Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

[I CU2]

Hi Lucas, I see that the intercooler upgrade is pretty popular amongst BiTDI owners but I was just wondering what the benefits of the larger intercooler is? Do you notice any difference in driving?

[Daniel_M]

Intercooler looks great. Looking forward to hearing about differences also!

[Lucas_R]

Another 6 monthly oil change on the SQ5 this past weekend @ 98,000km. Used my oil extractor to suck out the old oil which is super handy and speeds things up as the underbelly pan on this car has about 40 bolts holding it on - you just need to make sure the oil is hot before you try to use the oil extractor. This engine holds approx 6.4L and my oil extractor is 6.5L and it was absolutely chock-a-block full. I did however notice that one of my injector seals is starting to leak so ill order a full injector seal kit and replace all 6 over the next month or two. Later this year the car is going to get a transmission service for the ZF8 speed as well as the diff oils changed etc.

I also recently replaced my catch can as my trusty Flashlube Catch Can Pro has been leaking for the past 12 months or so and I was sick of cleaning it every few weeks. After some research and the fact that I do not have much room in the engine bay, I decided to replace it with the Process West SEPR8R catch can which is made from aluminium and should be more durable than the plastic catch cans. Apparently the filter media in the Flashlube/Mann catch cans are better quality, but the mesh filter in the Process West unit it very fine and looks to be of good quality, and its also washable and reusable so that will save on having to buy a $80-100 filter every few years.

Also fitted my new AFE air filter.

[guile]

nice work mate, looks like you've done a good job as always...

[genebaby]

Yes, nice work. I got that catch can kit for our Triton since day one. Chose it over the rest.

[Lucas_R]

nice work mate, looks like you've done a good job as always...

Thanks.

Yes, nice work. I got that catch can kit for our Triton since day one. Chose it over the rest.

Yes the Process West catch can certainly looks like a nice quality unit. I always wondered how long the plastic Provent/Flashlube catch can would last, not only being plastic but also being under rated for the engine power (the next size up would not fit in my cramped engine bay unfortunately).

[Lucas_R]

So the SQ5 finally rolled over 100,000km at the start of July. It will be getting a 'birthday' service in the next few months in the way of a gearbox and differential(s) service, but I have wanted to freshen up the wheels for a number of years, because the original wheels had a few marks on them (the biggest one being my fault doing a late night hurried u-turn and misjudged a gutter) and the clear coat was starting to fail on them in a few spots. They looked fine from a metre or two back, but im very fussy and they were annoying me.

I got a verbal quote from a highly regarded wheel refurb place on the Central Coast for $450 per rim to fix marks, re-machine the face and paint + clear coat each wheel. I decided that id rather get some new OEM+ rims and then sell my original rims.

So I found some brand new rims from a Audi Q7 SLine which are 21x9.5 ET31, so 1 inch wider than the SQ5 rims and 2mm different offset (factory SQ5 rims are 21x8.5 ET31). They are a very similar design but slightly different which gives the car a bit of a fresh look and also makes it look a bit different to all the other SQ5's.

[Lucas_R]

Another little update completed recently. After having to drive home on a miserable and drizzly dark night from the Hunter Valley a few months ago in the peak of winter, I noticed that the xenon headlights were not as bright or clear as they used to be. Obviously this deterioration happens very slowly so you don't tend to notice it until all of a sudden.

Started looking around initially for replacement D3S xenon bulbs from Orsam/Phillips etc, but then found these Spectr D3S LED bulbs and was very interested to try them. Im on the Aussie SQ5 owners group on Facebook and several other owners had fitted these bulbs and had nothing but good feedback - so that was good enough for me to give them a try.

Anyway, so far so good with the bulbs. They have been fitted for about 2 months now. No canbus error codes, no issues at all actually. Super bright and crisp white light with 6000k colour temperature. I just hope they last a while to justify the cost - time will tell.

[Lucas_R]

Something ive had on my 'to-do' list for a few years now - albeit a low priority, was to repair the blown exhaust speakers on the SQ5. Exhaust speakers you say.......yep, something the diesel SQ5 as well as various other 'performance' diesel vehicles have fitted to the exhaust to artifically enhance the sound of the vehicle.

In the case of the SQ5 the exhaust speakers are very common to fail - less so on other Audi models (eg Audi A6 or A7 with the same engine), presumably due to the exhaust design perhaps more water can enter the chamber where the speakers are located and then it causes rust?!?! Anyway, the speakers completely rust into oblivion and the speakers themselves 'melt' for lack of a better word. I do not understand how the speakers melt because these chambers do not get hot like the rest of the exhaust, and have very little gas flowing through them - I can only think of 2 reasons:

1) Steam from water that has pooled in the bottom of the enclosure that cannot get out causes moisture and the rust issue.
2) When the car is doing a DPF regen and the exhaust gets much hotter than usual and the car is pottering around town at a low speed, the steam in the speaker enclosure gets super heated and contributes to melting the speaker over time.

To try and prevent this issue reoccuring, I have drilled a small 5mm hole at the lowest point in the speaker enclosures so that any water can drain out with gravity and the small amount of gas that flows through the enclosure will help push any moisture out. And while I cannot speak for the original owner of the car, in my ownership I make sure that regens are performeed when the car is moving at a good speed (motorway/highway) whenever possible to ensure good airflow over the exhaust to keep temperatures down as much as possible.

Process: Jack up car, disconnect exhaust clamps just behind the DPF, remove rubber exhaust hangers and remove exhaust from car. Using an angle grinder, cut open the speaker enclosures to reveal what used to be a functioning speaker. Drill out the rusted bolts securing the speaker and and replace it with a 2ohm 6.5" marine grade speaker. Fix up the wiring which has also rusted, and then re-attach the speaker enclosure with hi temp silicone sealant and then paint black to look neat and uniform. Repeat for the other side.

[Lucas_R]

Time has come to start servicing the transmission and driveline on this car, as its now done 100,000km. I was going to get my independent VAG specialist mechanic to do it, but I think id prefer to do it myself and then I know its actually been done (yes I have trust issues when it comes to paying people to do work on my car...) and I know what oils etc have been used.

Usually I would buy all the oils locally through VAGParts or RunAutoParts, but these oils are stupidly expensive (centre diff oil is $280 for 1L to buy in Aust!!!) so have bought all of the oils from ECS Tuning and saved a few hundred dollars.

For the transmission id rather pay for the genuine ZF Lifeguard oil because you can never flush all the old oil out, so at least the new oil being introduced is the same formula as the existing oil.


- ZF 8 Lifeguard oil for the gearbox (Part # 83 22 2 289 720)
- ZF 8 filter and gasket kit (Part # HX189KIT)
- oil for front and rear differentials (Part #G052145S2)
- oil for centre torsen differential (Part #G055145A2)

Rear diff serviced as all other oils on order still.