Hello, I've got a A3 2.0 TDI QUATTRO S LINE 2015 EA228 CUNA.

 

I've had nothing but problems for the last few months. For the first minute after starting the car it will have all its power but it will just eventually degrade and go really sluggish. I've had the EGR off and cleaned, replaced EGR cooler, new charge cooler, cleaned intake manifold changed DPF pressure sensor circuit A and a new starter motor, new rocker cover, engine head re-skimmed + gaskets. New injectors (everything has been adapted and coded)

 

More symptoms: The stop start hasn't worked for a long time ever since this happened. Under load it don't pull much at all will only gradually pull better if squeeze throttle. RPM will increase but speed don't match, sometimes the RPM won't climb much at all after 2k. Car hasn't done a regen in a long while. Sometimes in sportbox it will stick in gear 3 and keep building RPMS and won't change gear unless manually change or drop back to normal drive. On motorway if doing 60mph and squeeze pedal it will pull okay ISH it builds speed better than it would at lower speeds. It sometimes climbs to around 85mph and will struggle to pull anymore. If anything the car feels like 90bhp to what it used to, I never get any dash lights indicating issues, the only thing I haven't checked is DPF itself or even clutch.   

 

Any guidance would be appreciated, I'm terrible with wording so apologies in advance. 

As pretty much a lay person on vehicle problems the biggest flag in your post is the bit about revs increasing but speed not. Sounds a bit gearboxy.

Auto or manual?

Any codes from diagnostics?

8 minutes ago, Andy_B said:

As pretty much a lay person on vehicle problems the biggest flag in your post is the bit about revs increasing but speed not. Sounds a bit gearboxy.

Auto or manual?

Any codes from diagnostics?

DSG (Auto) 

It's puzzling me been trying figure it out for awhile. It will never throw a check engine light, Soot levels are low and recently flew through a MOT on emissions so I don't think it's DPF, could possibly be clutch? Which isn't delivering torque to all wheels?

 

What's your thoughts.

Just find it strange as it will pull underload normal on a cold start but after a minute it will loose a ton of power. If put foot flat on pedal RPMS spike but speed won't match also smoke sometimes (white) but if squeeze the pedal it will gradually increase speed. 

It's like looses a ton of torque under load but will perform better when travelling at higher speeds lower RPM but nothing like it used to, appreciate the reply!

If engine speed increases but road speed does not, it can only be a slipping clutch. In fact one of your own pictures shows "clutch 2 tolerance limit reached".

1 minute ago, cliffcoggin said:

If engine speed increases but road speed does not, it can only be a slipping clutch. In fact one of your own pictures shows "clutch 2 tolerance limit reached".

I'm just curious though because it's been running this was for a while (3 months or more) but I forgot to mention the "clutch 2 tolerance limit reached" has only appeared on diagnostics in the last week or so 😏

Not sure what you are asking Brad. The car behaviour and the warning code both relate to a slipping clutch. What more can be said?

3 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Not sure what you are asking Brad. The car behaviour and the warning code both relate to a slipping clutch. What more can be said?

New clutch and flywheel then?

 

Sorry for inconvenience mate.

What's mileage? 

If transmission fluid swap is overdue this may help but won't cure any underlying issue.

I would suggest a specialist to advise on the gearbox fault code.

You won't be swapping "a" clutch on a DSG auto gearbox if that is the problem 😃

2 hours ago, Andy_B said:

You won't be swapping "a" clutch on a DSG auto gearbox if that is the problem 😃

Agreed. The warning referred to clutch 2, so clutch 1 won't be far behind it in terms of wear.

Brad do you realise there are two clutches in a DSG?

38 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Agreed. The warning referred to clutch 2, so clutch 1 won't be far behind it in terms of wear.

Brad do you realise there are two clutches in a DSG?

Didn't know I'm a noobie, still learning but fortunate to have the right people and facilities to get the tasks required done if parts are supplied 

I hope you have deep pockets. A complete gearbox overhaul may be needed.

Hello All

We had a diesel Merc and the same issues with the power. Turned out the DPF was full of ash. Apparently the soot burns off and what is left is ash which does not all escape and clogs the DPF. It did this at about 100K miles. I cleaned it out and the power problem was solved.

It does sound like the clutch pack is on its way out with the slipping or the mechatronics unit is at fault. We had the same clutch fault on our A3 although that is a dry clutch pack. We'd very occasionally lose drive or it was very jerky at low speeds but never slipped. We ran it for another year about 10k and then had it changed. Odd though as we saw it out and it had a fair amount of life in it yet. The mechanic advised that Audi sets the limits and are very generous with them to flag a fault. You can measure the clutch using VCDS. A long shot but have you looked at the 4 wheel drive system and the Haldex unit? That has a set of clutch plates in it. I would expect a fault to come up if there was an issue though.

May be worth a specialist looking at the codes as mentioned above. Good luck.

3 hours ago, The Verb said:

Hello All

We had a diesel Merc and the same issues with the power. Turned out the DPF was full of ash. Apparently the soot burns off and what is left is ash which does not all escape and clogs the DPF. It did this at about 100K miles. I cleaned it out and the power problem was solved.

It does sound like the clutch pack is on its way out with the slipping or the mechatronics unit is at fault. We had the same clutch fault on our A3 although that is a dry clutch pack. We'd very occasionally lose drive or it was very jerky at low speeds but never slipped. We ran it for another year about 10k and then had it changed. Odd though as we saw it out and it had a fair amount of life in it yet. The mechanic advised that Audi sets the limits and are very generous with them to flag a fault. You can measure the clutch using VCDS. A long shot but have you looked at the 4 wheel drive system and the Haldex unit? That has a set of clutch plates in it. I would expect a fault to come up if there was an issue though.

May be worth a specialist looking at the codes as mentioned above. Good luck.

I really appreciate this mate, I'll have a look in vcds this weekend when I'm off work and see what faults are showing and do some live monitoring, again thank you 💪🤛