S4 S-Tronic PLEASE ADVISE

[Kevin S4 Avant]

The gearbox on my S4 is making a bit of a clunking noise when selecting drive or reverse when stationary. Also the other day when I was giving it some put my foot down got to about 60 and took foot straight off accelerator it slammed. Other than that gear change is smooth!!! Had oil done at Audi birmingham a couple of weeks ago and this issue has arrised?!?!? Can anyone shed some light please? Have spoken to transmission specialist and he assures me it's the solenoids on the mechatronics.

 

[aprilia dude]

I think you have answered your own question there .!

 

[ANDYTQ]

The one i just bought had to have new metronics unit recently and new clutch packs, which i am pleased about as the previous owner had it done,thanks richard .Ive taken warranty cover out just in case too.

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

No, I haven't answered my own question, this is a job that charges between £700-1200 dependant on where you go (have warranty direct policy) but not throwing any faults at the moment so they won't pay out yet and wanted advice if anyone had the same issue and if a simple free reset did the trick or do I wait for it to fail and throw a code? But would this cause more damage or is the gearbox on its way out? And a mechatronic fix on its own won't sort the problem? Anyone who has any experience in these issues and I'm sure there is a few please feel free to comment and advise me of any transmission specialists in the Northamptonshire/Midlands area that are actually any good and know what they are talking about. Also sorry Aprilia dude if I didn't make myself clear

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

I think you have answered your own question there .!

Sorry mate, should have made myself a bit clearer. Have you had this issue before then?

 

[razza1]

If you've come completely off the gas when accelerating hard, it might have just been ready to change gear and coming off completely threw its brain...
If no errors wouldn't worry too much, but might only be a matter of time...
The mech units are poor in the early ones, what year is yours?
Clutches can go as well but tend to give you more warning signs.


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[mancdan]

razza1 above is defo the man to listen too, he has had more than his fair share of S4 gearbox & clutch issues.

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Probably just about to change gear! Mine is 2010 and that auto transmission specialist is betting his life my gearbox problems are the solenoids on the mechatronics, not the whole unit itself. Actual gear change is smooth just a bit jerky/snatchy in first and reverse and obviously the engaging noise/slight clunk when stationary into drive or reverse. It's only started happening since Audi changed the oil, so spoke to the director at Birmingham and he got service manager to call me and arrange a master tech to take it out with me tomorrow night so they can see what the issue is and give me a quote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, we will see what happens. Will keep you posted, many thanks.

 

[costello]

im hoping to get my car back on wednesday with a new gearbox fitted after 2 months of pure stress,and multiple mech repair failures..its been a difficult time made easier by the advice and help on this forum(please see my thread for a situation i would not wish on anybody).
my own thoughts on your situation seem to be mechatronics circuit board,glad you have a warranty but check the service history esp the gearbox oil changes,if they were not done on the nose according to the book you will have a bad time with your warranty company,if all is well it will hopefully cover the mech box and circuit boards etc.i wish you well.

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

im hoping to get my car back on wednesday with a new gearbox fitted after 2 months of pure stress,and multiple mech repair failures..its been a difficult time made easier by the advice and help on this forum(please see my thread for a situation i would not wish on anybody).
my own thoughts on your situation seem to be mechatronics circuit board,glad you have a warranty but check the service history esp the gearbox oil changes,if they were not done on the nose according to the book you will have a bad time with your warranty company,if all is well it will hopefully cover the mech box and circuit boards etc.i wish you well.

Thanks, it was done at 40k miles and in service book from an indie but no paperwork. Hope you get car back no probs

 

[costello]

as long as its stamped you should be fine,and whilst any problem is a big hassle its a big plus that its started to go wrong after they changed the oil,duty of care and all that..my gearbox cost is north of 10k,audi are covering approx 85%/90% and i feel they are only doing that because the problem got worse after they "repaired" the mechatronic unit in the first place,i had to fight though..so when you get to take it out with thier master tech just hammer the point that it only happened after they messed with it...and so begins the path to goodwill

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

as long as its stamped you should be fine,and whilst any problem is a big hassle its a big plus that its started to go wrong after they changed the oil,duty of care and all that..my gearbox cost is north of 10k,audi are covering approx 85%/90% and i feel they are only doing that because the problem got worse after they "repaired" the mechatronic unit in the first place,i had to fight though..so when you get to take it out with thier master tech just hammer the point that it only happened after they messed with it...and so begins the path to goodwill

My warranty is with warranty direct. Audi test drove my car after they changed the oil and didn't report any problems. It's not throwing any faults yet though? I bought the car with 52k miles on and got everything done again for my own piece of mind, fresh oil, spark plugs, s tronic oil change and just about everything so I could start again with a clean slate. After I got my car back they tried telling me this was a normal for gearbox to be snatchy and everyone told me that's rubbish so I called up their head office and spoke to the director who has arranged for the master tech, which not charging me for but will diagnose and advise and then quote! If they tested the car and gave it back to me fine and a few weeks later it's not will they take any responsibility?

 

[costello]

My warranty is with warranty direct. Audi test drove my car after they changed the oil and didn't report any problems. It's not throwing any faults yet though? I bought the car with 52k miles on and got everything done again for my own piece of mind, fresh oil, spark plugs, s tronic oil change and just about everything so I could start again with a clean slate. After I got my car back they tried telling me this was a normal for gearbox to be snatchy and everyone told me that's rubbish so I called up their head office and spoke to the director who has arranged for the master tech, which not charging me for but will diagnose and advise and then quote! If they tested the car and gave it back to me fine and a few weeks later it's not will they take any responsibility?

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

as long as its stamped you should be fine,and whilst any problem is a big hassle its a big plus that its started to go wrong after they changed the oil,duty of care and all that..my gearbox cost is north of 10k,audi are covering approx 85%/90% and i feel they are only doing that because the problem got worse after they "repaired" the mechatronic unit in the first place,i had to fight though..so when you get to take it out with thier master tech just hammer the point that it only happened after they messed with it...and so begins the path to goodwill

I also said to the warranty company what happens if the past owner didn't change the gearbox oil in the specified time and they said it doesn't matter as long as it has had a service within the last 12 months and you have proof of this and an MOT everything is covered in case the last owner of the car didn't look after the car warranty wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on, would it?

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Didn't get that last bit? Haha

 

[costello]

I guess it might depend on how many miles you've done since the oil change,if it's what they perceive to be a reasonable amount it may go in your favour,if you've done a lot of miles in those few weeks they have a solid case to say the faults happened under your care,a lot depends on the dealer,you,like me ,bought second hand and then did everything you could to give your car a fresh start under the audi unbrella,that also goes in your favour especially when you go up the Audi totem pole and get head office involved(as I did),...hopefully though you will have a nice simple fix under warranty,try not to stress too much at this stage,find out what the master tech says and go from there

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

I guess it might depend on how many miles you've done since the oil change,if it's what they perceive to be a reasonable amount it may go in your favour,if you've done a lot of miles in those few weeks they have a solid case to say the faults happened under your care,a lot depends on the dealer,you,like me ,bought second hand and then did everything you could to give your car a fresh start under the audi unbrella,that also goes in your favour especially when you go up the Audi totem pole and get head office involved(as I did),...hopefully though you will have a nice simple fix under warranty,try not to stress too much at this stage,find out what the master tech says and go from there

I don't use car in week, only on weekends so will only be in the hundreds of miles since gearbox oil change. Also got main service done at indie and s tronic oil and air con service at Audi as any garage I'm sure is capable of changing oil and filters and spark plugs but thought would leave technical stuff like gearbox and air con to Audi as I know these can be expensive fixes for not done right or properly, maybe should have let indie do it!!!! Haha

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

I guess it might depend on how many miles you've done since the oil change,if it's what they perceive to be a reasonable amount it may go in your favour,if you've done a lot of miles in those few weeks they have a solid case to say the faults happened under your care,a lot depends on the dealer,you,like me ,bought second hand and then did everything you could to give your car a fresh start under the audi unbrella,that also goes in your favour especially when you go up the Audi totem pole and get head office involved(as I did),...hopefully though you will have a nice simple fix under warranty,try not to stress too much at this stage,find out what the master tech says and go from there

Quick update, went to Audi tonight and the workshop manager came out for a road test with me (he has been a tech at Audi for 30 years) after the drive he is pretty sure it's only a software issue and not behaving like a mechatronics issue. He is getting in touch with head office tomorrow to find out if there are any updates available at a cost of £80 to me if there is and he also said failing that if it doesn't resolve the issue then he will perform a gearbox memory reset with the odis system they use and then drive the car for 2 hours with odis to reprogram me the gearbox and reckons these are all the fixes it will need??? That will cost me whatever the reset is and £129 an hour to reprogram me the gearbox which is not covered by my warranty but not as bad as I expected. Puts me in a bit of doubt that this auto gearbox specialist swears it's the solenoids on the mechatronics and wants to charge me £1200. Maybe he was just planning on doing a reset and reprogramme and hoping I didn't notice, unless he knows something Audi don't or are holding back on? But wouldn't Audi have just said yeah it needs a new mechatronic unit if they weren't sure it was a software problem and try and make out of me that way??? Hmmmm, I wonder who to trust??? Lol

 

[Lavis89]

The usually try a reset and reconfig first (as well as a oil change) they're the 2 cheapest options so the first ones to get out of the way. Some people it seems to work, others not.

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

The usually try a reset and reconfig first (as well as a oil change) they're the 2 cheapest options so the first ones to get out of the way. Some people it seems to work, others not.

Thanks, will keep that in mind and thought I was out of the woods!!! Lol

 

[jdp1962]

The usually try a reset and reconfig first (as well as a oil change) they're the 2 cheapest options so the first ones to get out of the way. Some people it seems to work, others not.

Is that the equivalent of switching off at the mains and re-booting?

 

[Lavis89]

Effectively yea, pretty much. From what i've been told, the ECU in the gearbox adapts to how the driver drives, when it's been told to re-configure then it will relearn driving patterns. I haven't had this done myself (yet) so couldn't tell you how effective it may be

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Effectively yea, pretty much. From what i've been told, the ECU in the gearbox adapts to how the driver drives, when it's been told to re-configure then it will relearn driving patterns. I haven't had this done myself (yet) so couldn't tell you how effective it may be

Has anybody on here had this done before and what were the results? Did it work for you and if not what route did you have to go down? Thanks.

 

[scotty76]

Effectively yea, pretty much. From what i've been told, the ECU in the gearbox adapts to how the driver drives, when it's been told to re-configure then it will relearn driving patterns. I haven't had this done myself (yet) so couldn't tell you how effective it may be

This is actually a myth that pops up from time to time. Have a Google. e.g.

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/vw-dsg-direct-shift-gear-transmission-and-audi-stronic-faq/

Some have said that the DSG transmission learns your driving style but this is technically incorrect. The DSG transmission shift behavior adapts to variables like internal wear, D or S mode, and other input factors like throttle position and rate of change, uphill or downhill, and applies these variables over an existing shift map. Learning is the wrong term since it means new knowledge that wasn't there before- the transmission cannot learn anything new, it just applies variables to existing maps. Some engineer has already determined and tested how the shift maps and variables will react. There is no single input field "driving style". The perception of a reaction to driving style is the result of the change in a number of variables applied to the shift maps. So yes the transmission adapts but not how most people think. Although "learn" might be used in marketing literature, it's not the right word to use when describing technical operation.

 

[skiptowncat]

I have reset the adaptations on mine a few times to try and cure clunking. It will work for a couple of hundred miles and then return.
It will be the mechatronics

Btw, it takes about 5 mins to do and then there is a short drive procedure that takes about 10 mins to do. Audi are pulling your pants down

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

I have reset the adaptations on mine a few times to try and cure clunking. It will work for a couple of hundred miles and then return.
It will be the mechatronics

Btw, it takes about 5 mins to do and then there is a short drive procedure that takes about 10 mins to do. Audi are pulling your pants down

Yeah they called me today to tell me they have a software update for it, not a reset but will still have to do the reconfiguration at a princely sum of £155 which seems quite resoanable if they actually sort it out. Can I just point out that it is not a loud clunk and skiptowncat what was the final result for you in the end? Thanks.

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Yeah they called me today to tell me they have a software update for it, not a reset but will still have to do the reconfiguration at a princely sum of £155 which seems quite resoanable if they actually sort it out. Can I just point out that it is not a loud clunk and skiptowncat what was the final result for you in the end? Thanks.

But still a clunk! Lol. Also why did the workshop manager say it's not the characteristics of a faulty mechatronic unit? He seems sure it's a software issue as from 2nd up and back down to 2nd is smooth as silk?

 

[skiptowncat]

But still a clunk! Lol. Also why did the workshop manager say it's not the characteristics of a faulty mechatronic unit? He seems sure it's a software issue as from 2nd up and back down to 2nd is smooth as silk?

Same here, second, first and reverse are proper clunky but not every time. Everything else is butter smooth. It is the mech unit!

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Same here, second, first and reverse are proper clunky but not every time. Everything else is butter smooth. It is the mech unit!

Do you get the slight clunk noise when selecting drive or reverse when stationary

 

[skiptowncat]

Do you get the slight clunk noise when selecting drive or reverse when stationary

Yes

 

[razza1]

Ditto, software updates and oil change did nothing for mine, smooth all gears going up, it was 2-1 and reverse that were the issues.
For me it was clutches, think my mech was fine but had a new one fitted in the process of elimination.


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[razza1]

The re adaption of gear points needs to be done between precise temperature ranges of the oil as well


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[Kevin S4 Avant]

The re adaption of gear points needs to be done between precise temperature ranges of the oil as well


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Oh dear, you lot are definately not th bearers of good news!!! Haha

 

[razza1]

Sorry mate, I got burnt (well my clutches did anyway lol), so obviously am a bit negative about it all.
I found Audi didn't have a clue tbh, even master techs.
Usually Audi try software update and oil, re adaption. Then mech unit change, and if not fixed its non serviceable and a box needs changing....
However go to a decent gearbox place and they'll be able to diagnose better and repair it for much less money


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[razza1]

There's a couple of other causes but they tend to throw specific errors


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[Kevin S4 Avant]

Saying that mine is not a major issue yet and phones the warranty company yesterday just to double check and everything all good there. So when it does become an issue I'm sure it will get resolved. I'm just having sooooooooo much fun in my car at that moment and on a scale of 1-10 with gearbox issues its probably about a 2 at the moment but definately something not right, but soon as I put my foot down and hear the roar of the engine and the exhaust blipping away it all seems to fade into the distance

 

[Kevin S4 Avant]

Sorry mate, I got burnt (well my clutches did anyway lol), so obviously am a bit negative about it all.
I found Audi didn't have a clue tbh, even master techs.
Usually Audi try software update and oil, re adaption. Then mech unit change, and if not fixed its non serviceable and a box needs changing....
However go to a decent gearbox place and they'll be able to diagnose better and repair it for much less money


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I also spoke to two specialists who both said the same thing, solenoids on mechatronic unit need replacing and will sort out all issues and will update software and reconfigure. They seem 100% sure this is the fix, but get this the one in Bolton is charging £1200 and the one in London is charging £699 for exactly the same fix, not that it bothers me because the warranty company will be paying but which one do you go to???

 

[razza1]

When you say everything all good with the warranty company, what was discussed with them?
I've heard of some warranties not paying out if you've mentioned an issue that doesn't warrant a repair yet, but then later fails...


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[razza1]

Ref repair, Google reviews for them both, ask for references from prior work if possible. Also what warranty do they give on the repair, as may differ between the two.
Depends on what excess you have


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[Kevin S4 Avant]

When you say everything all good with the warranty company, what was discussed with them?
I've heard of some warranties not paying out if you've mentioned an issue that doesn't warrant a repair yet, but then later fails...


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Yeah asked them about that and they said if there is a problem and it doesn't fail they won't accept the claim but you can keep trying until it does fail and they have a report and they will then pay out. As long as services have been complete and MOT then you are covered and had gearbox oil change since took out policy with no issues from Birmingham Audi which also helps. Haven't told them I have a problem but asked about a few issues that might arise and wanted to make sure it was worth the £640 a year in paying for the highest cover I could get.