Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

[Lucas_R]

I’m a castrol man my self but for filters with Audi, I always stick to oem or Mahle filters. Bosch is ok for an all rounder. For some reason VAG diesel filters a UFI that are not really known for there quality.

Air filters you can’t go wrong with a K&N

Mann are OEM also so I don't have the slightest problem using them. The old oil filter i pulled out of my car (fitted by my mechanic late last year was a Mahle, but he had used a Hengst last year). Not sure i've ever used a Bosch filter, but for VAG cars im happy with Mann, Mahle, or Hengst - but I buy Mann because they are readily available from RunAutoParts where I get most of my parts.

I disagree with you somewhat about K&N - after experimenting heavily with different intakes for my Golf R a few years back (and i'd really only ever used K&N up until this time) that AFE (air flow engineering) air filters are better quality and fit better than K&N. They are also priced similarly but don't have quite the extensive range than K&N does.

With the SQ5, i've got a replacement K&N pod filter in the airbox because AFE dont make one and all the other options were those horrible oiled foam filters which are by far my least favourite.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Some photos of the Spulen wheel spacers from USP Motorsports (15mm on the front and 20mm on the rear). Very good quality kit which includes the hub centric spacers and new longer bolts. SPULEN Audi Q5/SQ5 Flush Kit - WSKT-Q5F - 6928

Excuse the dirty car, we'd had a heap of rain - it got a nice bath later that day.










Bath time later that day....

[Lucas_R]

Akebono Euro Ceramic brake pads ordered and fitted. I ordered the rear pads first just to test them out and see if they were worth it. The answer is yes - especially if you are like me and enjoying having a clean car and also enjoy your car staying clean for as long as possible.

Huge difference in brake dust compared to the original pads as well as the Bremtec Euro Ceramic pads I fitted not long after buying the car. The Bremtec pads were better (less dust) than the original pads, but still very dusty and the dust was black so it was very obvious on the wheel. Turns out I should not have wasted my money on the Bremtec pads because they were not much different to the original pads.

The new Akebono Euro Ceramic pads are fantastic. Not only is there far less dust but the dust is a light grey/silver colour so its much less visible on the wheel. The Akebono pads are made in USA so the only way to get them here is to buy from someone like ECS Tuning or Amazon - I got mine from Amazon because the freight cost was cheaper than ECS Tuning.

I also considered the ATE Ceramic pads which also get good feedback, but for some reason ATE only make the rear pad for the SQ5. I wanted the same brand pad front and rear so when I saw Akebono made them my mind was made up.

An added bonus is that both the original pads and the Bremtec pads fitted previously made a harsh noise when cold and coming to a complete stop, whereas the Akebono pads no longer do this.

EUR1546 front pads
EUR1018 rear pads

[Lucas_R]

Parts incoming.......ordered a 034Motorsports rear swaybar and end links. End links are on backorder, so will just be installing the swaybar for now and end links at a later stage.

In other news, the speakers in the exhaust (yes there are speakers in the exhaust) which make the car sound much tougher than a TDI normally would have busted (pretty common on the SQ5) so will be doing a DIY repair as i don't fancy paying $2.5k for a new exhaust from Audi. The DIY repair will cost me around $150 and only a few hours work.

034Motorsport Adjustable Rear Sway Bar – Audi B8/B8.5 & C7/C7.5 – AutoInstruct

[tigger73]

Nice! I just did the same thing to the Tig and the handling is greatly improved.


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[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

New swaybar fitted yesterday. Those billet brackets are automotive porn and add some underbody bling (although no doubt totally unnecessary). Not a fan of the allen head bolts used to secure the brackets so will pay a visit to my local nut and bolt shop to find something else to replace them with.

Only taken the car for a short drive (in between the all the rain) but the car is sharper to react to steering inputs and the rear end rotates better now. Feels like less of a 2 tonne heffa now. Happy camper.

Stock sway bar is 23mm and hollow, 034 Motorsports swaybar is 25.4mm and solid (and much heavier).

Still waiting for new endlinks to arrive, so just fitted up the swaybar to the stock endlinks for now.

Also had the front windows re-tinted last week. Went with a darker 18% to try and match the rear privacy tint. The car already had tinted front windows, but they were too light (35%) and had some scratches on the drivers side. New tint looks much better - will have to grab a few pics.

[OnetoothCracker]

Hi Lucas, nice car and I like your outline (+pics) of the changes you have made.
I'm looking at fitting an upgraded rear sway bar to my Superb 206 4x4. Can you tell me is it advised/required to have wheel/axle alignment after fitting a rear sway bar w/wo end links?

[Lucas_R]

Hi Lucas, nice car and I like your outline (+pics) of the changes you have made.
I'm looking at fitting an upgraded rear sway bar to my Superb 206 4x4. Can you tell me is it advised/required to have wheel/axle alignment after fitting a rear sway bar w/wo end links?

Hi - no not necessary to do a wheel alignment when fitting a swaybar. Only if you are playing around with actual suspension geometry like springs/control arms etc.

In saying that, I normally get an alignment done once a year and the car is nearly due for it.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Nearly lost the SQ5 in the floods in Newcastle a few weeks ago. Lucky I came outside when I did, as was checking every 30 mins or so and the water rose out of nowhere. Was thankfully able to move the SQ5 out of the driveway and onto higher ground before the water damaged it, but unfortunately could not save my Subaru which was in the garage and it has been written off.

The water rose so fast (and went away just as quickly not long after).

Thankfully didnt make it into the house (although came very close) so damage was limited to the garage and back shed.

[Tuan]

NO the subaru !!!!

Sorry to hear mate !

[Fergs]

Hi Lucas,
i have an sq5 too and had to do this intake clean twice so far - i was thinking of adding the same catch can setup but do you think this issue is more around the egr system? did you end up doing the EGR delete - if so would love to hear what the result was -

cheers
Chris

[Lucas_R]

Hi Lucas,
i have an sq5 too and had to do this intake clean twice so far - i was thinking of adding the same catch can setup but do you think this issue is more around the egr system? did you end up doing the EGR delete - if so would love to hear what the result was -

cheers
Chris

Hi Chris,
Upon investigation, both the EGR and DPF need to be blocked off/removed together at the same time along with software updates. You cannot successfully just delete the EGR.

So my car still has the EGR and DPF fitted and operational.

And yes I do believe the EGR is responsible for most of the intake buildup, with the remainder coming from blowby in the PCV system.

My plan is to just keep cleaning the intake every 12 months before an oil change to try and keep any buildup to a minimum.

[guile]

The EGR delete attempt (software change and EGR block off plate) was a complete failure, as it stopped the car from doing a DPF regeneration (which it does every 400-500km) and several thousand km’s later my car went into a soft limp mode, shortly followed by a full on limp mode.

hi Lucas, reading this is making me a bit nervous...

a friend of mine my have blocked his girlfriends Audi A5 EGR and had a hardings Stage 1 tune to code it out. feels like it drives awesome and because the GF only does short trips to town and back I do manual regens with VCDS. I have to say the soot mass doesn't go up a huge amount between regens done every 6 months or so, she doesn't do much driving though...

do you know if its an issue with all the 3.0 tdi's please?

[sn809]

Hi, good mods with photos. Could you please post a photo of your provent filter and when do you intend to change it??

[Lucas_R]

hi Lucas, reading this is making me a bit nervous...

a friend of mine have blocked his girlfriends Audi A5 EGR and had a hardings Stage 1 tune to code it out. feels like it drives awesome and because the GF only does short trips to town and back I do manual regens with VCDS. I have to say the soot mass doesn't go up a huge amount between regens done every 6 months or so, she doesn't do much driving though...

do you know if its an issue with all the 3.0 tdi's please?

Sorry mate - only just saw this question of yours. The single turbo V6 TDI used in the A4, A5 etc is quite different to the biturbo engine in the SQ5. A lot of people (myself included, before I did research) think that because they are both 3.0L V6 engines they are much the same, but they have different heads, pistons, inlet manifold, DPF setup, and of course the turbo setup - and no doubt the EGR system and ECU are different too. So with that in mind, what works on your mates car may or may not work on my car and vice versa.

And while I still have much to learn about diesels, I have also learnt quite a bit during my ownership of the SQ5.

We do regular 25-30 minute drives on 80-90kph motorway each week but this is not enough time to get the car up to temp and then trigger the regen and let it run its course. You really need to do regular 45min+ or longer drives to avoid issues.

If you are manually triggering the regen's on your friends car with VCDS then in theory it should be ok. Im not sure if there are any limits to how many times it can be done or downsides to always manually triggering a regen?? Another alternative that would remove you from the equation is this VAG DPF app on Android to monitor DPF which would allow your mate to monitor the DPF level himself and then take the car for a 30-40 minute drive when getting close to 100% to allow the DPF to do its regen process. Doing it while driving is much safer as the airflow will help cool the DPF and exhaust as it gets very very hot during the process (and sitting idle in a driveway while this happens is asking for a fire IMO). I use this app and the Carista dongle all the time in my car and its great. If they subscribe to the Carista software ($50 USD per year) then they can use Carista to force a regen themselves, just like what you do with VCDS.

Crazy that the regen process is only required every 6 months or so in your friends car. I wish that was the case with my car!! My car does a regen every 450-500km which is generally once every 7-10 days for us. I use the VAGDPF app to monitor the levels, and when it gets close to 100% ill take the car for a drive to let it do its thing.

Hi, good mods with photos. Could you please post a photo of your provent filter and when do you intend to change it??

Hi mate. Its not a Provent (they were too large to fit anywhere in the engine bay). I have a Flashlube Catch Can Pro which is linked here: https://www.allfourx4.com.au/Flashlu...-Flashlube-FCC

The Flashlube is smaller in size (length mainly) while still being able to flow enough to not be restrictive on the V6 BiTDI engine.

I have drained the catch can 3 or 4 times already and I check the filter each time I do an oil change - the filter is damp but looks fine still. I think the manufacturer recommends changing the filter every 40,000-50,000km from memory, and at the moment ive only had it fitted for around 15,000km.