Really dumb ass thing (DSG - crunch)

[mrred32]

Please don't judge me on this really stupid thing. I was heading down the back roads last night to work in sport mode (having a bit of a bash).

As I came in to a more residential area I decided to slow right down and put the car into 'drive'. At this exact moment an a4 came flying round the corner on my side off the road overtaking a parked car heading towards me, in the heat of it I began to brake heavily and swerve to the left. Unfortunately as I did this (and was changing from sport to drive) my hand slid forward past drive and neutral and I believe that it hit reverse!

There was a load grinding noise (like that of a manual when you slip a gear or bring the clutch up early). I managed to bring the lever back to neutral and then into drive to continue around but am very fearful if I have done any major damage.

Is the DSG a lot more fragile than a manual and is there any way I could test any long term damage without taking the gearbox out ? As I am a complete amateur. I have checked  the bite hill climb and this seemed to work without slipping. I feel like such a turnip 

[RocketRossUK]

If you havent noticed / heard any sign of damage you should be fine mate. When going forward and then trying to put it in reverse, the gear should no be able to engage thats why you hear that awful noise.

Everyone at some point has had a terrible gear change and not put the clutch fully down, the gearboxes on VW are pretty tough. You should be fine mate.

[mrred32]

Cheers rocket Ross, yeah I've grinded a few manual gearboxes from time to time but just crapped myself when it happened on a DSG (considering that they are their weight in gold to have replaced).

I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully not have any problems.

[SunnyGTI]

On the DSG gearbox you have to press the button on the gearstick to switch into reverse right? Whereas you can go from S to D to N without pressing th button. So did you definitely press the button when moving the gearstick as you may not have hit reverse?

[mrred32]

This may sound stupid but I thought that you had to press the button to move between s and d, never really tried without pressing it to be fair. I know you don't have to press it to go from d into neutral.

Pretty sure I was depressing the button though. Just performed another bite test on a steep hill and it seemed to pull without issue. No obvious grinding or slipping that I could tell (this dsg stuff is fairly new to me so not entirely sure on decent troubleshooting).

[SunnyGTI]

This may sound stupid but I thought that you had to press the button to move between s and d, never really tried without pressing it to be fair. I know you don't have to press it to go from d into neutral.

Pretty sure I was depressing the button though. Just performed another bite test on a steep hill and it seemed to pull without issue. No obvious grinding or slipping that I could tell (this dsg stuff is fairly new to me so not entirely sure on decent troubleshooting).

I could change from S to D without pressing the button as I wanted to test that when I read your original post haha!

I think the fact that it is driving ok now means there shouldn't be any critical damage caused....I am not sure how you can check it, but I am sure if you keep an eye on it hopefully it is fine. I wouldn't expect one crunching gear change or forcing into reverse would destroy the box as they must make it strong enough to handle a few mishaps! :s

[Booth11]

If it's a one off incident, and it's driving ok now, I'm sure it will be fine.  Just try not to do it again. Lol.

I've always depressed the gearstick button to move between D and S, but I'm not sure you have to.  But always lift your foot off the accelerator before you make the switch between the two.

[mrred32]

Cheers for this guys. I'll definitely monitor it, can't hear anything and trying changing down gears when around 4k revs (the only troubleshooting I found for issues with dsg) and all seemed fine.

Yeah, I won't be doing it again! As I've only had a dsg a while I still find myself holding the dsg lever with my left hand when driving. I really need to get out of this habit.

[RocketRossUK]

Cheers for this guys. I'll definitely monitor it, can't hear anything and trying changing down gears when around 4k revs (the only troubleshooting I found for issues with dsg) and all seemed fine.

Yeah, I won't be doing it again! As I've only had a dsg a while I still find myself holding the dsg lever with my left hand when driving. I really need to get out of this habit.

I couldnt get out of the habit, thats why I ended up selling my MK5 GTI dsg. I just wanted manual back after 6 months. But loads of people get used to it and then love it.

You will know deep down after a month or two.