I had, what some describe as, a "lazy starter". Symptoms? Highly inconsistent. Include: failed to start - regularly. Start sequence stopped after about 4 turns. Turning the key again resulted in the same failed start. Over and over until battery died. Putting jump starter cables to another car GENERALLY enabled the starter to start the engine on my beast. Why? Not really sure. Maybe higher V courtesy of donor car power = higher turnover.. But getting a jump-start for a Q7 from another car ever second / third / fourth start is not ideal. A pain in the @$$ if you ask me!!
The refusal to start was highly inconsistent. First manifested itself after a 2 hr drive when the car had been stopped for only 10 mins. Diagnosis: starter failed. Apparently a relatively common problem in the Q7 - the ECU only turns on fuel when starter has the motor turning at requisite RPM. Insufficient RPM, no fuel = no start.
Anyway, real pain in the @$$ to change too but a local mechanic sorted it out for me. Audi would have made the repair worthless...
Well, it starts much quicker now with the new starter. But I should probably have replaced the alternator (as it comes out before the starter does). Time will tell if this is a fix for my beast. Now, just got to figure out if there's a way for to stop it belching out as much black smoke when I put the foot to the floor...
