regulus

Hey All!

I was thinking of purchasing a 2015 Q5 2.0t with around 81,000 miles on it for 15k. However, after doing some digging, I realized that the 2.0t engine
used in the Q5 isn't the best, and suffers from issues like oil consumption and timing chains. My question is:

- How common are these issues across all 2015 Q5s?
- Would this car last me 4 years with regular maintenance, or is the salesman stretching the truth?

For context, the car listing is here: https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...ATURED/DEFAULT

A6Gary

It all depends on how the previous owner maintained that car, e.g. frequency of oil/filter changes, type of oil used, etc. If the oil was change in at least half of what Audi recommends, that engine probably will not suffer the oil consumption issue. For reference, our 2014 Q5 2.0 TSFI engine with 87+K miles doesn't have this oil bring issue yet.

SMac770

low 80s is when my oil consumption started; there's no heads up or warning before the nose dive begins. Seems some have been addressing the situation with piston soak process. So there might be options beyond just the piston replacement. There's no way to know if you'll develop the issue; all you can do is go with 5k change intervals rather than Audi's 10k. 4 years, but how many miles per year? MY12 should already have the new tensioner. But if you want an estimate on the chain, you have to get the engine up to temp by driving it around and then read the camshaft intake bank 1 adaptation value while idling. See where it's at. -5° is when you need to start getting a timing job together.

But yeah, oil consumption. It's possible. So if it happens on this vehicle you just bought, what's your game plan? Don't have one? Don't want to afford it? Then probably should pass on.

stash64

When did the improved piston/piston ring design come in... starting with 2016 models?

silver_tt

Likely after 2016. I have yet to see a teardown thread of any model year like 2016, 2017 or later that had flex vent style "waffle" rings from the factory confirming physically that the switch was made.

regulus

According to the carfax, it has been serviced 19 times across 81k miles, so basically 4-5k miles between each service (which is within the range audi recommends)

regulus

how do I read the "camshaft intake bank 1 adaption?". As for the oil issue, my current car has a similar problem, and its a annoyance to deal with, so I would prefer the next car I buy doesn't have the problem

silver_tt

Using a tool like VCDS you can easily read the camshaft intake bank 1 while the engine is hot to see how much the timing chain is stretched. You need not worry about this issue because you can check it and know exactly what the state is.

The oil consumption issue is way more of a wild card. What is your current vehicle? If all you need out of the car is 4 years I think you can get that, the question is just how much oil will it be using then. If the answer is it will be using a lot at that point it diminishes the value of the vehicle....