Gearbox emergency mode - no reverse

[anxious_ant]

Would appreciate some advice please. Car is 68 reg 1.5 DSG.
Mileage is 21,000 and full Skoda service history.

First time driving long distance (180 miles) to Wales.
Had to take detour through very hilly, twisty roads and then suddenly had the “Gearbox in emergency mode, no reverse gear”.
I drove slowly in manual mode and managed to select odd gears only.
This is the first time the car was driven that hard and I might have pushed the car a little hard in the hills.

Made it to hotel and parked up for 30 mins or so and tried again and managed to select all gears this time , including reverse. EML light still on, checked car status and it’s not reporting any errors.
Went for short drive circa 30 mph and everything seems to work ok.

Could this be a software glitch? If it’s mechanical fault I would have thought that the gears would not be selectable?

[catso]

How is the battery?

I had an A3, 3.2 DSG and on a couple of occasions I had a similar gearbox fault where it gradually would select less gears until it stopped, leaving me with no gears.

Each time it happened it was after having started the car with a weak battery and by simply switching off (by now battery has a little more charge) and restarting normal gearbox was resumed.

On at least one other occasion I also had a sequence of fault lights, again directly after having started with a weak battery.

I came to the conclusion that it didn't like starting/running with low voltage and that it caused untold 'boot' errors?

Replacing the battery completely cured it.

[anxious_ant]

catso said:

How is the battery?

I had an A3, 3.2 DSG and on a couple of occasions I had a similar gearbox fault where it gradually would select less gears until it stopped, leaving me with no gears.

Each time it happened it was after having started the car with a weak battery and by simply switching off (by now battery has a little more charge) and restarting normal gearbox was resumed.

On at least one other occasion I also had a sequence of fault lights, again directly after having started with a weak battery.

I came to the conclusion that it didn't like starting/running with low voltage and that it caused untold 'boot' errors?

Replacing the battery completely cured it.

Battery is ok I suppose. The car is mainly used for short trips around town. Did notice start stop not available during that time so could be low battery?

I drove around 30 miles or so with the gearbox warning. Car drives fine, except no reverse and off gears. No clunking etc.
Using manual mode and some careful shifting I managed to drive to the hotel.

I am really hoping it’s just a glitch, as if it’s the gearbox or dreaded clutch pack I wouldn’t have been able to select all gears after resting car for 30 minutes.

My daughter have open day here tomorrow so would drive around town, hopefully issue goes away as it would be a challenge recovering family of 6 plus car 180 odd miles back home.

If I can manage to get car back home at least I’ll have more options to get the car looked at.

[catso]

Might be worth getting the battery fully charged and checked? At least that way you've eliminated it as a potential cause plus, a battery is a lot cheaper than a new mechatronic unit.

[Panamax]

anxious_ant said:

This is the first time the car was driven that hard and I might have pushed the car a little hard in the hills.

Almost certainly over-heated the box - something autos don't like at all.

Does that car have a transmission temperature gauge, either fixed or one you can choose to display? Does the car have a transmission cooler?

[anxious_ant]

Panamax said:

Almost certainly over-heated the box - something autos don't like at all.

Does that car have a transmission temperature gauge, either fixed or one you can choose to display? Does the car have a transmission cooler?

Ah, never thought of this. It's only a 1.5 petrol engine with 7 speed DSG gearbox.
The battery was tested to be ok so it's not that.

Don't think it has a temperature gauge, and not sure about the cooler. It's a 68 reg Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 Tsi DSG.

On the way home (180 miles some motorway but most through hilly Wales) the error came up again, but stopping the car, giving it few minutes and restarting cleared the error.

[ncx]

anxious_ant said:

Ah, never thought of this. It's only a 1.5 petrol engine with 7 speed DSG gearbox.
The battery was tested to be ok so it's not that.

Don't think it has a temperature gauge, and not sure about the cooler. It's a 68 reg Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 Tsi DSG.

On the way home (180 miles some motorway but most through hilly Wales) the error came up again, but stopping the car, giving it few minutes and restarting cleared the error.

I have the same car and same issue and would like to ask what was the ending? Did you find the reason and what was the fix?