8th Gear not selectable

Dave70

Dave70

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On Tuesday, I had a trip to some shops 7 miles away which included 5 miles on A road. I set off in Dynamic mode, full manual and when I got onto the A road tried to select 8th gear, but it wouldn't have it. It's not like to picked 8th then dropped to 7th, it just wouldn't select it. I changed to Comfort mode and selected D on the gearbox as it usually drops to 8th, but no: 7th. Engage cruise control? Even in S mode, the gearbox goes to 8th with cruise engaged. No dice.

No fault was showing and I thought it could be something to do with the hot weather. External temp was shown as 34C when I set off (cooling to 31C once I got going), engine temp quickly rose to 90, oil temp was mid-50s and rising, air-con was on auto - 'LO', speed around 55-60mph.

I kept trying the paddle to shift it to 8th and it finally allowed it as I neared the end of the A road section and got back into town. The car was fine on the return journey with 8th now on the 'good-boy' list.

Yesterday, weather was much cooler and I did the same trip (I really should write a list!) and it behaved normally, 8th was selected just as normal.

Has anyone else had this issue or is able to suggest a reason for it? This was the first time it has happened.

Thanks
 
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What car have you got? I thought they all came with 7 speed stronic or ZF?

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Us lucky S4 owners have an extra gear!
 
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On my car, stronic, when in dynamic or in sport, it will not use 7th, top gear, however I can select it manually. I wonder if this is deliberate with the S4 when in dynamic mode and full manual?
 
I'm not sure bit it is safe to say 8th gear has almost nothing to do with dynamic driving unless you are approaching top speed so perhaps it is isolated in certain modes?

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Probably the top speed is achieved in 7th anyway, 8th being a sort of overdrive?
 
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Thanks guys, to be clear Dynamic doesn't limit the choices of gears that can be chosen; I can put it into 8th in Manual mode and with D or S will go to 8th if cruise control is enabled (and I'm going fast enough). This is why I fiddled around with it by going into Comfort and driving like I had the Mother-in-Law in the back , but still no 8th. It started picking 8th about 6 miles into the journey. Just a bit odd really.
 
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Us lucky 272 diesel owners have 8 gears too :relieved:
 
It could be a warm-up revs / oil thing? Perhaps 8th places too much strain on the engine when cold, or something like that? I wonder if you can correlate it to the oil temp?
 
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maui said:
It could be a warm-up revs / oil thing? Perhaps 8th places too much strain on the engine when cold, or something like that? I wonder if you can correlate it to the oil temp?
Click to expand...

Good idea, I'll test that :)
 
I used to have a BMW M3 which had a engine warming light system around the rev counter. These lights correlated to the amount of revs the car would do until it reached temperature so in auto mode it used to change up earlier to reduce strain on the engine with cold oil.

Silly question at the end of your 6 mile run were you going slightly faster? It could also be that the engine won't allow that final change until you are over a certain speed. Not sure, just throwing ideas out there.
 
maui said:
It could be a warm-up revs / oil thing? Perhaps 8th places too much strain on the engine when cold, or something like that? I wonder if you can correlate it to the oil temp?
Click to expand...
My 3L TDI will hold 7th gear on the motorway for a lot longer when it's warming up (cruises comfortably in 8th at 70mph once warm, is in 7th at 70 when warming up), so it could be that.
 
My S5 goes to 8th cold or warm, dynamic or Eco, and can select it manually as well. I'd take to the garage mate if it continues to behave like this. Especially on longer motorway journeys. I would kinda expect it if you're town driving and not ever going above 30-40 though.
 
thefunkygibbon said:
My S5 goes to 8th cold or warm, dynamic or Eco, and can select it manually as well. I'd take to the garage mate if it continues to behave like this. Especially on longer motorway journeys. I would kinda expect it if you're town driving and not ever going above 30-40 though.
Click to expand...
Same here, no issues with selecting 8 or manually selecting 'coasting' either.
 
Go faster! Lol

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