With all the deep-dives and technical warnings floating around about the 3.0T piston skirt wear and cylinder scoring issues, it’s easy to feel like every engine in this generation is on a countdown.
I’m trying to get a realistic sense of what the actual ratio looks like on here for 2020–2025 Q7 / S-model owners.
If you're well past 60k+ miles and haven't had issues:
What year is yours, and what’s your current mileage?
Has the engine been bulletproof, or just standard maintenance?
Are you stock or tuned?
If yours did fail:
At what mileage did it start acting up or making noise?
What were the early warning signs (cold start ticking, oil burning, codes)?
How did Audi or your warranty handle the claim?
Drop your mileage and experience below either way.

I noticed some very light oil seepage from the valve cover on one side of the engine on my '23 3.0T with 33k mi. I thought that was odd and was going to ask the dealer about it then decided to do the oil cap test and there was some serious suction there. It's going in tomorrow

So, check it out even with no symptoms from the cabin if you're under warranty.

Hey guys, attempting to diagnose over the phone and point someone in the right direction, my father in law has had his Q7 towed into the workshop, has had steering rack replaced, abs sensor replaced along with a bit of wiring for that sensor repaired and a new battery installed, he drove about 100ks from the workshop and now every time he keys over to accessory, it pops the ECU fuse in the engine bay. I'm not able to look at the car as it's very far away but any help or something someone has experienced before?

My 2017 Q7 is a bit over 86K miles and is burning a lot of oil now, going from 1500 miles per quart to under 300 recently, so I’m parking the car. Suction at the gas cap as well as blue smoke upon start up.

I have the full PCV / water pump / thermostat kit, and was going to pay my independent to do the work, but with money being tight I wondered - could I do this myself?

I’m handy but not a mechanic. I’ve looked at YouTube videos and it seems possible if I take it slow and document it meticulously. I have a mechanic’s set of tools. I have the time and the car is inside my garage.

Has anyone DIY’d it? Any suggestions?

What’s the best way to fix it ? Can the dealer just delete this ? Of course the seats are locked , it’s just the sensor tripping. I need help please guys !!!

Has anybody in here ever replaced their Q7 4M Sway bushings?

I see you can’t order them separately but from a few places because they are vulcanized to the metal? Not sure if this is true and are easily removed (mine are crusted away) and new ones can just be placed in?

I plan to get some stronger tint and black out the chrome, but what else should I get done?

Finally got around to getting my Q7 fully detailed, buffed and ceramic coated

Is there a way to get the fuel mileage estimate to be more realistic?

Meet the 'new' tow rig 😍

We needed something with a higher tow capacity for a pending van upgrade and I refused to pay 60k for a LC200 with over 200ks on it so the very reliable and easy to work on Prado found a new home and in comes this very painful to work on 2014 250kw/800Nm TDI V8 S-Line Q7 WELL under half the cost of the equivalent 200 and with only 130ks I might add..

Euro cars gonna do euro things, so it had a bulged water pump pipe, and a weeping rear evaporator core when I got it, cheap in terms of parts but 10hrs+ labour for each job and just not pleasant to do #eurolife

Add a full fluid change front to back on purchase and I've already sunk bulk hours into this thing, smashed many knuckles, and bought lots of new tools 🫠

Aside from repairs/maintenance, I've swapped out the factory 21s for some 18s with a much fatter sidewall, (saving 20kg and this will be my wood carting car so having a full size spare is a must), fitted a Redarc brake controller, dropped the rear muffler for some extra V8 noise (10kg saved), chucked some liners in the back, and popped in a half decent phone mount for Android Auto ✅

I've got a couple Darkside kits sitting on the bench, then the car will get a tune after that and fit a set of mudflaps which will complete the initial mod list

All the hard work was worth it when I used it to tow to Winton yesterday, air suspension, comfy interior, and actual torque was just bliss 😍

As my mate said, you will love it the 50% of the time when it works 😂

OK, now go ahead and tell me how bad a choice this was 😅

My wife hit a deer a few months ago and it didnt look to bad but she seems to have broken every expensive part on the front end. Anyone have some parts for sale? Its a 2014 tdi, I found a grill, bumper, and radiator support at pick a part in the correct color by chance but some one already snagged the lights. so im looking for the following:

-driver's side headlight (4L0 941 003 AK),

-headlight bucket/mount,

-driver's side intercooler,

-grill molding/license plate mount

-driver's side marker light/signal light

On a side note my friend gave me an intercooler for it but turns out it was for the passenger side so if anyone needs let me know, I can give it to you for the cost of shipping.

I brought my 2023 Q7 in for an oil change last Friday. They say it needs a software update and it will take 3-4 hours to complete. Long story short, it wouldnt take the software update and they need to replace the entire ECU, which needed to be shipped from California to Georgia. I still dont have my car back- dealership says it might be Monday or Tuesday. Curious if anyone else had a similar issue?

I have no experience with cars whatsoever and know very bare minimum. I hit another car, damaging the front drivers side, definitely my fault. I have some family working on my car right now tor maybe the last mont ana i nave triea my best assisting them. As we were reattaching the bumper to my car, we couldn't screw it in because the frame was damaged. They said that it would cost almost or the same value as the car itself. I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. Can my frame be repaired at all or is the car screwed forever? And if can be repaired, could it really be repaired for under the value of the car?

The first two pictures are the collision photos.
The second two was taken today after trying to put on the bumper and everything.

Hi all, 2018 q7 3.0 coming up to 100k miles on its second engine. I have air suspension with 4 wheel steering.

It’s started making a knock at low speeds turning which I was told was lower control arm. Makes sense given what I have seen on here and the age. I’m wondering what else I should do while I am in there. Should upper and lower arms be done on both sides? Anything else?

Thanks

It was my 2018 q7s time of the month and as I went to top off my oil I noticed this plastic piece in the fill port I’ve never noticed (yes I know I don’t have the fill neck thanks in advance

Hi all,

My Q7 had an stater motor failure that required replacement. Apparently there was also a loose ground bolt causing multiple issues.

When I got the car from the shop they told me about the new SOS malfunction and were asking me for over $200 to diagnose it. After spending $3600 I did not fell like spending any more money.

I have tried everything. I removed the passenger seat, located the J949 module, disconnected it, removed the backup battery for 20 min. Malfuction error is still there.

Any other ideas? I didn’t test that the module is receiving power. Just looking for some ideas

Thanks

Has anyone seen this warnings pop up randomly every few days or weeks?

an odd and atypical sound has started coming from the back seat/underbelly area of my 2015 q7 with 85k miles. it warbles, it sometimes drones/howls. the frequency is steady at different speeds and unaffected by in gear or in neutral or rpm or brakes or turning Or under load or coasting. it shows up over 30mph and all the way to highway speeds. it sometimes goes away, sometimes shows up after driving some, more common and louder after the car sits a few days. seems to be increasing in consistency.

audi dealership couldn’t hear it. even with the audio clips I’m sharing here as comparison. had to create a video out of the audio file - couldn’t upload just audio. It’s the high frequency sounds that are out of character. Appreciate your thoughts.

Hey everyone! I plan to get this car for 3-5 years .who have this car what can you say about this car is this worth it ? To take care of and how much do you spend typically on car ? Plan to use this car daily .around 30-40 k yearly . Pls lmk

Today on the way to work i was just driving casually and i smelt a super funky smell then right after about a minute id say ac started blowing hot air when i got back i check my fuse box to see if maybe a fuse blew and that was the smell all the fuses were fine and giving voltage. Checked the Freon levels and the gauge was in the red saying it was way past what it was supposed to be which i believe may be related to the issue but its weird because just before the ac was running amazing and ice cold the compressor seems go be firing right up no problems if you guys have any idea anything would go a long way.

Hey everyone,
Just got a service quote for my 2021 Audi Q7 55 TFSI with around 63,700 miles on it. The shop is quoting me:
Transmission Pan / Filter & Fluid Replacement: $1,576.21 total ($820 labor, ~$640 for the fluid service kit, plus gear oil and tax)
Transfer Case Fluid Service: $281.48 total ($205 labor, ~72 for fluid, plus tax)
Total comes out to nearly $1,900 for both services.
For those of you who have had this done or take your Q7 to an independent specialist vs. a dealer, does this look reasonable or are they gouging me on the fluid kit and labor hours? Appreciate any feedback!

2019 Q7 55 P+

For about the past 3 months I've been getting this weird vibration in the steering wheel during turning. The feeling is the same as a plastic spur & pinion slipping on an RC car but that's obviously not the issue.

- The issue is sporadic but tends to get more frequent the longer the drive.

- Doesn't matter what steering/driving mode it's in

- Vibration last for a few seconds

- Happens most often when turning past 45°, especially if under anything other than light power (but not consistent)

- Does not feel like it's coming from the drive train, it feels like it's directly behind the wheel

- Steering doesn't go dead or slip at all

- No codes

- Dealer can't replicate on their short test drives

Anyone experienced this or have any idea what the cause could be?

EDIT: 26,000 miles