Yes, the bottom board is just wire connections for the bottom solenoids, the vertical board has wire connections for the vertical solenoids, a speed (RPM) sensor, and a temperature sensor, not really anything more complex than that. But, early production boards often suffered open-circuit connections to the solenoids.

 

Maktran is legit - I did speak to the owner before deciding to purchase from UK. The shipping times can be weeks and I couldn’t wait. All I’m saying - I won’t put anything from Amazon vendor with “cheap and cheerful” - I was burned and learnt the lesson the hard way, paying a mechanic to install Amazon kit for me, realizing the parts didn’t work.

 

As you can tell from the remarks in my initial post, part of this project for me was to determine what is the most cost effective way to fix the problem. On one end, you can roll into the Porsche dealer and have them do a transmission swap for $25,000. On the other end was the proposition of buying the plastic boards on Amazon or eBay for about $100 and just swapping those out. Or, just spending about $70 on a new separator plate when there is a chunk of paper gasket missing.

Based on my personal experience, we've learned that although the separator plate might fix a hard 2-1 downshift, just replacing that separator plate is not going to fix the loss of reverse and gears 2, 4 & 6 because I did replace just the separator plate and saw no difference. So, if nothing else, we know that.

Then, I think based on your (Tapsie) experience with the Chinese rebuild kit, coupled with the fact that my Chinese rebuild kit didn't work either, we can surmise that it is best to stay away from the Chinese rebuild kits.

Next up will be the Chinese remanufactured Mech units. That's what is arriving at my house today. So, I'll install that over the weekend and see how that goes. If I'm in the same boat, well, then, maybe it still isn't the TCU that is my problem, maybe it is still that I have been buying Chinese product. I am hopeful that Sheng Hai (the company where I bought the separator plate and that the remanufactured Mech unit) is maybe a different and higher quality source of parts than the one I bought my rebuild kit from. They do have an impressive website, so I guess we'll see.

 

Makes sense FRUNKestein, and keep us posted how the install goes.

I did a lot of research into this and looked at all options for a cost-effective fix (didn't want to pay the dealer for a trans swap, indys asking several thousands for used trans swap etc with many weeks of turnaround - so having it done in under $1.5K for all new boards and ALL original new solenoids, with double labor, felt like a victory).

Very curious how Shanghoi and Maktran parts fare. Also look for QR code on the solenoids - if no QR, they are Chinese solenoids (not Borg remanufactured) and hence may not work (did not work in my case from amazon kit - despite passing OHM and click tests). Hope this helps.

 

FYI; For my replacement of the Mech boards, I procured my ( p/n 0B5-398-009-F ) repair kit from AudiUSAparts.com. It's the latest update of the part, direct from Audi. They run a sale on them from time to time, whereas it will cost a few hundred dollars less than the usual price.

My solenoids (new, Borg Warner) were sourced from TransPartsDirect.

I personally wouldn't get any of the components from a Chinese source.

 

What's your opinion of this kit that I've found? I'm about to make the same repair.

DSG DL501 Audi S-Tronic (0B5) Mechatronics Repair Kit - Default Title - MLREng

This item is an DSG DL501 Audi S-Tronic (0B5) mechatronics repair kit. This package is designed to ensure the longevity of your vehicle's vital components.

mlreng.com

 

I also found that it's possible to replace the gasket material on the valvebody separation plate. Though I'm not sure what adhesive is recommended to rebond the new gasket to the plate. Is it worth trying to replace just the gasket or am I better off just buying a new separator plate?

 

This one seems legit. I tried to speak with MLR customer service via chat / email and no one responded. I wanted to change ALL solenoids and MLR were not selling N435 so I went with a vendor that did.
This is the shop I purchased from - highly recommend for both genuine products and shipping times:

https://www.gearboxoils.com/product/genuine-audi-a4-a5-a6-a7-q5-0b5-automatic-gearbox-solenoid-harness-kit-dl501-extra-solenoid/

https://www.gearboxoils.com/product/genuine-vw-audi-dsg-0b5-automatic-gearbox-solenoid-n435-n439-k1-k2-dl501-dct/

Be careful as the parts may not be returnable and shipping the products back to UK may cost a fortune.

 

How many of the n435 solenoids are required? I'd like to replace all of them as well.

 

I would just buy a new separator plate, which already has the 2 gaskets glued to it.

 

Concerning MLR Engineering....even they charge a "Porsche Tax"...a rebuilt Mechatronics is $1800 for a Porsche, and the Audi unit is $1500.....

 

Maybe the folks working on the Porsche units have nice haircuts and wear special white jumpsuits...

 

Welp, looks like my clutch pack is actually fried. I had the same gasket failure, replaced all the solenoids and separator plate, car shifts very well at highway speeds, no slip that I can detect, but I’m getting “clutch2 slip too high” and the data stream is reading something like 12bar. Car slams into 1st which is weird since that’s clutch 1.

 

Sounds like a pressure sensor on the TCU.

Does it drive totally fine until it warms up?

 

Well, the rebuilt Mech unit from Sheng Hai arrived 2 days ago and I installed it last night. I now have 2 error codes that immediately return when I clear them: P2837 "Distance sensor 2 -signal implausible" and P283C "Distance sensor 3 - signal implausible". I think this has to do with the shift forks, and possibly the hook from the gear selector solenoids 2 & 3 didn't seat properly into the shift forks. Thoughts?

 

Concerning the "Distance Sensor" errors, yes, those are for the shift-forks. Either the servo-finger is not in the fork hole, or perhaps it has something to-do with the following:
There was a production-run change to the Mechatronics (and or the shift forks), but early production had a different dimension for the initial set-up position of the servo-finger, when the Mech is re-installed into the transmission.

 

Concerning the "Distance Sensor" errors, yes, those are for the shift-forks. Either the servo-finger is not in the fork hole, or perhaps it has something to-do with the following:
There was a production-run change to the Mechatronics (and or the shift forks), but early production had a different dimension for the initial set-up position of the servo-finger, when the Mech is re-installed into the transmission.

Thanks VAGfan! Very helpful, I think that's the problem.

 

In reference to Step 25 of the AndyBuck DIY I supplied, did you set the lugs to the proper distance relative to the number on the bottom of the mechatronic?

It’s a different mech unit than the original, so it may be set differently, depending on the number on the replacement unit.

 

Nope, I did not do that. I absolutely did not. Hopefully, that's the culprit. Guess what I'm doing tonight. Thanks so much!

 

Get one of those probe/cameras off of Amazon, ideally ones that Wifi into your phone so you it is easier to watch "remote" things. It came in very handy when I popped my unit in (haha) to then get the camera in there and make sure that all oil piston hooks where in the shift arm holes.

 

Just did an airport run on some open roads and got pretty bad slip - reverse gear issue message in cluster because it’s clutch 2. Clutch slip showing 11.9 bar still. Does anyone know if there is a way to maybe reset those values? Wishful thinking maybe - looking more and more like a clutch pack for me smh.

Anyone know a good indie to do a clutch swap in NY/NJ/CT?

 

Update:
The good part: Last night, I confirmed that I indeed had missed clutch forks 2 & 3 when I installed the unit previously. Dropped the Mech unit, adjusted the shift solenoids, moved the shift forks in and out and left them in neutral position. Re-installed mech unit making sure the clutch forks were all engaged. Refilled, started car, and the previous P2837 & P283C codes were gone.

I attempted calibration of the transmission. Step one (Selector Level & Range Sensor) has always given me fits and neither my Foxwell NT809BT nor my Otofix D1 Lite would complete it. I kept waiting for it to tell me to move the shift lever to N or D, but it would tell me to move shift lever to P (which it never left), then would time out as an error. So, I figured that maybe it simply wasn't giving me the message to move the shift lever out of P to begin with. Once I did that on my own, it calibrated step one successfully. Step 2 (Distance sensors) would not calibrate, I tried it at least 10 times and gave up. Step 3, Adaptation of Clutch Bite Points calibrated no problem first try.

I went for a drive. Car shifted beautifully. Drove around for quite a while, got the transmission fluid temp up to 70 degrees and went to bed (about 2:00 am) thinking that I finally fixed it. Got up this morning to drive it to work.

The bad part: About 6 miles into the drive, I get a warning light and the car feels like it is going into and out of neutral. Nursed it back home. Pulled the code: P17D8 Torque limit due to clutch temperature. Fluid temp was 78 degrees, so it wasn't overheating. Cure for this appears to be replacing the plastic "circuit boards", which one would think would have been done when the supposedly rebuilt Mech unit was, uh, rebuilt. Thanks Sheng Hai.

Interesting thing when I was looking at my old Mech unit when I pulled it 2 nights ago (to replace with the "rebuilt" Mech unit from Sheng Hai), I noticed that the selector module electrical contact pins for PCB2 were not fully seated into PCB2 (which I had replaced myself on my original Mech unit when I installed the rebuild kit).

I wondered at that time if the problems I was having was due to that. The pins were lined up OK, but they were just not pushed into the contact slots. My thought at the time was "OK, I may have an extra functioning Mech unit now, but I am still going to swap in the Sheng Hai rebuilt Mech unit as I'm sure they tested it as being good before shipping it to me." So, tonight, I am going to swap back into the transmission my original Mech unit with the new parts. Maybe the problem with it was not having those contact pins on PCB2 set correctly and/or not having all 4 of the clutch forks actually engaged. So, that's what's on tap for tonight.

 

As I said in THIS post from another thread of mine (which contains photos), one of my solenoids (N434) wasn't properly plugged into the PCB2 board, which now, in hindsight, I'm certain was the cause of my secondary issues. Had I visually checked that all solenoids were properly/fully connected, I'm certain I wouldn't have had the second fault referenced in the other thread, so be sure they're all pressed in place straight and fully, and the tangs can be seen protruding from the back-side of the board (see pic below).

As to your P17D800 code, the clutch temp sensor (G509) on my PCB2 board was indeed faulty, thus the need for a new set of factory Audi boards, so that component can indeed fail, as it did for me.

 

Your earlier post is exactly why I thought to check those when I pulled my original Mech unit out that I had rebuilt myself. I remembered reading it before, and sure enough, 2 or 3 of mine weren't seated properly. So, since my original has new PCB1 and PCB2, hopefully the temp sensor will be working (despite them being Chinese parts). I'll know tonight.

 

Listen, Audi units are obviously pieces of ****, there was a time that "german made" stood for something. Not any more, get the Chinese stuff, as others said it is like the same company as Audi's and if not even better. DL501s are over a decade long, there is no excuse for these issues.

 

Listen, Audi units are obviously pieces of ****, there was a time that "german made" stood for something. Not any more, get the Chinese stuff, as others said it is like the same company as Audi's and if not even better. DL501s are over a decade long, there is no excuse for these issues.

@noro stop spreading wrong info. The chinese electrical boards don't work on ALL cars and could be a hit or miss. Didn't work in my case. Chinese kits are NOT manufactured by same company as OE. There clearly is some electronic authentication performed by TCM depending on your software version. They may work today but what's the guarantee they will continue to work once the dealership upgrades the ECU/TCU software (think apple charging cables - half of aftermarket cables don't work / stop working after software upgrade and that's very low tech stuff). If you are looking for the bottom of the barrel repair, go with it, especially if you have unlimited time to keep swapping out parts in the trans. I wont personally use cheap stuff on MY personal car. I tried and learn the hard way.

 

Last night, I replaced the Sheng Hai reman Mech unit with my original Mech unit that was "rebuilt" using the Amazon Trolling Man kit. If you recall, it didn't work when I installed it the first time (error codes right off the bat, wouldn't recalibrate, I didn't write down the codes and they may have been that I didn't have the clutch forks engaged with the shifting solenoids). Also, when I pulled it to install the Sheng Hai reman Mech unit, I discovered that some of the electrical contacts weren't seated properly. So, I swapped in my original "rebuilt" Mech unit for the Sheng Hai reman Mech unit last night.

Result was disappointing. It did take part 1 and 2 of the calibration process, but failed to complete part 3. Also, it threw a P17D4 code right off the bat (I never even got it off the 4 post lift).

The Audi forums say that the culprit for P17D4 is the N472 solenoid, which is one of the two small solenoids on the bottom part of the Mech unit. I replaced one of those two solenoids when I installed the Amazon Trolling Man rebuild kit. So, it may be a bad solenoid from that kit. My concern is that if I drop the Mech unit and replace just that N472 solenoid, it might have some other bad parts (like what is apparently a bad temp sensor in the Sheng Hai reman Mech unit) that will fail after the car warms up fully.

At this point, I am going to buy OEM parts (either Audi or Borg Warner) to do a full rebuild on my original Mech unit, or just buy a quality reman Mech unit. I need to contact Sheng Hai to return the reman Mech unit. I may still have time to return the Amazon Trolling Man rebuild kit, too. Hopefully I can return both, but not holding my breath on that.

So, I'll be doing research on what is the best way to go. Maktrans is an option, but given they use some Chinese parts, I'm leery of using them. I have now pulled and replaced the Mech unit from my car 5 times, so although I've gotten really good at it, I'm ready to be done with this delve into the world of the Macan Mechatronics failures. I have learned a great deal, but ready to be done.

 

Maktrans uses oem solenoids that they refurb and test - I swapped 4 from maktrans and 2 from ebay and all have been fine so far.

 

Can't you just buy all of the solenoids from this company and replace everything with new components??

https://www.gearboxoils.com/product/genuine-vw-audi-dsg-0b5-automatic-gearbox-solenoid-n435-n439-k1-k2-dl501-dct/

 

I had the exact same code (mechanical error, not electrical) with the Amazon kit (with new original boards) which I obviously returned. The solenoid you referenced came faulty in amazon kit which probably caused N435 solenoid fault as well (per an Audi trans tech I used via phone consult). Seems the same amazon kit that I returned was delivered to you in some form as the seller is same. I suggest you change all solenoids and boards and be done with it once and for all.

 

duplicate - deleting this post.

 

Yes, that’s the plan. I haven’t ordered parts yet, but plan to get new OEM boards and all new solenoids. The goal of this thread was to see if an inexpensive kit would do the job. I think we answered that question. If OEM parts now fix it, I think we can verify that the inexpensive option just isn’t viable.

 

With pic of the code, with amazon solenoids and original new boards. All other codes were gone after the new board installation but amazon solenoids caused this mechanical error code. Hope this helps.

 

There is no electronic authentication performed by the TCU on the two electrical interconnect "Circuit" boards. These boards have no "smarts" in them, just wires, a simple temperature sensor, and a simple RPM sensor. As usual, the quality of Chinese knock-off items can be hit or miss.

 

You are an authority on this so obviously respect your opinion very much. How would you explain 10 electrical fault codes (one for each solenoid) after installing the Amazon Chinese boards? They were not recognized by the TCU and threw tons of codes along with a mechanical code for defective solenoid. clearly there was more than just wiring.

 

I would definitely advocate for a factory Audi mechatronic repair kit, 0B5398009F (the two boards), but have you taken a multimeter to the individual solenoids? If they’re “in spec” +/- an ohm or two, they probably don’t need replacing.

Here are the factory ohm specs for each of the solenoids, with my readings of each (in parentheses) prior to reinstalling the mechatronic.

N433 / 5 ohms (4.7)
N434 / 5 ohms (4.7)
N435 / 15 ohms (14.3)
N436 / 5 ohms (4.7) *
N437 / 5 ohms (4.7)
N438 / 5 ohms (4.7)
N439 / 15 ohms (14.2)
N440 / 5 ohms (4.7) *
N471 / 4.5 ohms (4.6) *
N472 / 4.5 ohms (4.5) *

* = Ohm readings of brand new Borg Warner solenoids

As well as replacing the 2 boards (for a clutch temp code – the clutch fluid sensor on the PCB2 board had failed), the N436, N440, N471 solenoids were all well out of spec, double the factory ohm values, and thus replaced. I also replaced the N472, the main pressure control solenoid, just because it made me feel good…

Also, made sure all solenoids were fully plugged into the board slots.

Knock on wood; no issues since.

 

Honestly I’ve found that the circuit boards don’t really fail on these cars. The circuit board failure was more prevalent in the older versions of the transmission that were manufactured before the Macan line started. I haven’t seen any circuit board replacements actually fix things in our cars.