Need Advice / 2011 Seat Ibiza Cupra 1.4tsi

[Abbey Gray]

I’m not sure if i’m posting in the right area, but i’m in need of some advice.

Recently i’ve been having non stop issues with my 2011 Seat Cupra 1.4tsi (i’m aware of their bad reputation haha). I’ve been to garages non stop who are all saying different things- i don’t know a whole lot about cars myself. i’m just getting sick of it now, its been six months since i’ve tried finding the issues.

These are the problems i’m having are:
- Sounds as if the engine is rattling, only happens when the car warms up. Rattles when setting off from traffic lights etc, will cause a slight delay in the car and then a bit of white smoke will appear from the exhaust. Seems fine in higher gears, it’s just when setting off. This has been happening for over 6 months.
- Recently (last few weeks) my exhaust has been popping (like gunshot noises) really badly once the car warms up (normally 30 mins after first starting the car). It only happens during de-acceleration but because my car is straight piped it’s horribly loud
- As of a few days ago, the car was struggling to start, it would start then seem like it was losing power but then would drive okay (bit sluggish).
- Now as of today, I started driving and noticed the car was jolting when breaking, and was pushing forward when changing to 4th gear (DSG). It got significantly worse after 10 minutes when i tried reversing, where it would sound like it was losing power and was staggering quite badly. Then it jolted when I put it into drive and changed from D1 to D (the d just flashed). I’ve not drove it since as i’m going to wait to the garage opens on Tuesday.

I’ve had my car ran through a diagnostic around 20 times in the last month and a half and nothing will come up. I’m booked in on Friday for a smoke test to see if the air to fuel mixture is what’s causing the rattling or the exhaust popping (i’ve researched that a car running lean can cause rattling etc). But as far as the gearbox issue and the struggle to start, it seems to me like the car is losing power but i can’t quite figure out why.

I’m just getting fed up with not knowing what’s going on, the garages are saying the engine is pinging but not sure why (they suggested to use V-Power because of the increase in octane, which i have been doing for 2 months now- not fixed anything)

Does anyone know any common issues or if any of these issues seem to link to eachother?

 

[vtxracer]

What mods does the car have ? Remap ?
Were the oxygen sensors installed correctly on the new exhaust ? Seems like a bad remap or some sensors are sending wrong data to the ecu.
The gearbox probably is a separate issue related to the mechatronic. Has it ever been replaced ? Early cars had issues with the mechatronic.

 

[Abbey Gray]

What mods does the car have ? Remap ?
Were the oxygen sensors installed correctly on the new exhaust ? Seems like a bad remap or some sensors are sending wrong data to the ecu.
The gearbox probably is a separate issue related to the mechatronic. Has it ever been replaced ? Early cars had issues with the mechatronic.

Thanks for commenting it’s only been straight piped, and as far as i’m aware it’s never been remapped. There’s a lot of problems going on with it right now, and have all started at the same time The gearbox is the biggest issue atm, i’ve been to the garage nearly every day for the past week. They’re saying it may be lack of transmission oil or like you say the mechatronic, another garage said they think the clutch is slipping but i can’t see any signs of that myself. Will be going back to the garage tomorrow to hopefully find out the definite issue with the gearbox

 

[vtxracer]

An early sign of clutch wear on dsg is judder when taking off from a stop. (Even if clutch is not slipping at all !)
It may sound stupid as the car has been in and out of many garages, but, have you checked spark plugs for correct type and correct gap ? Coil pack in ok condition ? Signal from O2 sensors is normal ? (the straight pipe exhaust might be messing with them ! The stock ecu map cant cope with it )
Injectors maybe be an issue. (again a common problem on these engines).
Even a slightly stretched timing chain could cause a slow engine start issue.
There are many things to check about your car.

 

[380bhpdaily]

Hey as said mechatronics was the first thing that came to mind when reading this post for gearbox issues. However the other things it’s hard to know without taking a look at the car. Has the garage you used checked for pending codes and old saved codes regarding the potential misfire you see when it happens and under what conditions? Also do you know you if your car is up to date regarding software of gearbox? There was many updates for these gearboxes to potentially stop and iron out some of these faults back in there day.

 

[Abbey Gray]

An early sign of clutch wear on dsg is judder when taking off from a stop. (Even if clutch is not slipping at all !)
It may sound stupid as the car has been in and out of many garages, but, have you checked spark plugs for correct type and correct gap ? Coil pack in ok condition ? Signal from O2 sensors is normal ? (the straight pipe exhaust might be messing with them ! The stock ecu map cant cope with it )
Injectors maybe be an issue. (again a common problem on these engines).
Even a slightly stretched timing chain could cause a slow engine start issue.
There are many things to check about your car.

I’ve been reading up a lot and not sure if a DSG tune could be a potential fix? i’m not too sure about all of that but have read it’s helped some people with similar issues. Yeah i had the spark plugs changed around 2 months ago as I was told it may be a cause of the rattling but it wasn’t. As far as the O2 sensors and injectors i’ll be sure to ask the garage about that actually, thankyou! i’m thinking there’s a variety of issues at the moment, crazy how they can all come at once. With driving it more i’ve noticed that the gear changes seem fine but when going into forth it holds back then pushes, and when dropping into first it doesn’t change till basically at a stop which is what i think is causing the jolt. When selecting between reverse, drive and sports it also jolts slightly, it all happened over night, i was parked near the beach and it was extremely windy and a lot of sand got in my car, but must just be a coincidence. I set off to drive earlier and as I went to accelerate it just went into limp mode and wouldn’t move at all, very confused at this point, hopefully i’ll have more answers tomorrow!

 

[Abbey Gray]

Hey as said mechatronics was the first thing that came to mind when reading this post for gearbox issues. However the other things it’s hard to know without taking a look at the car. Has the garage you used checked for pending codes and old saved codes regarding the potential misfire you see when it happens and under what conditions? Also do you know you if your car is up to date regarding software of gearbox? There was many updates for these gearboxes to potentially stop and iron out some of these faults back in there day.

Hey thanks for commenting I’ve had it plugged into a diagnostic numerous of times but nothing came up till the other day, where then 2 ABS faults came up and a gearbox fault which the mechanic said was a temporary error or something? he said it meant it’s either electrical or left over from when the battery died 2 months ago, he cleared it but of course didn’t fix it. He didn’t explain the faults into depth even though i did ask, not too sure what was up with the ABS. And i’m not too sure about it being up to date but that’s a good point, i’ll be sure to bring that up tomorrow when i’m at the garage again (basically my second home atm), thankyou!

 

[vtxracer]

I’ve been reading up a lot and not sure if a DSG tune could be a potential fix? i’m not too sure about all of that but have read it’s helped some people with similar issues. Yeah i had the spark plugs changed around 2 months ago as I was told it may be a cause of the rattling but it wasn’t. As far as the O2 sensors and injectors i’ll be sure to ask the garage about that actually, thankyou! i’m thinking there’s a variety of issues at the moment, crazy how they can all come at once. With driving it more i’ve noticed that the gear changes seem fine but when going into forth it holds back then pushes, and when dropping into first it doesn’t change till basically at a stop which is what i think is causing the jolt. When selecting between reverse, drive and sports it also jolts slightly, it all happened over night, i was parked near the beach and it was extremely windy and a lot of sand got in my car, but must just be a coincidence. I set off to drive earlier and as I went to accelerate it just went into limp mode and wouldn’t move at all, very confused at this point, hopefully i’ll have more answers tomorrow!

A dsg map would just hide any issue until it becomes more serious. (Worn clutch especially)
Does your car have the dsg update ? The last major recall was on 2013. It included new software and new fluid for the mechatronic. Still the mechatronic might be damaged.
The first gear problem you describe is considered normal behavior for the dq200 dsg. It will try to shift to 2nd gear as soon as possible and stay in 2nd gear until a complete stop. This can be fixed with a dsg remap.

 

[Abbey Gray]

A dsg map would just hide any issue until it becomes more serious. (Worn clutch especially)
Does your car have the dsg update ? The last major recall was on 2013. It included new software and new fluid for the mechatronic. Still the mechatronic might be damaged.
The first gear problem you describe is considered normal behavior for the dq200 dsg. It will try to shift to 2nd gear as soon as possible and stay in 2nd gear until a complete stop. This can be fixed with a dsg remap.

I’ve just got back from the garage, they diagnosed the gearbox fault and said it’s the clutch as it’s too high or something. They said it’s an unusual fault for a 7 speed DSG so proves how unlucky i am they said it’ll be £600 labour if I buy the clutch myself

 

[vtxracer]

A clutch kit from luk or sachs should cost less than £350 new. They are trying to charge you way too much for labour. In this case it would be better to get a quote from a tuner who repairs/upgrades DSGs, like rtmg, darkside, etc
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sachs-0am-7-speed-dsg-clutch-pack.html

 

[Abbey Gray]

A clutch kit from luk or sachs should cost less than £350 new. They are trying to charge you way too much for labour. In this case it would be better to get a quote from a tuner who repairs/upgrades DSGs, like rtmg, darkside, etc
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sachs-0am-7-speed-dsg-clutch-pack.html

I’ve managed to find a brand new luks one on ebay for £250 with 12 month warranty. I’ve rang a few garages and none are less than £600 problem with my area is that there isn’t many garages that do DSG repairs, and i’ve tried some out of the area which are just as expensive. thankyou! will try have a look into it a bit further, i’m not too sure on general labour prices for clutch changes, but the garage that said £600 did say they’ll change the transmission oil and filter as well i’m pretty sure

 

[vtxracer]

The dsg has two oil circuits. One is for the mechatronic and uses 1L of hydraulic fluid. The other circuit is the gear oil. You will need 1.7 L and you can choose aftermarket gear oils with additives. Both are filled from the top. You have fairly easy access if you remove the airbox. Make sure that they will change both of them.
Did you get a fault for the clutch on the ecu ? Something like “lower threshold limit reached” ? Or “insufficient pressure” ?
May i suggest a mechatronic fluid change and a basic setting via vcds as a start (which you would do anyway after the clutch replacement). It should be fairly cheap. £20 for the fluid and whatever they charge in labour. You drain it completely and fill it with exactly 1 litre. No more, no less. Fairly easy job.