Drive Position Sensor and Mechatronics

[Lord_Shenk]

So I've done quite a bit of research on here digging up old threads and all I have found is 1 or 2 posts of people who have had the same symptoms as my car and found almost no posts about the drive position sensor. (If I'm wrong please link me to these threads) the ones I've found were from years ago and I wanted to see if anyone has experienced this lately, or even at all because I would love some insight on how the car will be after it's "fixed" to determine whether or not I should just get rid of the car or not.

So here's the story.. Was driving normal highway speeds on my way home from work, got "transmission malfunction you can continue driving" slowed down to get off the highway at the next exit and got a "parking break malfunction" the car (dsg) locked itself in neutral, causing me to turn off the car, put it in park, turn off the parking break and restart. But when I shifted into drive the car still showed it was in park regardless of where I had the shifter. So went to restart the car and it wouldn't restart. Ended up towed to a local dealer where I explained what happened. They told me they hadn't seen this before and gave me a loaner. They later called to say my drive position sensor inside the transmission had failed and they had to replace it, which was quoted around $6k. The repair process was a shit show, dealer didn't have the proper tool blah blah 3ish weeks later the repair was "done". The time doesn't bother me as I certainly want this done right and instructed them to keep it until its fixed properly. Well they put the trans back in the car, filled it with fluids, went for a test drive and during "spirited driving, I ensure you we were not racing your car sir" (lol) they said "transmission malfunction" warning popped back up. Holiday weekend comes around so a bit of down time but then was told they are replacing the mechatronics unit now. Then got another call saying they took the trans back out of the car and opened it back up to double check everything was done correctly, this is when they noticed "we are only getting power to two of the pins... so we are having an Audi engineer come out" I was now told told Thursday they have everything back together and just need to install the mechatroncs unit and it will be done finally (unless the unit doesn't adapt, which some SA's from another Audi dealer told me is fairly common with this repair). It has now been almost 40 days since my car was dropped off and am hoping this mechatronics unit adapts and fixes it because I certainly do miss my car even though the brand new a6 loaner has been great. So like I said if anyone one has had experience with these symptoms, issues, or repairs, especially drive position sensor. Please give me some insight into the process as well as how the car was when the repair was "completed" and if any other issues stemmed from this. Or just link me to a thread I was too stupid to see haha. Thanks.

[s42014DSG]

Not quite the same but my trans has started not working in manual mode on the downshifts. Some kind of sensor malfunction obviously. Having it looked at during 25k service. It's actually intermittent.

[Sceanzo]

Took the trans back out to "Double check" is a load of shit. No one on flat rate in their right mind would do that. It wasn't working correctly so they had to do it again.

The Gear position sensor issue seems to be getting more common.

OP, do you drive primarily in auto or manual mode?

[Lord_Shenk]

I normally drive in auto mode as I mostly use it to commute. They took it back out because they said they weren't getting power to all of the pins and the tech wanted to make sure he didn't "punch any wires or harnesses" and that they wanted it disassembled for the the Audi engineer came. It seems to me like they are doing everything they can to ensure they won't have to replace the whole trans, since it's under good will and the cost of a trans is gonna hit them harder than some simple labor. Honestly I just hope they can get the mech unit to adapt because I want my car back.

[Sceanzo]

Having it disassembled for Audi engineer sounds correct. He wanted to make sure it was done correctly so the engineer would approve of it. If it wasn't, Audi would debit the dealer and they would be eating it.

I hope it works out for you. Post your final results.

I am speculating that gear position failure goes hand and hand with driving in mostly auto mode.

[skiptowncat]

Having it disassembled for Audi engineer sounds correct. He wanted to make sure it was done correctly so the engineer would approve of it. If it wasn't, Audi would debit the dealer and they would be eating it.

I hope it works out for you. Post your final results.

I am speculating that gear position failure goes hand and hand with driving in mostly auto mode.

92k on mine with mostly auto mode. I now have overheating issues though!

[Lord_Shenk]

Here we go. Story is getting even better. Finally picked my car up, noticed right away my steering was insanely heavy even in comfort mode and noticed tech even made a note of it and couldn't figure out why... get 1 mile from the dealership, check engine light comes on. They get a fault for intake manifold and are trying to tell me it's "just a coincidence" like come on really, I haven't driven the car in 40+ days, the tech drive my car 50 miles to make sure it was all good (a buddy actually saw him driving the car pretty hard and called me) and I drive 1 mile and get a fault. Let me mention this tech who was working on my car, just found out today, is the guy that I had been warned by two other people when telling them what dealer my car was at to make sure he doesn't work on my car because it will never be the same again. So there we have it brought my car in over a month ago on a tow truck and now when I pick it up there are other things wrong with it. Oh yeah and according to the diag sheet my air conditioner stopped working and threw a fault while on the tow truck which they just told me about today...

[AudiAvery]

Having the same symptoms with my 2010 S4, Gearbox/ Parking brake. Audi dealer did my whole tune, can't find anyone who actually fixed this. Dealer wants 18.5k to replace trans... 8k to fix sensor and replace mech unit (but they cannot guarantee this fixes it). Car has 45k miles on it, I love it too much to get rid of, any other car is a toy compared to it. Someone please tell me they've fixed this issue or had some sucess. I don't want to dump 8 grand then deal with another fix.

[fastboatster]

Having the same symptoms with my 2010 S4, Gearbox/ Parking brake. Audi dealer did my whole tune, can't find anyone who actually fixed this. Dealer wants 18.5k to replace trans... 8k to fix sensor and replace mech unit (but they cannot guarantee this fixes it). Car has 45k miles on it, I love it too much to get rid of, any other car is a toy compared to it. Someone please tell me they've fixed this issue or had some sucess. I don't want to dump 8 grand then deal with another fix.

2 options here - either a new to you trans or sensor replacement. Don't need to replace the mech unit, it's separate from that sensor. I had mine replaced by indy mech, aside from the labor to remove the trans, I think it was 5 hrs to replace the sensor. I suggest you gather up the parts yourself to save money (i,e., paying 300 for the sensor is way better than paying 500)

[Keymainey]

Having the same symptoms with my 2010 S4, Gearbox/ Parking brake. Audi dealer did my whole tune, can't find anyone who actually fixed this. Dealer wants 18.5k to replace trans... 8k to fix sensor and replace mech unit (but they cannot guarantee this fixes it). Car has 45k miles on it, I love it too much to get rid of, any other car is a toy compared to it. Someone please tell me they've fixed this issue or had some sucess. I don't want to dump 8 grand then deal with another fix.

That's a bit steep even for dealer. I was quoted 14k for replacement and 6k to fix from dealer. Ended up buying parts myself and going to a transmission shop. All came around 3k.. there's a tsb for parts needed.

[AudiAvery]

2 options here - either a new to you trans or sensor replacement. Don't need to replace the mech unit, it's separate from that sensor. I had mine replaced by indy mech, aside from the labor to remove the trans, I think it was 5 hrs to replace the sensor. I suggest you gather up the parts yourself to save money (i,e., paying 300 for the sensor is way better than paying 500)

Are you sure 100% sure? This is the main symptom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjk2IRMAmmA

[fastboatster]

Are you sure 100% sure? This is the main symptom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjk2IRMAmmA

100% positive. VW's transverse DQ250/500 have gear selector sensor integrated into the mech unit, but Audi's longitudional DL501 has it separate. It' not even in the same compartment as the mech unit. Instead, it's buried in the chamber where all the "mt" gear and diffs are (unlike dq250, dl501 has 2 separate chambers, one for clutches and mech, another for all the gears+diffs)

[AudiAvery]

100% positive. VW's transverse DQ250/500 have gear selector sensor integrated into the mech unit, but Audi's longitudional DL501 has it separate. It' not even in the same compartment as the mech unit. Instead, it's buried in the chamber where all the "mt" gear and diffs are (unlike dq250, dl501 has 2 separate chambers, one for clutches and mech, another for all the gears+diffs)

I just made an appointment with a local trans shop, if they tell me like Audi dealer to replace mech should I just tell them no just the gear selector sensor module?

[fastboatster]

I just made an appointment with a local trans shop, if they tell me like Audi dealer to replace mech should I just tell them no just the gear selector sensor module?

I don’t know. If you didn’t experience any poor shifting then I’d say no need to replace the mechatronic. It is very expensive brand new so why add to the cost of already pricy repair if it’s not broken. If it goes bad after a while, it won’t require trans r&r and teardown and can be diyed relatively easily to save the labor costs.

[AudiAvery]

Update: I've been to too many shops, diagnosis at all of the specialists (that will work on it) keep saying even though they can replace mech and fix the sensors in trans they cannot guarantee the issue won't come back. Dropping in whole new trans is the only way to fix it. Not open to inheriting someone else's DSG issues in a used trans for this. Since I cannot pour any more money into it at this point it's time to say goodbye and trade it for a manual TT. Pray the simplier transmission will last me for my last 6 months at school.

[Distortion]

2 options here - either a new to you trans or sensor replacement. Don't need to replace the mech unit, it's separate from that sensor. I had mine replaced by indy mech, aside from the labor to remove the trans, I think it was 5 hrs to replace the sensor. I suggest you gather up the parts yourself to save money (i,e., paying 300 for the sensor is way better than paying 500)

Hello, I’m having a dsg issue. The car drives and shifts perfectly fine. But I got a code for drive position sensor (p179e00 was the code i think, need to double check) but said I could continue driving. Was thinking about doing the mechatronics, but according to what I’m reading from you I don’t need to do all that? I tried attaching a photo I mocked up but I can’t on my phone so I made an Imgur link. According to the diagram (top pic) and the part (bottom pic) these are the two that go together. Is that correct? https://imgur.com/gallery/XUmIEC8

[fastboatster]

Yes, that’s the mommy-loving sensor which goes bad, honestly, I’d take a mech unit failure over this one. You can get a used mech unit and install it without removing the trans (and swap the tcu from your old mech), but this one needs to have the trans removed and split apart. But idk, if you’ll have somebody else do it for you, won’t run much more than getting a brand new mechatronic in.

[Distortion]

That’s rough to hear... Any idea the R&R on our transmissions? On the bright side I could do something about my cats...

[fastboatster]

R&R is 10 hrs labor, I had a shop do the sensor replacement (another few hrs). I later dropped the trans myself to replace the clutch cover plate with bearing which I didn't tell the shop to do and not sure if I'd recommend to diy trans R&R. Plus it's kind of hard to pull it from under the car (trans is tall), I actually left it under the car to replace that cover and dmf. To replace the sensor, you absolutely need to pull it from under the car because you'll need to break some bolt with huge torque free. R&R will be exponentially easier if you have a lift, of course. I'd say it is really worth paying somebody else to do it. Or just pull the engine and trans together, will feel safer.

[Distortion]

I have access to a lift. Would it make any sense for me to pull it myself then possibly have someone come to me, or take the transmission to someone to do the repair? Or is that not even worth the time? Wouldn’t mind saving some bucks. Would like to tackle my cats while I’m at it.

[fastboatster]

I have access to a lift. Would it make any sense for me to pull it myself then possibly have someone come to me, or take the transmission to someone to do the repair? Or is that not even worth the time? Wouldn’t mind saving some bucks. Would like to tackle my cats while I’m at it.

i think the hardest part is pulling the trans down, if you can do it yourself than you can replace that sensor, need to have some special tools for that but you can buy some of them, check the service manual.

[Distortion]

Appreciate it. Know where I can find the service menu?

[fastboatster]

Appreciate it. Know where I can find the service menu?

There was a thread with a link to download all the manuals for b8 platform. 8K service manuals or something like that