Does my 2017 Audi Q7 3.0T really need an engine replacement?
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From: Rust Belt
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This was the first interval since the soak which I recall some ppl saying will still go thru it, so hopefully from here it’ll hold oil better… At this point I just wanna get another good 2-3yrs outta the car before moving on to the next thing.
btm line tho - going from the “add a quart” alert every ~200-300 miles to ~2400 is a win in my book 🤷♂️
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From: Ontario, Canada
I am hoping I can get to 2,500 miles / 4,000km before the oil light comes on.
Moving forward, I am not sure there is much else we can do in the short term other than perhaps switching to VRP, seeing as we both have replaced our PCV valves recently. I will consider another (longer) piston soak at roughly the 1-year mark since doing the first one.
My Q7 is a 2017 with 78k miles and I went from burning 1L of oil every 900-1,000 miles to (hopefully) 2,500 miles, which I'd consider a fair improvement but certainly far from perfect. The ideal would be to reach 5,000 miles / a full OCI without having to top up.
All said and done, hopefully the consumption will somehow stabilize better through the next 1L top-up.
P.S.: I'm all ears if anyone can think of anything else other than switching to VRP to further limit oil consumption.
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Well, it’s been reported on Corollas as well. Look up the Honda piston ring lawsuit— my 2010 Accord (original owner) was burning oil too. I used to joke that the difference between Hondas and Audis is the warning system. On a Honda, you have to lose 25% of your oil before the light comes on for a split second, lol.
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From: Canada
A quick search for piston ring lawsuits:
GM Vortec 5.3L V8
Kia Soul and Seltos
GM Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain with 2.4L
Volvo
This is just scratching the surface. Rants about any one brand are pointless because this is an industry wide issue. The demand for more fuel efficient engines drove the piston ring changes. Many of the “affected engines” do not burn oil so there are other factors such as driving style, minimal maintenance, extreme climate, etc contributing to some engines eventually burning oil.
The industry solution is a Piston Soak Service. Piston Soaks is the new norm for some engines long term maintenance. Reminicent of 20 years ago when having to clean carbon deposits off the back of the intake valves for the new Direct Injection engines became an industry accepted Intake Valve Decarb Service.
GM Vortec 5.3L V8
Kia Soul and Seltos
GM Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain with 2.4L
Volvo
This is just scratching the surface. Rants about any one brand are pointless because this is an industry wide issue. The demand for more fuel efficient engines drove the piston ring changes. Many of the “affected engines” do not burn oil so there are other factors such as driving style, minimal maintenance, extreme climate, etc contributing to some engines eventually burning oil.
The industry solution is a Piston Soak Service. Piston Soaks is the new norm for some engines long term maintenance. Reminicent of 20 years ago when having to clean carbon deposits off the back of the intake valves for the new Direct Injection engines became an industry accepted Intake Valve Decarb Service.
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Thread Starter
AudiWorld Member
Joined: May 2017
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The industry solution is a Piston Soak Service. Piston Soaks is the new norm for some engines long term maintenance. Reminicent of 20 years ago when having to clean carbon deposits off the back of the intake valves for the new Direct Injection engines became an industry accepted Intake Valve Decarb Service.
The independent German auto place that fixed me up only charges like 200 bucks for a B12 soak and from the time they first looked at my car and a piston soak was mentioned (Jan) to the time I got a soak (I think around April or May maybe?), they had gone from “ehh we’re cautiously optimistic but not sure how much it helps” to “this is what we are gonna officially recommend to virtually every higher mileage customer we get at this point.”
All that to say it seems like this is getting figured out slowly but surely and it doesn’t shock me that the ones in the business of selling cars are gonna be the last/slowest to actually include this as part of the maintenance manuals.
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From: Bend, Or
To keep it short, on the road home from visiting family for the holidays, our 2017 Audi Q7 3.0T started driving very rough and drive system malfunction alert occurred. No smells, smoke, or alarming sounds coming from the car, just running really rough/wobbly feeling and got that way even while idling on the side of the road. Pulled over immediately (car load of kids, xmas presents, luggage and all) and my OBD11 scan showed cylinder misfires and a hide cylinder static fault codes (it also tripped an intermittent PCV regulator valve code as well fwiw). Since we were 400 miles from home, we sent it to a nearby mechanic who looks at Audis, and he said that spark plugs definitely needed to be replaced (we were at 128k miles and spark plugs were new as of ~60k miles - we now realize we pushed this way too long, so I'll take the blame on that one, even though I feel like our mechanic could have informed us of spark plug intervals on our car as least once in the past year or 2). They also ran a dry compression and leak down test and said that cylinder #5 needs its exhaust valve fixed/replaced (it was the only cylinder that failed the test). No comment on coils or any other leaky gaskets so I assume those were ok.
Unfortunately, he then went on to say that he basically doesn't have the manpower to tackle this, suggesting "it's a gamble" to fix and you'd have to practically rebuild the engine to make sure everything is 100% fine (I can only assume he means tearing down the engine to inspect the piston rings at that point). While it is technically accurate to basically say "a new engine will fix it," it seems excessive based on the info that has been established. I'm not suggesting he was being dishonest at all, it just seemed a little hasty... almost like a doctor jumping straight to saying a patient with one bad valve needs a full blown heart transplant vs addressing the bad valve that seems to have been pretty clearly identified.
Bottom line is we are having the car shipped back to our hometown mechanic to get his opinion, and meanwhile I'm trying to square what option is the most cost effective on a 7yr old car between:
I'm just finding it hard to believe that the engine went from fine to 100% toast but my knowledge base with cars is more on the interior/electrical side vs under the hood. We are fortunate to have family able to lend us a car but I'm just trying to figure out ballpark costs for each of those options would look like - and what anyone else who maybe has experienced this would ultimately recommend?
Fun sidenote - I did manage to get in touch with our local Audi dealer and just over the phone the tech said "Yea I mean you just assume replace the engine entirely... that's about 30k." On a 7yr old car prob worth ~15k, I almost just laughed and hung up.
Anyways, any help appreciated in here... Starting the new year with a bang!
Unfortunately, he then went on to say that he basically doesn't have the manpower to tackle this, suggesting "it's a gamble" to fix and you'd have to practically rebuild the engine to make sure everything is 100% fine (I can only assume he means tearing down the engine to inspect the piston rings at that point). While it is technically accurate to basically say "a new engine will fix it," it seems excessive based on the info that has been established. I'm not suggesting he was being dishonest at all, it just seemed a little hasty... almost like a doctor jumping straight to saying a patient with one bad valve needs a full blown heart transplant vs addressing the bad valve that seems to have been pretty clearly identified.
Bottom line is we are having the car shipped back to our hometown mechanic to get his opinion, and meanwhile I'm trying to square what option is the most cost effective on a 7yr old car between:
- replace/fix a bad/burnt exhaust valve on the one bad cylinder (and obviously replace all spark plugs)
- tear down the engine all the way to the piston to inspect for issues there (in addition to replacing/fixing the exhaust valve and new spark plugs)
- replace the entire engine (a used one for sure)
I'm just finding it hard to believe that the engine went from fine to 100% toast but my knowledge base with cars is more on the interior/electrical side vs under the hood. We are fortunate to have family able to lend us a car but I'm just trying to figure out ballpark costs for each of those options would look like - and what anyone else who maybe has experienced this would ultimately recommend?
Fun sidenote - I did manage to get in touch with our local Audi dealer and just over the phone the tech said "Yea I mean you just assume replace the engine entirely... that's about 30k." On a 7yr old car prob worth ~15k, I almost just laughed and hung up.
Anyways, any help appreciated in here... Starting the new year with a bang!