bhiggins80@gmail.com

Hi All, it looks like my 2011 P+ has the oil consumption issue that is common in some of the 2011's. I've replaced the PCV value, but it hasn't changed the rate at which I burn oil.

I love the car, but am hesitant to drop another $15K to get into a 2015 as it is essentially the same car. What in your opinion are the short & long term consequences of leaving things as is ? Will the car happily burn oil until a ripe old age or should I expect some sort of catastrophic failure in the future ?

Thanks for your help,

Brian

uberwgn

What were the results of the oil consumption measuring process at the dealer?

rdA4WtQ5

My 2011 has an extended warranty for oil consumption to 120K I think. So should yours.
I am at 58K and currently burn about a quart in 10K miles.

tosten

Aren't the 2011's covered under the class action lawsuit?

Bob Petruska

You should be covered under the 2011 Class Action.

But to answer your question a lot of the Q5's that burned oil had bad rings, and also scored cylinder walls. Eventually the scoring is going to reduced your compression to where the Q5 just won't function well at all. You will then either have a new (or used, bored) block installed (big$$$) probably costs more than your 2011 is worth, or install a used engine.

Q-Branch

I just went through this process with my Q5 about a month ago. Was initially going to leave it as is since I'm planning on trading for an allroad in the next year or so, but my Q5 forced my hand on the issue since I was having to add oil every ~300 miles and the mileage I got out of each quart was steadily dropping. Oil consumption measurements taken after the stage one fix (PCV & software update) indicated I was burning 2.6 quarts/1k miles, and my dealer got approval for the fix. I was right on the mileage bubble at 78k - 79k miles during the testing phase and was urged by my service advisor not to go over 80k miles in the 5 week time between when I booked the appointment and when they would have my car for the piston replacement (holiday travel caused scheduling issues). Apparently the official Audi cutoff for this is 80k miles. It was more a precautionary thing, my dealer said they would still honor the approval for the warranty replacement, but Audi might give some hassle for my car being just over 80k miles at replacement time. Managed to roll into the service department on January 3rd for my appointment 10 miles shy of 80k, so this never was an issue.

I have to admit, I was worried about having the pistons replaced, but so far everything has been smooth sailing and my Q5 is running fine; no more plumes of smoke behind me when I step on the gas pedal, no more trips to the AutoZone where I was almost on a first-name basis to buy more oil. Really glad I got it done and no longer have to worry about it.

bhiggins80@gmail.com

Thanks for the insight Q-Branch. I'm in a similar situation except that I'm owner #2. Audi won't pay for the repair unless you have 90% of the service records.....So unless I'm trying to track those down and without them I'm S.O.L.

Brian

Q-Branch

I'm the second owner of my car, and I was never asked about my service record, and I'm also relatively new to my current dealer (I relocated about 6 months ago for a job, so different dealer). My car is a CPO, so if your's isn't that might explain our differing experiences. The only time me being the second owner ever came up was during the stage 1 fix setup they found that the breather valve had already been replaced with the updated version, but nothing else had been done. Dug out a service invoice from my previous dealer, and found that it was replaced under warranty when they were fixing an oil leak on the back of the engine, so that cleared it up. My service advisor was great about it though, he said I would've been fine even without the old invoice.

motoguy128

Should have an extended warranty for this issue.

My 2011 had around 100k miles when the Audi dealer replaced the rings under warranty. I went ahead and had the timing chain, serpentine belts and tensioner replaced too.

WARNING: REPLACE THE TIMING CHAIN COVER!!! they will try to reuse it because Audi won't replace it, but it's thin stamped steel and will likely bend and leak almost as much oil as the car was burning before!!! The dealer "split" the costs and only charged my $400 to pull the front clip off and replace it. I should have threatened to get a lawyer. Great way to lose a customer for life at a dealership.

Also, if you at high miles, you might replace the engine mounts and water pump too. Should be minimal labor at that point, mostly parts.

Finally, when if an annoying "clunk" shows up when braking and accelerating, have them tighten the lower subframe brace. I think it's located just behind the front axle. Mine was only slightly loose.

New engine mounts, mostly rebuilt engine, and it's like a new car. Honestly, the car is in great shape and you can barely tell it from a new one. Also had a wheel bearing go bad recently. Par for the course it seems.


Now just hope the turbo, tranny, and AC compressor make it another 4-5 years and 50k miles and I'll be satisfied.

motoguy128

FWIM - a lot of independent shops now report to Carfax too and do most dealers, so the service history is typically available.