A3 STronic Vibration/Shudder upon acceleration?

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WhySoSerious

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Bought an A3 1.8 TFSI Auto about 3 months ago. 33k miles 2013 reg

Only recently has this started happening, maybe about 1 in 5 times I notice it. When I begin accelerating from stationary or from almost still the whole car vibrates quite heavily for about a second. This happens a lot more going around corners but also in the straight direction sometimes. This is usually when the car is in 2nd gear, not necessarily going up into 3rd gear when the vibrations happen.

Spoke to some people at work and they’ve recommended changing the gearbox oil which I booked in with Audi but they said it’s a sealed gearbox and doesn’t require changing. Wondering if anyone else would have any ideas, I was wondering could it just be my control of the car; possibly accelerating too hard?

Many thanks
 
Does it only happen at full acceleration? Sounds like traction but you would know that I think.
 
The clutches are coming to the EOL. If it is same type of judder as in a manual gear box which has lots of kilometers and the clutch judder when changing gears.
 
Start from something simple like wheel balancing first then look at suspension/ drive shafts.
 
makelja said:
The clutches are coming to the EOL. If it is same type of judder as in a manual gear box which has lots of kilometers and the clutch judder when changing gears.
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I don't think so.... these should last 100K easy unless they have been abused, leaking drive seals etc, there is always a chance for premature failure on clutch discs but as above might be worth checking the TC light doesn't accompany the judder especially now the roads are getting slicker.

Is it a quattro? if so then might be a Haldex issue ………. just a thought
 
WhySoSerious said:
Bought an A3 1.8 TFSI Auto about 3 months ago. 33k miles 2013 reg

Only recently has this started happening, maybe about 1 in 5 times I notice it. When I begin accelerating from stationary or from almost still the whole car vibrates quite heavily for about a second. This happens a lot more going around corners but also in the straight direction sometimes. This is usually when the car is in 2nd gear, not necessarily going up into 3rd gear when the vibrations happen.

Spoke to some people at work and they’ve recommended changing the gearbox oil which I booked in with Audi but they said it’s a sealed gearbox and doesn’t require changing. Wondering if anyone else would have any ideas, I was wondering could it just be my control of the car; possibly accelerating too hard?

Many thanks
Click to expand...
Mine does this sometimes too. It kinda feels like when a manual car is going to stall...
 
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makelja said:
The clutches are coming to the EOL. If it is same type of judder as in a manual gear box which has lots of kilometers and the clutch judder when changing gears.
Click to expand...
I have seen posts online about changing the clutch pack. Especially on DSG’s these seem to be a problem
 
RichardT said:
Does it only happen at full acceleration? Sounds like traction but you would know that I think.
Click to expand...
Not full acceleration, mostly when I just come round a corner and starting to put my foot down a little it shudders heavily for a second.
 
craigpanthercrystal said:
I don't think so.... these should last 100K easy unless they have been abused, leaking drive seals etc, there is always a chance for premature failure on clutch discs but as above might be worth checking the TC light doesn't accompany the judder especially now the roads are getting slicker.

Is it a quattro? if so then might be a Haldex issue ………. just a thought
Click to expand...
Not a Quattro, I’ll check the TC light when I drive it tonight.
 
WhySoSerious said:
Exactly like that, varies sometimes it’s minor and sometimes really heavy vibrations. You looking to get it sorted?
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Honestly. I thought it was a characteristic of the gearbox. I purchased that car from a main dealer so I thought this kinda stuff was normal lol
 
Jakereeves96 said:
Honestly. I thought it was a characteristic of the gearbox. I purchased that car from a main dealer so I thought this kinda stuff was normal lol
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I’m in two minds whether it’s normal or not but from what I understand it shouldn’t be vibrating at all, the gears either side of the gear you’re in should be ready to go either up or down
 
As you mentioned it’s a DQ200 and this happens when coming out of corners, a couple of suggestions focussed on the gearbox (assuming that is the cause of the issue):

Firstly, change drive select mode (it doesn’t really matter what you change it to) and also set stability control to sport. Don’t drive any differently but does it help with less judder? Then for your next ignition cycle go back to your normal drive mode and leave ESC on (as it defaults back to normal after an ignition cycle). Does it stay better for several days?

If the above doesn’t work and you are not showing any gearbox errors on the DIS or missed gears: the S-Tronic box can’t measure the wear of the clutch pack so it estimates wear. There is a setting in VCDS to re calibrate / do adaptation to the clutches. Takes a few minutes when stationary and there is some mild clunking.
 
Last edited:
WhySoSerious said:
I’m in two minds whether it’s normal or not but from what I understand it shouldn’t be vibrating at all, the gears either side of the gear you’re in should be ready to go either up or down
Click to expand...
Ah you’re making me paranoid about my car now haha
 
JohnM100 said:
As you mentioned it’s a DQ200 and this happens when coming out of corners, a couple of suggestions focussed on the gearbox (assuming that is the cause of the issue):

Firstly, change drive select mode (it doesn’t really matter what you change it to) and also set stability control to sport. Don’t drive any differently but does it help with less judder? Then for your next ignition cycle go back to your normal drive mode and leave ESC on (as it defaults back to normal after an ignition cycle). Does it stay better for several days?

If the above doesn’t work and you are not showing any gearbox errors on the DIS or missed gears: the S-Tronic box can’t measure the wear of the clutch pack so it estimates wear. There is a setting in VCDS to re calibrate / do adaptation to the clutches. Takes a few minutes when stationary and there is some mild clunking.
Click to expand...
Cheers, think I’m in comfort at the moment so I’ll put it in dynamic and ESC in sport. What would be the relevance of doing this may I ask? Want to understand it.
 
JohnM100 said:
As you mentioned it’s a DQ200 and this happens when coming out of corners, a couple of suggestions focussed on the gearbox (assuming that is the cause of the issue):

Firstly, change drive select mode (it doesn’t really matter what you change it to) and also set stability control to sport. Don’t drive any differently but does it help with less judder? Then for your next ignition cycle go back to your normal drive mode and leave ESC on (as it defaults back to normal after an ignition cycle). Does it stay better for several days?

If the above doesn’t work and you are not showing any gearbox errors on the DIS or missed gears: the S-Tronic box can’t measure the wear of the clutch pack so it estimates wear. There is a setting in VCDS to re calibrate / do adaptation to the clutches. Takes a few minutes when stationary and there is some mild clunking.
Click to expand...
Does it matter if start/stop is on whilst I’m doing this?
 
I don’t know the rationale for sure but I suspect that the separate traction control and gearbox electronics stop playing nicely together and benefit from a bit of a reset. I found it by chance and it worked for me when I had my 1.8 8V DQ200.

Start/stop shouldn’t matter.
 
JohnM100 said:
I don’t know the rationale for sure but I suspect that the separate traction control and gearbox electronics stop playing nicely together and benefit from a bit of a reset. I found it by chance and it worked for me when I had my 1.8 8V DQ200.

Start/stop shouldn’t matter.
Click to expand...
No judder when ECS is in sport and drive select is changed! But then I put it back and it’s smoother defo, but still shudders a little bit not nearly as much. May do this a few more times.

Got it booked into an automatics centre which has good reviews so I’ll explain all to them.

In the meantime going to get tracking on my two front wheels along with swapping my front and rear tyre on one side so the front two tyres are the same, as I bought it and they were both different
 
craigpanthercrystal said:
I don't think so.... these should last 100K easy unless they have been abused, leaking drive seals etc, there is always a chance for premature failure on clutch discs but as above might be worth checking the TC light doesn't accompany the judder especially now the roads are getting slicker.

Is it a quattro? if so then might be a Haldex issue ………. just a thought
Click to expand...
I’m being told it requires a new clutch/mechatronic?
 
Update on this everyone, went to a trusted automatics centre in my area. They done a diagnostics and no faults shown. Then they said they would need to change the clutch/mechatronics both at the same time; as if I were to only change the clutch the mechatronics would wear it down if that was the problem so there’s no point in only changing one.
 
They said it also has a judder in reverse which I hadn’t noticed until now. Should I still pursue other things? Or a second opinion? They quoted me £2500 so if it is that not good
 
JohnM100 said:
I don’t know the rationale for sure but I suspect that the separate traction control and gearbox electronics stop playing nicely together and benefit from a bit of a reset. I found it by chance and it worked for me when I had my 1.8 8V DQ200.

Start/stop shouldn’t matter.
Click to expand...
So the judder still happens when I put ESC back to normal, and drive select back to what it was.

Read my above post mate, on that note may keep it in them settings as I don’t want it to get worse and for it to start slipping?
 
@WhySoSerious - did they do the clutch pack re-adaptation before recommending new clutch pack and Mechatronics?

I can’t speak for your specific gearbox but I had my clutch pack changed ~20k miles and was under warranty. Kept same Mechatronics and the car did another 45k before I sold it and minimal clutch issues.

Re judder - one of your earlier posts said judder better after switching drive modes so don’t quite understand your last post.

If Mechatronics is the issue then how is it working fine with no judder in other drive modes with ESC set to Sport?

BTW - you can edit your forum posts within 2 hours; no need to add new posts.
 
Did you buy it from a dealer? Since you have only had it 3 months you may have some come back if you did.
 
JohnM100 said:
As you mentioned it’s a DQ200 and this happens when coming out of corners, a couple of suggestions focussed on the gearbox (assuming that is the cause of the issue):

Firstly, change drive select mode (it doesn’t really matter what you change it to) and also set stability control to sport. Don’t drive any differently but does it help with less judder? Then for your next ignition cycle go back to your normal drive mode and leave ESC on (as it defaults back to normal after an ignition cycle). Does it stay better for several days?

If the above doesn’t work and you are not showing any gearbox errors on the DIS or missed gears: the S-Tronic box can’t measure the wear of the clutch pack so it estimates wear. There is a setting in VCDS to re calibrate / do adaptation to the clutches. Takes a few minutes when stationary and there is some mild clunking.
Click to expand...
JohnM100 said:
As you mentioned it’s a DQ200 and this happens when coming out of corners, a couple of suggestions focussed on the gearbox (assuming that is the cause of the issue):

Firstly, change drive select mode (it doesn’t really matter what you change it to) and also set stability control to sport. Don’t drive any differently but does it help with less judder? Then for your next ignition cycle go back to your normal drive mode and leave ESC on (as it defaults back to normal after an ignition cycle). Does it stay better for several days?

If the above doesn’t work and you are not showing any gearbox errors on the DIS or missed gears: the S-Tronic box can’t measure the wear of the clutch pack so it estimates wear. There is a setting in VCDS to re calibrate / do adaptation to the clutches. Takes a few minutes when stationary and there is some mild clunking.
Click to expand...

hi I know it’s a long time ago just wondered if you managed to find out why this works? Every now and then I find the cars judders in 2nd pulling away when I turn Esc off and select a different drive profile it works fine for awhile then reverts? Have been informed it requires a clutch pack but reluctant as if it needed a new clutch surely this wouldn’t work? Thanks in advance
 
I don’t know why my workaround works but quite a few people agree that it does. I suspect the stability programme and clutch algorithms work totally independently and don’t talk to each other so sometimes don’t play nicely together.

If you have warranty then get clutch pack changed. If not, try a VCDS clutch calibration/adaptation so the gearbox learns actual clutch biting point and wear, rather than just extrapolating (guessing) change in biting point from zero mileage to current mileage.
 
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Great thanks for getting back to me, the car is a 2013 1.6tdi 8v so outside of warranty but only has 35k on the clock, Audi stealers we’re straight out with it require a new clutch pack, just hesitant with the work around doing the business, will try grab a VCDS and reset the clutch, cheers
 
SimonPoll said:
Great thanks for getting back to me, the car is a 2013 1.6tdi 8v so outside of warranty but only has 35k on the clock, Audi stealers we’re straight out with it require a new clutch pack, just hesitant with the work around doing the business, will try grab a VCDS and reset the clutch, cheers
Click to expand...
Hello. So sorry for the late response.
It was the clutch that needed changing in the end due to wear.
 
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Jakereeves96 said:
Mine does this sometimes too. It kinda feels like when a manual car is going to stall...
Click to expand...

I have the same issue, exactly as you said it feels like it’s going to stall as if there is not enough power. Apparently google says that it could be lack of transmission oil or other transmission issues. Don’t know if anyone else can relate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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