Hybrid vehicles are more coming every day. On the remote we are getting more and more questions about the DQ400 mechatronic, especially the fault code above. In this topic, we will guide you through the steps one of our mechanics took to find out the problem and give a solution for our customer.

Brand: Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda
Model: Golf GTE, Passat GTE, A3 E-tron, Q3 E-tron, Octavia
Transmission: 0DD, DQ400

Customer complaint: The car will only drive electrical, when the combustion engine should turn on there will appear a fault message about the transmission into your display, after the fault message you can not increase rpm anymore until you have turned ignition off and back on.

Volkswagen A.G. has written a technical serve bulletin where they explain the problem causing fault code P2884 (TPI 2048712/1). There is also a self study program about the 0DD gearbox how it is designed and the functions of the transmission (SSP 538). In this document, they advice to exchange the mechatronic for an upgraded version. 

What is the case of this problem, and how can we solve it?

There are 3 clutches inside this transmission. The K0 clutch is the one who is responsible for engaging and disengaging the clutch between combustion engine and transmission. Since our complaint is regarding that clutch and our fault codes is connected to the same clutch it will be most likely to start our search to that clutch.

In the picture below you can see solenoid N218 “automatic gearbox pressure regulating valve 4 (operates disengagement clutch K0)” this is the solenoid what should engage the K0 clutch.

Source of picture: VAG PassThru documentation

In the picture below you can see the solenoid what operate the K0 clutch. When you put this solenoid on a test bench you will see it is impossible to actuate the solenoid. The valve inside the solenoid is stuck and will not move mechanical.

As you can see there will get dirt into the solenoid, this part will make it impossible to move the valve inside the solenoid. When you take out the dirt the solenoid it will be possible to actuate it back again. We have seen that the output of the solenoid decreases drastically after is get stuck, we strongly recommend you to get a tested solenoid or mount a good one which is repaired properly.

Since we found out the reason why the clutch won’t apply, we still haven’t found the cause of the dirt into the solenoid. When you scroll back at the top of this article you see there are some gaskets mounted on the valve body. One of those gaskets is the one you see below. Below the metallic part there is a filter element, the hole at the red arrow is the feed to the K0 clutch.

When we take a closer look to the defective mechatronic you can see the filter element of the gasket will get broken. A part of this filter will get stuck into the solenoid we have seen above. Please be aware parts of this filter may still be floating around in the channels of the valve body or transmission.

ATR Remote is focussing on servicing transmission electronics. With our remote service we can support you with coding, programming of new transmission modules, and we can guide you through diagnostics like this 0DD transmission. Are you interested in the  or will you get part of the community, please contact us on info@transmissies.nl or fill in the form below. Also if you need parts for those 0DD transmissions fill in the form below.

This article was made possible by ATR Transmissions www.transmissies.nl