Corimal

Hi all
hoping you can help me conclude my wild goose chase!
I have a MY08 Q7 3.6TDI and found the bolt, washer and spacer (see images below) in my driveway.
I haven't driven the Q7 since the discovery and am concerned it may have come from the suspension or steering. Hopefully not from my car at all!
Any ideas what they are and if they may have come from the Q7? I have looked at various parts diagrams with no luck.

Thanks in advance.







Bolt is approx 15mm normal hex head, spacer diameter is approx 28-30mm and approx 10mm thick

Gavin0478

Check your Brake calipers as that looks like a caliper bolt.

Corimal

Thanks Gavin
had a look and all seem to be in place. Does look similar to the caliber bolts.
No strange noises and brakes still working!

D3Audi

Do you have any other vehicles? Strange.

lentiman

I'd check out your control arms and suspension components. That bolt seems too narrow to be a caliper bolt to me and they don't commonly use spacers anyway.

DUTCH VanAtlanta

Muffler or exhaust hanger?

M3 Ninja

It's way too small for a suspension/steering component, unless the scale of your photo is way off. I wouldn't worry about it.

Corimal

Thanks all,
checked out both cars, nothing appears to be missing and no major new noises! Hopefully false alarm.
Appreciate the thoughts and suggestions.

Edd W

It looks like alternator, starter or compressor mounting bolt to me, they often do have spacers because of access issues during assembly and servicing. It could also be from one of the tensioners on the serpentine belt which drives the alternator and compressor.

egoh

If I were you, I'd look around a bit more for the broken bolt. I had a similar thing happen to my '09 Q5 3.2. It's never seen salt, always garaged, and only has 42k miles. I found this on the garage floor.



Came from the transmission cross brace.



Here is the extracted bolt:



Seems to be a design flaw as my AC condensate rusts out these bolts. I replaced all 4: 1 was broken, 1 was almost rusted through, 1 was slightly rusted, and one was in good condition. Certainly, a bit disconcerting.