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Hi guys,

Just picked up an MY14 8K RS4 on Friday and been driving the hell out of it trying to get accustomed to it. I'm chuffed to bits with it but as always when you buy a car after you drive it for a few days you start to notice little quirks here and there. This is my first Audi and also my first DSG.

Now on to the quirk - I'm currently experiencing a minor driveline shunt when coming to a stop when the DSG shifts back from D2 to D1. It is almost like as though the clutch is not disengaging quick enough thus the engine/transmission is still trying to drive the vehicle forward while I'm trying to pull it up to a halt on the brakes. This seems to happen most prominently once the vehicle is warmed up - perhaps after 2-3 minutes in to the drive - does not seem to occur during cold start.

Can any of you shed some light on this? Is this just normal DSG behaviour? Kind of struggling to get the vehicle to come to a smooth stop - its like I'm learning how to drive again after 10yrs of driving thousands of different cars in my life (no experience with DSG however).

Thanks in advance,

This is one for Sam, I hope you have a fully comp warranty.

Not trying to worry you or anything but these cars known for gearbox failures.

Thanks RS4LAD - yes I do have Audi Approved Plus warranty (purchased vehicle from Audi dealer) so my mind's relatively at ease. Also 3 months statutory warranty.

Does it jolt the car or just feels like lack of engine braking? I found I had to be heavier on the brakes on this car when rolling to a stop than in a manual.


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noddy wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 28, 2018 6:59 am

Does it jolt the car or just feels like lack of engine braking? I found I had to be heavier on the brakes on this car when rolling to a stop than in a manual.


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Definitely not lack of engine braking. Jolts the vehicle forward just a touch. Similar to when you go from neutral into 1st gear on a motorbike - it jolts even when the clutch lever is fully depressed cause theres always a certain amount of drag in the clutch. I'm supposing this a similar scenario thats happening in a DSG as they're similar operating principles (wet clutch) - but I'm not sure.

Might just need a calibration, certainly not normal. Should be smooth. I have found changing down in manual a bit rough as 1st gear is very short.


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Does the shunt you mention feel like the car has been nudged up the rear? When it changes from 2nd to 1st? Had this on my S4 and sorry to say it does sound like a gearbox problem. It is the mechatronics rather than the gearbox itself. Cost is circa £4k to fix (if I remember correctly the part alone is £3k)

Steps I think the garage will go through:
1. Gearbox oil change
2. Recalibrate the clutch
3. Replace the mechatronics

Oh so good you have an Audi warranty. I've paid for one just for this reason. Audi paid 60% of the cost of my previous repair as goodwill, but the bill still came to £3k after a big service, gearbox oil change then repair and lets not mention the bonnet respray after Edinburgh Audi 'valeted' my car when it was in for its service

Grittle wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:48 pm

Does the shunt you mention feel like the car has been nudged up the rear? When it changes from 2nd to 1st? Had this on my S4 and sorry to say it does sound like a gearbox problem. It is the mechatronics rather than the gearbox itself. Cost is circa £4k to fix (if I remember correctly the part alone is £3k)

Steps I think the garage will go through:
1. Gearbox oil change
2. Recalibrate the clutch
3. Replace the mechatronics

Oh so good you have an Audi warranty. I've paid for one just for this reason. Audi paid 60% of the cost of my previous repair as goodwill, but the bill still came to £3k after a big service, gearbox oil change then repair and lets not mention the bonnet respray after Edinburgh Audi 'valeted' my car when it was in for its service

Thanks for your reply Grittle - yes it is basically that - a nudge from the rear the moment it goes from D2 back into D1 as you come to a complete stop. I'll be dropping it in with Audi in the coming days.

My car was very closely related to the one owned by Chris Harris. This was his write up
https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph ... leet/29983

Hope it goes well with Audi

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3199170342, saw this. Out of warranty looks a sensible choice.


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I had this on mine and spent a quite a while chasing it with Audi. Take it to the dealership you purchased from and ask them for glycol test on the gearbox oil. ATF radiator may have failed and contaminated the clutch packs. There is a TPI on it. Audi will want to do an adaptive drive reset first. The jerk may go away initially but it won't solve the problem so you will need to keep pushing...

It will likely need new clutch packs and ATF radiator as a minimum.

Failing any result with Audi, I believe Unit 20 have some experience with sorting out these gearboxes so may well be worth talking to for advice.

Alright so got the RS4 back few days ago and Audi have carried out a software update and adaptation. The DSG fluid level was also a bit high they found. Not sure if they carried out the glycol test. The shift from D2 to D1 is now much improved however there seems to be a new issue which is now occuring when slowing down when DSG shifts down from D3 to D2 - vehicle will lurch forward like as though the auto blip over revs a tad, kind of like when you mess up a heel toe down shift in a manual and give it too much gas before letting go of the clutch.. cant win! Has only occured twice over the weekend so will need drive it more to understand it better. Will report back with more info as it comes...

innercry666 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:25 am

I had this on mine and spent a quite a while chasing it with Audi. Take it to the dealership you purchased from and ask them for glycol test on the gearbox oil. ATF radiator may have failed and contaminated the clutch packs. There is a TPI on it. Audi will want to do an adaptive drive reset first. The jerk may go away initially but it won't solve the problem so you will need to keep pushing...

It will likely need new clutch packs and ATF radiator as a minimum.

Thanks for your reply innercry666. It seems that they've done just that - the adaptation and a software update. As per my previous post - while the shift from D2 to D1 is much improved it seems that theres another issue going from D3 to D2. Need to keep hassling them...

No worries tez. The car takes a bit of time to learn the shift points again once they have done the adaption drive reset. I think for me, as I had had the car from new, having strange gearbox behaviour creeping in two years in was a sign something had changed and wasn't right. I also found really hard gearshifts between 4th & 5th when driving hard in manual. It was demonstrating that to Audi that pushed them into doing the Glycol test and from there proving the issue was a faulty ATF radiator. Audi have known about this issue for many years as the gearbox has been around since the late 2000s. Unfortunately not all dealerships are aware so they sometimes need educating...