A gearbox malfunction (with codes p179e and p179f) may cause the car enter one of the "limp mode" states, which can cut engine power from the transmission. A message on the dash may say "gearbox malfunction" with a message if the car is driveable or must be brought to the repair shop. In some cases, this loss of power can make things difficult to pull over safely, as the stall can happen in an intersection, or in stop and go traffic on the freeway. Audi has recognized this problem in the form of a tsb (2032211), however, all cars with this particular transmission may experience a similar issue, at any time, despite following manufacturer service intervals. The issue may appear to be intermittent and may not enter full limp mode until many miles later. My initial encounter with questionable transmission behavior was about 10-15k miles prior. This particular case documented was the worst scenario, but similar scenarios (coming off the freeway and stalling shortly after stopping, or not being able to engine brake properly due to transmission refusing to shift) have also been experienced.
2012 Audi S4 transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 14 of 14, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Dsg transmission started to shift poorly. Shifts would "slip" between gears and sometimes it would down shift very hard. This occured mostly in urban driving, stop and go.
Very abruptly shifts up or down launching the car forward without warning
I own a 2012 audi s4 with a 7 speed dsg transmission and notice hard shifting in 1-2 and 2-1 and also into reverse and drive. I have read about this being a mechtronics unit or whole replacement of the transmission can be needed. After bringing the car into audi 4 times with these issues they finally said that I need to replace the tcu and update software on the ecu. I asked if this will fix the issue and they said that this repair will be the first in an order of parts to be replaced to hopefully fix the problem. Next would be the mechtronics or the entire transmission. I bought the car with 29k miles and 8 months left on the factory warranty from a local small dealership. After purchasing the car and going to the dealer with these issue 4 times..now they tell me audi voided the power train warranty of the car at 5k miles due to a ecu tune. So they are denying the claim. I talked to a local tuner to see if the car had a tune on the ecu..they said no..I also called several nationwide tuners to ask them if my cars VIN was on record of getting a tune and they said no. So since it was before I bought the car I do not know what company or for how long it was tuned for. The local dealer never told me while bringing the car in for transmission issues that I did not have a power train warranty until a major cost was involved. They know there are problems with these transmission hence the updated tcu and software update to the ecu as well as the updated part# of the mechtronics unit they would replace it with. This should be something audi should cover up to 100k with a tune ecu or not. A ecu tune has no control over the transmission tcu or the parts in the trans.
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