scottishsteve

HI. Newbie to Audi ownership.
We bought one of the first delivered 2017 Q7's.
Loved everything about it.
Two weeks ago I heard a "metallic chirping" sound when the car changes from 1st-2nd gear under moderate acceleration going up hill. Car has 8k miles on it and with the three recent recalls decided to just do the 10k service and all the work together and let them look at the noise.
Took the service manager with me on a test drive when I booked in and he too got the car to make the noise and agreed when it was happening. For 9 months the car has never made a noise. Now it does and seems to be getting louder. Mostly you need to drive with no radio/music to hear it, but at times it is loud enough to hear from any seat in the car.
After three days of testing and calls to "Audi Technical support" they have determined that there is indeed an unusual noise, that it is the new clutch mechanism for the supercharger that they have added to this new model and that it is "perfectly normal" and all Q7's make this noise. This is a direct quote.
Now I have owned my fair share of cars and I have never heard anyone say that a distinctive metallic chirping noise is normal for a luxury car to make. ( the tech who test drove it said it was like a loud owl hooting)
SO my first question is do any of the others on this forum with the 2017 Q7 experience the same noise?
Maybe you have never noticed it. It doesn't always happen so Im not sure why its "normal" as they say. But give it a try. Drive up hill, stop and accelerated moderately to full and listen to the car changing gear from first to second. Do it a couple of times. Does it make a "hooting" noise. ? Mine didn't for 9 months.
My fear is simple. the mid 90's new Volvo XC90 was released and had all kinds of transmission issue that Volvo denied when the cars were out of warranty until a class action lawsuit in NY against them forced them to admit they had a tranny problem. Some owners just out of warranty found themselves on the wrong end of $10k repair. The new 2006 BMW 750i at the time had the same issue. For years they denied, and called its characteristics "urban shifting" then came the lawsuit and then came the admission and then came the new trannys, but again some folks were too late.
I have escalated my concern for the noise ( and the techs concern) up the chain to Audi USA customer service to start. But I am curious to hear if anyone else has heard this noise when Audi technical says it is the normal operating noise??

Any help or feedback greatly appreciated. As of now if they tell me this is normal I will be trading this car in for another make. Shame because this was our absolute favorite from all we looked at, but I don't want left with a major problem just after the warranty runs out which is what has happens in so many of these cases.

Cheers

pcaddict66

I am so glad you posted this. Mine has 9,100 miles on it and it started making the same noise about a month or two ago and has not stopped. It NEVER made the noise before (bought Feb 1, 2016) so their explanation that it is normal is baloney. I don't think it is coming from the transmission at all, though. It is an engine noise and that statement about the supercharger clutch engaging or disengaging is exactly what I think it is. It is certainly not normal.

I would not describe it as a metallic noise. It is more like a low pitched squeal or "hoot" as you said and it only lasts a second or so then goes away. But every time I step on the throttle with some authority, it reappears. I don't think it is related in the shift from gear 1 to 2; I think it just happens to appear around that same time the tranny is shifting because my foot is demanding more power so the supercharger is kicking in at that precise moment, causing the noise. No way it's the transmission in my opinion.

I will be bringing mine in for my first service in October and I will bring this issue up. I will let you know the outcome.

scottishsteve

Thanks for the reply. I called AUDI and they called back and said this is normal. Which is BS. It is indeed the supercharger clutch which is new to this model they said. It is a hitting noise usually although I have had a few occasion when it was much much louder and had a mettalic ring to it. So I plan on keeping pushing buttons. I want to know why it started happening at 8500 miles and 9 months. I also want to know that if it is normal how do they plan to sell these cars if it makes this noise on a test drive. It is not the "whir" of a super charger. I have two other cars that have noisey super chargers and this noise is distinctly different. I think the tecs think we are mad and hearing a standard super charger but I took out a service tec at Seattle Audi, emulated the noise and he said it didn't sound normal and was the first time he had heard it. So the mystery continues. I would like if more people who have this issue brought it up because I just don't believe a luxury $70k should make this noise when accelerating. Let me know what they say about yours. Cheers.

AudiVic

I have a 2016 A6 with the 3.0T engine. This is the same drivetrain as in the 2017 Q7. At about 10K miles, I noticed a chirping noise while coming back from a trip driving in D mode on the hwy going a steady 70 mph. The chip is faint and you have to drive in a very quiet environment to hear it. After noticing the chip, I tried to replicate the condition to reproduce the chirp. For me the following conditions bring out the chirp: 1. In D mode accelerating from a standstill (sometimes), going from S mode to D mode about 30 MPH foot off the accelerator and sometimes steady 70-80 in D mode. I usually drive in S mode and it does not chip in Sports mode. I have my car settings set to Dynamic mode. I also could sometimes hear what appears to be the same noise while in park revving the engine. So I have no idea where the noise is coming from. I think it could be the torque converter locking up, supercharger clutch engaging... don't know. It's starting to bug me more and more so I'll be taking to the dealer soon. I'm just waiting for it to get worst/louder so they can't give me the "No Problem Found" line.

Did they figure out what was causing the chip in your Q7s?

scottishsteve

So here is my saga so far. (Fortunately for me the tech who test drive my car heard the noise.) After me chasing and arguing with AUDI USA for two weeks on the phone (no reply ever from twitter or FB) I was told I would have to be the one to "ask" the dealership to pursue with a regional manager. So dealership blamed AUDI Tech help and AUDI USA and Audi USA blamed dealership. I eventually got the dealership and AUDI USA to agree that diagnosising my new car noise by a third party tech over the phone is and was an unacceptable practice for a flagship SUV from a luxury car manufacturer and that the regional manager should do his job and come visit the dealership and drive my car himself with their senior tech to hear the noise and then explain why it is "normal" even although BMW,Mercedes, Lexus and Jaguar don't have noise coming from their equivalent transmissions and what AUDI is training it's sales people to say on test drives. At this point I was also told that other new Q7 made the noise also so it was "normal". Initial diagnosis was supercharger clutch.
While waiting for the regional manager to visit my dealership the senior tech was at a national AUDI meeting with the regional leader and now the story has changed.

Here is all I know to date. - AUDI techs at this meeting agreed that there was an unusual noise from the transmissions. Admitted other cars have this issue. Agreed that it was probably still the supercharger clutch. Agreed that it needed fixed and agreed that they will "look" for a fix and that customers like me should not have to accept chirping noises from transmissions. But as of now, no fix. They don't want to simply replace the supercharger clutch because they don't know if that is really the fix yet.

So after two weeks of frustrating calls where if I had not bullied my way into a conversation about the quality of it luxury brand and how they plan to sell cars with noisey transmissions, I wait for word on a fix, although at least the dealership have acknowledged something needs fixed now.

I'll keep you up to date. Let me know how you get on also.

Cheers

AudiVic

Oh brother! Audi is now sounding like BMW which is why I left BMW. In any case, no car, luxury or not should have a chipping noise, period! One day I'll take my car in to have it checked out but I think I'm going to get the same line as you did. Basically, they don't know what is causing it and don't know what to do. At least you have them agreeing the chirp is there and not normal. I need the chirp to more consistent and louder but it hasn't changed since I've noticed it. I'll keep you posted.

epicQ7

Wow, I was about to post up about this issue. I think I have commented in other threads that this is my only real issue with the vehicle other than a creaky seat and sunroof.

Mine makes the groaning noise when going from 1st to 2nd and sometimes 2nd to 3rd. It also causes a jerking sensation. Like jerking hard enough that you lean forward and back. Does yours do that as well?

It pretty much does it at every stoplight unless I feather the throttle really lightly and pull away slower than a walking pace.

I am leaning more towards transmission issue due to the jerking nature of my vehicle but when I dropped it off I stated it could be the supercharger if it was clutch driven. The maintenance guys looked at me like I was crazy. Of course said they heard nothing when I picked it up and it did it 2 stop lights later!

Mine will also make the noise at speed say 45-80 if you try to change lanes sometimes. When it does its very very faint but it does it. Doesn't do the herky jerky though.

Good work on forcing the topic!!

scottishsteve

I can easily recreate the hooting/chirping sounds by moderate acceleration from standing going up a steep hill. I was worried that the tech would never hear it but I first heard it on hills and living in seattle which is all on hills I had tested it out. Maybe give that a try. A reasonably steep hill where the tranny is under some strain and accelerate well from standing. Around 20mph just as it is changing gears it "hoots/chirps". We did it three times and it did it all three times. Sometimes quite and sometimes audibly load. Tech was satisfied he knew the noise.

Let me know if you can recreate it.

My tranny is also getting "jerkier" just in normal changes as low speeds but that could just be my own paranoia now. We will see.
Cheers

scottishsteve

I am waiting for the garage tonrelaond with any update. The Techs at Audi still believe it's the supercharger clutch and told me others have reported the issue. The more we can report the more chance of a timely fix. They don't want to replace the supercharger clutch "yet" because they don't know why it's doing it and they say it will just do it again. !!! Frustrating. Love the car except for this. But I won't let it go. I don't believe a luxury brand should do this. I've been here before with my last BMW 750i and transmission issues. Nightmare in time, money and worry. Also seen it happen with Volvo and the XC90 and a Chrysler tranny they initially used that failed. Just admitting the problem is the first step. I'll post when I know more.
Let me know how yours turns out.

Cheers

Sponserv

Well, count me in. Extremely similar set of circumstances. Around 9,000 miles I had the same chirp develop. It WAS NOT there for the first 8,500 miles or so. Getting louder. I am on the road in the middle of a trip and brought the car into an Audi store in OKC for the 10,000 mile service. I needed to get the chirp figured out too.

Long story short I took the service manager for a ride. He said "yup, there's a chirp."

I too though that the chirp was torque converter, gearbox, drivetrain issue and had them check fluids, zeros, etc. They informed me that actually there are not that many zerks in the driveline.

So the service manager said he would look into it and call me back. I thought that would be the last I heard from him. lol and behold he got back to me within hours. He said no tech bullletins on the issue but he spoke to a regional Audi service rep and they think it's the supercharger clutch.

I will follow up with my local store when I get back to Florida. I guess it's an issue.