DSG service diy?

[karl210]

not really....just doesnt make sense. we all know how technical these boxes are..if it goes wrong you have no one too fall back on as you would if you had it done at a garage.

plus youve got too think about future resale...id want a fully serviced and documented gearbox service by a reputable person
[/quote]

That can be said about absoloutly anything though, fitting an induction kit, fitting new headunit, changing dv or even washing and polishing your car. I enjoy doing things myself and money is going to be tight untill after chirstmas so i can either wait untill then or do it myself, im pretty sure its overdue though. There is no reason why anyone cant do this, aslong as you take all the precations and most importantly when doing anything on a car take your time and dont rush and stress! Was changing stem seals on a honda civic the other day and because i was rushing to do it before the rain came in I dropped a valve into the engine so ended up having to change the headgasket and all other seals. I really enjoy tinkering with my car so why not, re-calibrated the gearbox the other day and its much smoother than before.

[xjay1337]

JackG's mentality is why people pay £200 for what is basically an oil change and 30 minutes work.
You can change the fluid yourself.

not really....just doesnt make sense. we all know how technical these boxes are..if it goes wrong you have no one too fall back on as you would if you had it done at a garage.

plus youve got too think about future resale...id want a fully serviced and documented gearbox service by a reputable person

I do all of my own servicing anyway. The care and attention of a knowledgeable enthusiast is worth more than a faceless stamp of a garage. What do garages offer really?
Most people who are really into their cars and do their own servicing know no less than the mechanics who you pay £60 an hour for. I can change a gearbox myself if I really had to.. Anyone who does an oil and filter for their engine themselves can do the DSG filter themselves..

It's an oil and filter change. It is not rocket science. There is no reason to pay over the odds for it.
BOTH methods work (the filling from below and from the top) and both are pretty easy to do.

So it would not make the least bit of difference in my eyes.

[Llew]

I agree Xjay 100%

[Adam_B]

how regularly does the dsg box need servicing?

[xjay1337]

Every 40k   

[alackofspeed]

It's easy. Did mine a couple of years ago. I made a fill plug from a drilled out sump plug, and pumped the oil into the gearbox. VCDS for temperature check, then allow excess oil to weir out. Job jobbed.

[JMP]

Im planning to change mine also. Just one question for you who done it them selves. How did you make sure your car was level when you added the oil? Thats a bit of problem for me as I dont have a proper lift. I was thinking that I need to raise all 4 corners to make car level and have access to the sump plug (im lowered so Im not sure if I can access plug when car is on ground). Thanks for any ideas

[GTI5]

I think DIY servicing can be a bit of a false economy.

When you come to sell the car there is limited traceability for work undertaken for prospective buyers and it will give them an opportunity to knock money off in private and when selling to trade as I have experienced this, although in the circumstances I was prepared for this.

It's alright/expected on a shed but currently I think the cars are too valuable for this. Of course I would probably trust a long term forum member or enthusiast more than an advert on Auto Trader etc.

[alackofspeed]

I think DIY servicing can be a bit of a false economy.

The alternative angle is that some people DIY to know the job is performed correctly and with care. If you're competent with the spanners, any routine service job should be possible to a DIYer.

[OSB]

I think DIY servicing can be a bit of a false economy.

The alternative angle is that some people DIY to know the job is performed correctly and with care. If you're competent with the spanners, any routine service job should be possible to a DIYer.

I agree with this. Though many cars are getting more difficult to do even routine servicing jobs on without diagnostic equipment, the basics can be done by a competent DIYer.
Provided you can do the work safely and ompetently do it. I think that the real problem is with resale. A fully stamped up service record is nearly always means a higher selling price. The general public put faith in Dealer servicing, however misguided this can be at times! I bet there are people on this forum who know and understand their cars better than some fully trained mechanics. But unless you know that person and their capabilities - can you really trust them?
My previous car had NO dealer stamps - except for the first yearly check. I had done all the servicing to beyond the recommendations. At 7 yrs old and 72K It was sold, but not on 'trade in'. 'No service history recorded sir - that will knock the price down by a large amount'... I was prepared to take a hit as I had saved much more by servicing myself. My brother in law on the other hand snapped it up 'I want your car, it runs like dream and has been serviced to a inch of its life, properly!' I got a good price.
My current GTI has the all stamps and any work carried out is fully documented by the garage. Its still under warranty and I don't want any disputes should something go wrong. I'll probably get all the work done by a recognised garage for the next year or so until I decide if its going to be a long term keeper. If its going I've got a more valuable service record. If I keep it I'll save a lot by doing it myself - well most of it. And then at 12+years old and 120K on the clock it wont matter a damn! 

[GTI5]

Yep many of the jobs are doable at home but in the end it boils down to time and a rather uncomfortable garage floor for me . On typical home ramps/stands there's so little space to work and inspect properly a 15 minute job in a garage turns into a longer job at home.

I'm busy most Saturdays as most of us will be and Sunday is not a great day to do work on a car because if you balls up a job you're stuffed for parts and spares until Monday so not being able to get to work would be a right hassle.

A good Indy will suffice in terms of stamps, if your selling private then the stamps may not be as important. I fully accept where a car dealer is coming from, they can't stick a car on a forecourt with no service history and expect it to shift because there will be 10 other cars with FSH that will shift in far quicker time.

Equally if I bought a car with no documented service history and it fell apart a week after buying it, I would expect a lot of people to say 'took a risk...what were you expecting'.

I'm glad there's plenty of DIY information on here .

[karl210]

So i finally did it   It took about 2 hours all in all. I did the top fill method as said in this tutorial http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/dsg-diy-fluid-change-service.htm
It was really easy and i dont know why its made out to be such a big fuss, if you can change engine oil easily enough you can do this. Just take your time and make sure you keep everything clean and no dirt goes in anywhere and have lots of raggs to hand. All that is needed is a 14mm allen key, 8mm allen key, 10mm socket and ratchet and another 13mm socket and a 24mm socket and ideally a torque wrench and do exactly as it says on that tutorial. To drain the oil into i used a jerry can because its not so tall you have to jack the car up too high and a funnel, I then poured it into a 5L water container that i had measured, to gauge how much i drained. To refill i used the jerry cans spout which just about fit over filler inside the oil filter and the funnel ontop of that, just pour it in bit by bit, it takes about 15 minutes. A small srynge is handy to remove the old oil from the filter housing but not 100% essential. I drained and refilled exactly 4.5L and put a little bit more in to make up for what i spilt. It cost me £55 delivered for 6L of genuine VW oil and a filter. Heres some pics, any questions just ask but i know an intermediate mechanic would have no problem doing this, only let down though is no stamp.

[pip gt]

You can fill the gearbox from the filter housing just takes longer but it's like earning £150 per hour for 45 mins.

[OSB]

Impressive! Well done. Bet this write up will get a few folks thinking.  

1 question - just how critical is the oil level in a DSG box? Is it MLs or cup fulls? what would be the effect of slightly overfilled or underfilled box - is there some form of overflow or expansion area?
You carefully measured the quantity taken out and refilled the same amount 'plus a little for spillage'...........

Thanks

[karl210]

45 mins if you fill it with syrup! only took me 15 mins.

I can imagine its quite critical but i bet a couple of hundred ml's over wont hurt but i wouldnt like to underfill. Where you drain the oil from there is a tube that extends up into the "gearbox sump" so when the oil level is below this tube nothing drains out but if the oil level is over the brim of the tube it will flow out down through the tube, there are plenty of pics of this online so you will see what i mean. Yeah i measured 4.5ml exactly in my bottle but i did spill about 100ml at a guess so just popped 4.6L back in. you can then undo the drain plug and if it is slightly overfilled it will drain untill its perfect but i was confident so just left it. Its shifting much nicer now, looking forward to tommorrow morning to see how it really is because the box never feels 100% when its cold.