Zigaroo

Has anyone check there exhaust?

HZ60

Yes I have. When I first got the car (2011 3.2 P+) I noticed what I thought was an abnormal amount of carbon in the tailpipes. I read about the carbon build up issue with these engines and figured that's what was causing it. I do my own detailing so this was something that I noticed and cleaned up weekly, weather permitting. At about 15k miles, I noticed a substantial decrease in the amount of carbon being deposited in the pipes. It has about 21k mi on it now and there is not much carbon in the pipes anymore. I'm assuming that the source producing the residue (incomplete combustion, egr, crankcase ventilation issue or whatever it is) has not changed so I can only guess that the reason I'm not seeing as much residue in the pipes is that it is not making it out that far. I think the engine and or catalytic converter may be plugging up? This carbon build up issue was my major reason for trading the 3.2 in on a 2013 3.0T which will be here in December. The new engine is not supposed to have this problem from what I have been reading. If this one makes it til then without throwing a code, it's the dealer's problem.

NABS4

Engines with Direct Injection have more soot/carbon build-up in the tailpipes as compared to cars with the port injection type. That seems to be the nature of the beast.

Zigaroo

..... But does the 2.0 have as much dust/soot in its tail pipe? Can someone confirm what they seeon their 2.0.

I'm wondering if the 3.2 is meeting proper emission control as it may have more dust/soot than 2.0.

tomaszp72

Mine pipes are pretty clean at 8k miles.

Willo

yes mine were too way back then!! It was just when I passed the 125K mark that the light came on. Of course, Audi could say I was out of warranty ... they also say its "normal wear and tear"...

Zigaroo

I have roughly the same milleage with lots of dust, so this really confirm that 2.0 barely has any build up. That can be easily proven in court that 3.2 has a emission control issue by escaping lots of carbon and poor Audi design when Audi say its normal wear.

ELEVENS

I think you people are barking up the wrong tailpipe. This is the first I've heard of a correlation between dirty tailpipes and carbon buildup on the backsides of the valves or in the SAI ports.

amkmeco90

I think that we all are barking up for no reason. Audi doesn't pay attention to all of that. There's no more 3.2 Q5 so we are history now

awryexperiment

If only my mother-in-law was in my 3.2 Q5 when it disappeared.....