Bigdave1230

Passenger side wheel off and remove the inner wheel arch liner. You can do tests on it in vcds if it’s misbehaving. Common problem is them locking on older cars and the fan randomly operating on them overnight and flattens the battery overnight. You can remove the fuse for it in the car if it’s causing a problem.

Did it work one day and then not the next or was it doing the run for 5 mins then cut out 5 times with the flashing glow plug light of death?

When you say oil spitting out of the tappet covers do you mean both side of the engine? Did it run and drive ok or was it struggling to idle or seem low on power? Will the car turn over and not start or will it not turn over now? Have you checked the both the coolant level and the oil level? Is there any strange smells coming from the engine bay ie fuel or coolant? How many miles has it done?

Power flex sell the bushes separately but if your replacing either the arm or the bush and doing it yourself it’s worth getting a replacement bolt that goes through the rear bush as the bush sleeve and bolt corrode together resulting in the bolt not sliding out and needing heating or cutting out. The bolt has an elongated washer on it that adjusts for wheel alignment so needs marking up with tipex or similar otherwise it won’t drive properly after refitting.

Does it go up when you start the car or just stay on the ground? Check the level sensor hasn’t popped out of the upper control arm. It just a piece of plastic that clips in

👍🏻 Glad you got it sorted! Mine ended up costing about £1200 in bits to fix in the end 😬

I sent my ecu to a company called ecutesting.com. They had good reviews and was about £220 to repair including postage. They confirmed it was faulty and do an exchange included but unfortunately they didn’t have one like mine in stock so refunded my money and sent it back. So it ended up being a free diagnosis. I then got a secondhand one and got it cloned. The ecu is a bit of a pain to take off as you have to grind the cradle it’s in as the bolts have no heads to unbolt off.

There’s a post about it from about may last year if you look back through the posts

Same thing happened to my 2007 q7. Glow plug light started flashing but drove fine all the way home. Started it the day after and all was fine for around 500 yards then started flashing again then cut out. Would start straight up but drive 500 yard and cut out again. Then 200 yards then cut out until eventually it wouldn’t start it just turned over and over and not even try to start. No EML but had a code on vcds for an injector short to ground or something similar. Cleared the code but still wouldn’t start. Changed all 6 injectors ,high pressure fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator but still would just turn over and over. Turned out to be the ecu that had been spiked by a faulty injector. Bought a 2nd hand unit from eBay and got a mate of a mate to clone it to be the same as mine. Started first time after that.

My mate had his Q8 in at Audi about 4 weeks ago after it breaking down by refusing to go in gear. It’s done 12k and Audi told him the 48v battery was knackerd but saying it wasn’t covered by warranty and would cost £1800 to replace. He rang Milton Keynes Audi where he bought it from who said it should be covered and to get it sent to one of their branches. They sorted it for him and did a software update on the alternator. Apparently the alternators are overcharging the batteries and killing them making them not hold charge. They called it a smart alternator and should put more charge in as the battery gets older.

Is it coming up with any codes now? Is the car sat correctly or is the front or rear higher than usual? I had a similar issue that turned out to be a rear strut valve making the rear of the car stuck in lift mode. I’ve also had it where one of the front level control sensors had fallen out of the upper control arm making the car think it was lower than the lower limit.

There was a recall on some Q7’s due to a possibility of oil entering the brake servo through the vacuum line and damaging the servo. Might be worth ringing Audi and asking if your car was effected and if so had the work carried out. Affected cars between were 2012-2014

Oddly enough mine did it about a year ago. Pulled the fuse on the passenger side of the dashboard for the auxiliary heater and the fan noise stopped and the battery stopped draining. Mine would do it periodically and I only found it because one morning when I came out to it I could hear the fan noise coming from the passenger wheel arch. The auxiliary heaters on these are rubbish even starting the car on a cold morning with a low fuel level will cause them to lock out and you need vcds to unlock it! 😩 From memory the fuse is the only 20amp fuse on the top bank of the fuses

Sounds like a leak. If it was a level sensor it would probably stay down all the time even when running. If the bag isn’t leaking check around the top of the strut where it meets the top wishbone cradle too when your spraying as there is a rubber seal where they meet that can leak. It’s only £8 or something from Audi but you need to remove the strut to fit it. Failing that check the pipes on the compressor.

👍🏻 🙂

I used a company called ecutesting.com sent mine up to the with a description of what the car was doing and paid £255 for them to rebuild it. Unfortunately they did confirm my ecu was at fault but it was beyond repair and they didn’t have a refurbed replacement in at that point. So they refunded all the money and sent my faulty ecu back. I ended up buying a 2nd hand unit off eBay and through a mate of a mate getting it cloned to mine. I’d definitely recommend giving them a try. They were really helpful and have good reviews

Not all of them have it. It was an option from the factory I believe. Think it needed to have the extended telephone option . Mine is a 2008 with Bluetooth phone connectivity but no telephone in the armrest so no 30pin plug.

I think that’s what I’d put my money on too

When you say “mm I’d been fixed” what do you mean? Has a garage replaced something? If so all the components are coded to the car so if the coding is incorrect the car won’t recognise the modules and not function. It’s supposed to be so that stolen parts can’t used. For example if you replace the mmi screen in the dash for a 2nd hand one then it will lock the control head and stop the voice control and telephone working. Unfortunately if that is the case then as far as I’m aware only Audi can recode it as it has to plug into their computer and talk back to Germany.

A mate had something like that a few years ago on his. It got water in the boot from a fault on his sunroof and blew an amp or something 🤔 it might of been the sat nav. I can’t really remember but everything is daisy chained using optics and that’s why so many things went off on his. He’s moved to Australia now so can’t ask him really but I’m fairly sure that’s what Audi told him as they fixed it under warranty. They didn’t have it long either so I don’t think it was a big job. I’d check for water first then all the fuses. There’s some on the ends of the dashboard and also one in the rear luggage compartment. Ideally you could do with sticking it on vcds to try and narrow it down but without access to it I’d try the fuses etc before finding a garage.

Does it turn over and not start or not even turn over?

Does the rear screen washer work correctly? The pipe runs through the motor and leaks through the tail gate into the boot area if it’s not spaying onto the screen

Does it have a panaramic sunroof?

First thing I’d do is change the gearbox oil and filter. scan it using vcds too but a blocked filter might throw codes up for other components that aren’t working correctly due to poor circulation. It’s about £300-£400 but if I’m honest I’d be harassing the dealer to arrange sorting it or refunding. What millage has it done? How much service history does it have and is it specialists or Audi?

Does it display the N symbol on the dash when it does this or does it still display the correct gear and revs up without drive? If you move the gear stick over into tiptronic and use the paddles does it still do this? And the noise you mentioned is it a thud or grinding or metallic?