue to me, especially as it has happened a few times.
 
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i popped out yesterday and took the long way to try to recreate the issue using drive and manual mode and in dynamic and auto drive select and im happy to say i couldnt do it ! i was paying closer attention to what the gearbox was doing and just as its been mentioned on this thread the gearbox just seemed to take a while to decide what to do based on my pedal input but either changed one or 2 down and then went or in dynamic i downshifted once and basically hit boost and it went then im rather relieved ! ,im putting it down to inexperience of the auto box and maybe a bit of expecting a bigger kick in the backside from the turbo aspect coming from supercharged r32 with more horsepower as my last car but its still got plenty of warranty left so if it happens again i will book it in, thanks for all the input guys !
 
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Glad you seem to have it sorted. The auto box is a gem once you get used to it.
 
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th1991 said:
putting it down to inexperience of the auto box
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I have come up with a lot of tests to figure out the s-tronic. It might be useful to try a test I have been using for over a year now. I use a long 270 degree corner that tightens up at the end and leads onto an uphill straight. With the car in drive the car shifts down on its own from 6th to 2nd when I hit the throttle at the start of the straight. Next, I try the same corner in manual with me shifting up to 3rd and then down to 2nd at the tight part of the corner, hit the throttle in 2nd as I come on to the straight. Here is where it gets weird. If the petrol tank is full all is well. If the petrol tank is empty the car fails to shift properly into 3rd gear. The car does go into 3rd, but the power simply vanishes. The technician that I have been dealing with figures that the car goes into a protection mode which cuts the fuel.

So why does it go into protection mode? Well, a few weeks ago, after a year and a half of this fault, the check engine light finally came on. It would seem that the coil pacs were faulty from Day 1. The car is an 8P and I am the original owner since 2010. Anything that made the car perform better forced the car into the protection mode. So not having the weight of a tank of petrol and driving in manual, installing better tires, using spark plugs with a different heat range were all things that forced the car into the protection mode.
 
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