Moonlightblue

Sorry if this has already been covered, but:
For the wife I picked up a 14' Q5 2.0T P+ in 11/15 with 29k miles on it (not a CPO). We're up to about 44k miles on it and no problems so far. The original warranty is about to expire at the end of this August. Can anyone tell me what to expect with regards to maintenance besides the usual wear/tear items? Should I be looking into an extended third party warranty? Generally I believe such warranties aren't worth it, but it really depends on what usually goes on these cars before 100k miles.. Thanks!

shokhead

What's the manual say at 100k?

Moonlightblue

oh, sorry if I wasn't clear, I wasn't talking regularly expected maintenance, or regular wear/tear items, but like unexpected part failures. My 03' BMW E46 had a number of parts that later needed to be discontinued and replaced with corrected versions as they were originally poorly designed. These included the water pump, and portions of the power steering system. I also had to replace the control arms every 2 years as they couldn't hold up against the salt they cover our New England roads with in the wintertime (despite fact the car was always garaged). I was just wondering if there were similar parts on the Q5 that have been known to fail or wear too fast/easily?

Mythdoc

Removal of carbon deposits somewhere between 50-75K miles is the most common one with that year and engine, I believe. Runs about $1K

shokhead

I'll keep that 1k in my pocket and keep the use of good gas and a treatment of Techron a couple of times a year. Seems to have worked.

Bob Petruska

With direct injection engines there is no washing down of the intake valves with the fuel mixture to remove carbon deposits, Techron will do little to help remove carbon from intake valves. High speed blasts down the road will do little also.

Redd

IIRC the use of Techron here is more like the use of TopTier gasolines. Supposedly fewer contaminents and more detergents (i.e. the Techron mix) to prevent the deposits from forming in the first place.

I figure I can find Top Tier fuels for often the same price or two cents more than others, so I buy into the "no really, it will make less deposits" pitch.

IIRC the '13 and later Q5's were given above average mechanical reliability ratings. Maintenance would be what, brakes and rotors, tires, changing all the differential fluids, an alignment, checking the recall status for the heater and secondary water pump control....but so far no horror campaigns for these cars, yes?

raj99

Here's the maintenance schedule for your vehicle...as for wear/tear, remember that most after-market warranties won't cover any wear/tear issues.

Bob Petruska

The majority of Audi carbon build up is from the PCV valve allowing oil fumes to coat the intake valve and bake to carbon. You need fuel to wash it away and it isn't there to do so.

Audi/VW and BMW have the worst engines for carbon build up.

GM has the least. Why? They have a patent on a novel valve timing scheme. When the piston reaches just before top dead center on the exhaust cycle, the intake valve opens and a small amount of fuel is injected, this small amount of fuel is pushed backwards past the intake valve as the piston goes through top dead center. The piston then reverses on the intake cycle sucking this small amount of fuel past the intake valve clean off any deposits and carbon, additional fuel is then direct injected, fires, and the process is repeated. Great system. My relative owns an engine rebuilding business and says the GM intake valves on high mileage direct injection engines are super clean and so are engines that have a combination of both direct injection and port injection.

Redd

Very interesting. I would have thought valve timing was valve timing...no matter how you set it, that was old news and not a patentable novelty. I guess not. (Although, the patent office DID issue a patent for the wheelbarrow, later rescinded.(G)