Piston Replacement Approved Under Warranty - 2022 Q8 (EA839 3.0T)
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Piston Replacement Approved Under Warranty - 2022 Q8 (EA839 3.0T)
Wanted to share an update for anyone tracking the piston skirt issue on the EA839.
My 2022 Q8 went in for service last week, primarily to attempt an MMI update past 4430 due to the known sound resetting issue - that update was unsuccessful. While it was in, I also had them check the engine noise as a precaution. The dealer ran diagnostics and escalated to their technical assistance team for review.
Heard back yesterday that piston replacement has been approved under warranty. Parts are on order with the repair scheduled a few weeks out. At that time they will also inspect for any additional damage. No noticeable drivability issues in the meantime.
Attaching a video of the engine sound below for reference. If you're hearing something similar, I'd recommend getting it documented with your dealer sooner rather than later.
Will follow up with a full post-repair report once it's done.
https://streamable.com/wo7oaj
My 2022 Q8 went in for service last week, primarily to attempt an MMI update past 4430 due to the known sound resetting issue - that update was unsuccessful. While it was in, I also had them check the engine noise as a precaution. The dealer ran diagnostics and escalated to their technical assistance team for review.
Heard back yesterday that piston replacement has been approved under warranty. Parts are on order with the repair scheduled a few weeks out. At that time they will also inspect for any additional damage. No noticeable drivability issues in the meantime.
Attaching a video of the engine sound below for reference. If you're hearing something similar, I'd recommend getting it documented with your dealer sooner rather than later.
Will follow up with a full post-repair report once it's done.
https://streamable.com/wo7oaj
Last edited by Tobala; May 22, 2026 at 01:22 PM.
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What's the mileage on the Q8? I just took my 2020 Q8 in to have a couple of updates installed and asked to have an engine noise diagnosed. I'm at 94K miles. The initial diagnosis was inconclusive, so I OK'd having a picoscope run performed. I'm awaiting the diagnosis from the mothership in Germany but figure that it will be catastrophic regardless. I've been performing my own service since the car came out of warranty, but am hopeful that if the problem is one of the known issues with the engine for which extended warranties have been issued that I'll get some consideration from Audi. Although the car's 6 years old and with 94K miles it drives and looks like new. We were given a '26 Q8 as a loaner, and it doesn't drive nearly as well. I put that to the tires on the loaner. We have the Hancooks and the loaner has Continentals. The Continentals seem the suffer quite a bit from tire squirm, especially on grooved surfaces such as one finds on OH bridges in the US.
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The diagnosis from Audi in Germany came back as 'replace all pistons'. Talking to the service writer, the parts list also included con rods, bearings, etc. I asked about bore scoring, but he said that when that's an issue Audi recommends a long block, which was not the case here. The cost, $20K. I'm inclined to move forward with the repairs as the car is worth nothing at this point, whereas with the repairs we can probably get a couple of year's service from it and then have something at trade-in time.
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The diagnosis from Audi in Germany came back as 'replace all pistons'. Talking to the service writer, the parts list also included con rods, bearings, etc. I asked about bore scoring, but he said that when that's an issue Audi recommends a long block, which was not the case here. The cost, $20K. I'm inclined to move forward with the repairs as the car is worth nothing at this point, whereas with the repairs we can probably get a couple of year's service from it and then have something at trade-in time.
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EA839 piston skirt / piston slap issues - many vehicle models!!
Time to start a class action suit - this relates to bad pistons from a Korean supplier and as far as I can determine affects 2019-2022 vehicles with this engine - and there are a LOT of them out there. I have 3 dammit!!!! 2021 Q8, 2021 A6 Allroad and 2019 RS5 (latter with new valve lift bearings but that seems minor now!) No-one at Audi barring, a factory build sheet, knows which pistons are in the vehicles...not determinable from the VIN. The German company, Mahle, is the other supplier and of course those are made from higher heat tolerance metals so no issues. The only way to tell which pistons are in your vehicle is an oil pan removal and borescope verifictaion - Mahle uses a certain ID. This is REALLY BAD. The ES839 engine is so widely used. My suggestion is buying an extended warranty for the vehicle - from Audi itself. I have and its not cheap but worth it in my case I think.
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EA839 engine issues
No issues on my 3 vehicles with this engine....yet. We drive less than 5k miles a year on each. I bought these cars as my last long term pruchase (I am 75 😏
.
I have purchased Audi extended warranties on all of them but I am really pissed as now I will be waiting to hear knocking noises etc! I sold my 3 Mercs to swap to Audi as I had really bad experiences with my ML and SL....so much for for German engineering😡
.I have purchased Audi extended warranties on all of them but I am really pissed as now I will be waiting to hear knocking noises etc! I sold my 3 Mercs to swap to Audi as I had really bad experiences with my ML and SL....so much for for German engineering😡
Last edited by Rhodie; Jun 16, 2026 at 07:26 AM.
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