Phil Oke

I wonder if anyone can help me. I have an Audi Q7 Sline 2006 (about 77k miles). Please see below the chronology of events:

• Last week my wife had to turn back half way into her journey (about 9miles from home) because the car was struggling to move.
• I checked the and noticed to my horror that the temperature was very high. So I called the AA. They advised the car be taken to a local garage and have the car checked out (however he felt the gasket was still good).
• The garage examines the car and suggest the issue is with the thermostat and water pump.
• These parts were ordered by them and duly replaced - Got a call from the garage saying after fitting the parts, the issue still remained.
• They now think it is the gasket - I asked a couple of questions. Why was that not diagnosed at the onset and go down the rabbit hole of thermostat an water pump. Also, what are the symptoms of a blown head gasket, i.e. would a car left all night and then started from cold immediately have its temperature rise to 90 degrees. I could not get an answer which I felt was satisfactory, so agreed to pay them and take the car elsewhere.

Just to add - a week ago, had a few issues with the battery, the same garage fixed a new battery in the car for me. I did however noticed that irrespective of how short the journey was - the fan would stay on for a while once the engine was switched off - I am sure I never seen this on the car before, as I have had the car from 9yrs now.

Just wondering if someone could make some sense of what is going on?
Thanks

testarossaguy

Hello Phil....sorry to hear about your Q7 troubles. I think we need clarification on what "struggling to move" means? Was it because of very low engine power output, or was it because of a driveline issue? If the issue was low engine power due to overheating, I can see why the garage would suspect the water pump and thermostat, after an extensive diagnosis first of course.

Head Gasket issues show up in several ways, smoke out the exhaust, excessive cooling system pressure, traces of coolant in the oil / oil in the coolant, mysterious loss of oil and/or coolant with no obvious leaks.

On my 2007 Q7 it is normal for the cooling fan to continue running for a short time after shut down. Can you give us more details?

Phil Oke

Thanks for the quick response. The loss of power apparently was due to the car going into limp mode (I would have expected an alert on the dashboard to that effect), apparently the car went into limp mode... and the missus switched on the hazard to drive the 9miles home before calling the AA!

Another thing I forgot to mention was that the coolant light had been coming on and off for the past month... I topped it with coolant and the warning light went away.

oaktreelimb

Blown engine head gasket will most likely cause engine misfiring, running rough, high cooling system pressure, exhaust gas present in cooling system, smoke at tail pipe and more... When engine is overheating, you can turn on climate system full heat with maximum blower. If the engine is running fine and temperature drops, i would check radiator and cooling fans. Please ask them to actually perform engine mechanical and cooling system test or I would tow the Q7 to other shop. They first thought water pump and thermostat are faulty now they THOUGHT the head gasket. You need a real tech who can diagnose and tell you exactly what is needed to repair the problem.

flynavy

open your oil fill cap....if it looks like chocolate pudding inside, it is another indicator of head gasket issues. I hope your service is provided by someone who is fluent an AUDI as it is a peculiar language best left to professionals.
good luck

dreadlocks

blown head-gasket should be easy to diagnose w/a simple compression/leakdown test.. last time I blew a headgasket I had one Cyl that held half the pressure as all the rest.. along with coolant on the dipstick it was pretty obvious what the issue was; the diagnostic part was very easy.. yanking the top half of the engine off however was a pain in the **** and would not be something I'd ever do w/out solid evidence first.

Jay Hobbis

Asso Ahmed

Hi how did you fixed your car please as I have the same issues