Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

[Lucas_R]

Hey Lucas_R and others - not to detract from this thread, as I reckon it's the go-to for us SQ5 owners, and will continue to be...

I've started documenting what I've been doing with my car over on this thread.

2015 Audi SQ5 3.0 TDI Biturbo

Lucas - as I said in my newbie thread, you've been both the inspiration and diagnosis help for me so far, a massive thanks for the time and effort you put into the forums as they are an absolute gold mine. Hopefully my ramblings and largely superficial mods add a little bit to it.

Thanks Daniel - very kind. Happy to find out that my experience has helped other SQ5 owners. The catch can in particular is popular and I get messages on Facebook from people in Europe, UK and Australia asking for info.

[Lucas_R]

Next mod which i have wanted to do for a while. While the intercooler fitted to the SQ5 is a decent quality all alloy unit with a pretty good quality core for an OEM intercooler, there is still room for improvement.

Most people go straight for the Wagner drop-in replacement, and I certainly considered this heavily, but they are stupid expensive ($2.2k locally, but about $1.7k if you order from the UK). There are a few other brands lurking around (AIRTEC and HF Series) too which I considered. The AIRTEC is actually made for the Audi A6 with the same engine, and while it "should" fit, AIRTEC could not guarantee it would fit the SQ5 without modifications. And the HF Series looks very much the same as the Wagner, but I could not find a shop that would send to Australia.

The other option is the budget intercooler from Darkside Developments. My brother quickly talked me out of this one after pointing out that its just a poor quality $100 ebay intercooler from China with mounting hardware and pipes welded on to suit the SQ5.

Wagner: Wagner Tuning Audi Q5 SQ5 Competition Intercooler Kit 3.0 TDI - 200001 – Performance Brands
AIRTEC: AIRTEC Intercooler Upgrade for Audi A6 3.0 TDi Bi-Turbo - AIRTEC Motorsport
HS Series: HF-Series Intercooler For Audi Q5 Incl. SQ5 3.0 (Bi-)TDI - AKA Performance
Darkside budget: Darkside Front Mount Intercooler (FMIC) for 3.0 BiTDI Audi SQ5

My brother runs a small automotive metal fabrication business (see link below to his business) and has an account with Garrett, so has access to Garrett's high quality intercooler cores - so I spoke to him and we decided to make a custom intercooler upgrade for the SQ5 with custom end tanks. The goal is to have a locally made kit for the SQ5 that he can offer for sale on his website.

Personally I would have liked a bigger (taller) core, but Garret's bigger core is 600mm wide x 300mm tall and there is no use having a 300mm tall core on the SQ5 because the crash bar would cover the extra 10cm and it would get no airflow so would be next to useless. So we have kept the core below the crash bar for best airflow through the core.

So the new intercooler is ready for a test fit before we finalise pipework and mounting hardware etc. The new intercooler is only slightly larger in overall volume/capacity (just over 12% more volume to be exact) to the stock one, but has a much better quality core. The core is rated for around 500hp at this size so it will be more than enough for a 350hp stage 1 SQ5.

The new core is about 10cm narrower as Garrett only make 600mm wide cores (factory core is about 75cm wide), but its about 3cm taller and 2.5cm thicker.

The Fabricators Warehouse

[Daniel_M]

That's a nice looking piece of kit Lucas, looks very well put together - be interested to see how you find it operates in practice!

As you say, a 12% increase in overall volume is relatively modest, but I'm not familiar with the relative impact of core quality?

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Another 6 monthly oil change for the SQ5 this past weekend @ 72,000km, as well as another recent addition in the form of a 10.25" touchscreen with Apple Carplay sourced via The Fitting Bay.

Also had the slimline number plates restyled in the black and silver colouring which ive been meaning to do for ages - looks much better.

The infotainment in the SQ5 is really outdated as the B8/B8.5 platform was released in 2008/09 so most of the technology is from this era and its just slow and outdated. The new screen is much larger, brighter, and is also a touchscreen so more user friendly to operate. All of the factory functions still work on the new screen (reverse camera, radio, car settings etc) but the wireless Carplay really brings the interior up to date, not to mention having access to the latest Google maps.

The new screen is an Android based unit, so it has the capability to download apps off the Google Play store (YouTube/Netflix etc). I might try downloading the VAG DPF app so I can use the screen instead of my phone.

Installed the new screen and hardware myself in the garage - its about a 2 hour job.

[SilverBug]

OMG Lucas I cannot believe I have just found this thread. I can remember it must be 10 years ago, when you were a source of inspiration for the MK6 Golf R in I think they were Steel Grey "you will correct me" that we owned. Searching for info on my creaking sunroof I come across this thread!! How lucky are all SQ5 owners that you bought one.

I digress, a few months back I purchased a very clean White 2014 SQ5 (only 80,000km) full Audi Service History and I deliberately went the MY14 as I was ok with the STD Cruise Control and no Blindspot in lieu of no DPF or AdBlue issues. Great to hear about the pads that's already sorted one thing on my list. How are you finding the Android Headunit, I was about to pull the trigger on the same one. I don't suppose you have needed to grease your sunroof at all by chance?

Cheers,
Andrew

[Lucas_R]

Hi Andrew - glad you found some of the info in my thread helpful. Yep it looks like we both had Mk6 Golf R's, and the colour was United Grey. Shame I had to sell mine as I loved it, but was doing house renos and needed the money. I ended up buying Mk6 GTI and tinkered with that for a few years. The GTI was a fun car too, more enjoyable than the R in most ways too be honest.

It sounds like you found a nice low km SQ5. Great that you avoided AdBlue as they fail all the time and cost a small fortune to fix. The AdBlue was introduced late 2015 sometime (luckily mine is a mid 2015 build so I dont have it either). You should have DPF's though as I believe all SQ5's have them. They are just behind the front wheels (2x of them side by side), jump under and have a look.

These Akebono Euro ceramic brake pads are great - get yourself some ASAP.

The Android head unit is mostly good. You just have to keep in mind its not an OEM unit so its a bit fiddly. It takes a little while to boot up, then you have to select which phone to connect to even if you are the only person in the car, then open the app on the screen that connects to Carplay. So it doesnt just turn on and go straight to Carplay like an OEM unit would - you have to select a few things and wait. Ive actually been meaning to speak to The Fitting Bay to ask if there is anyway to optimise the boot up process to reduce some of these steps. But once its on and running its great. All in all its an improvement over the heavily outdated and small Audi screen though. The place I got it from (The Fitting Bay) has a few videos on YouTube showing how it works and looks etc as well as an install video - but he does rush a bit in those videos.

As for the sunroof, mine rattled and squeaked just like im sure yours does. Usually tilting it up and back down again stops it temporarily. I did grease it several times but found little to no difference. After some searching I found a thread from a USA forum and these guys had put the soft side of velcro on the sunroof runners and had good success. So I cleaned all the grease off and went to Officeworks and bought this and cut it down the middle to make 2x strips. They fit on the sunroof guides perfectly and have considerably helped reduce the noise. I also had a rattle in the back which I thought was the rear hatch, but ended up being a combination of the hatch and the rear parcel tray. I bought little rubber circles (about 1mm thick) from Bunnings to cushion the contact points. This has fixed the vast majority of rattles coming from the back but im still chasing a few.

Refer to this link for a pic of where to place the soft side of the velcro on the sunroof tracks.

OMG Lucas I cannot believe I have just found this thread. I can remember it must be 10 years ago, when you were a source of inspiration for the MK6 Golf R in I think they were Steel Grey "you will correct me" that we owned. Searching for info on my creaking sunroof I come across this thread!! How lucky are all SQ5 owners that you bought one.

I digress, a few months back I purchased a very clean White 2014 SQ5 (only 80,000km) full Audi Service History and I deliberately went the MY14 as I was ok with the STD Cruise Control and no Blindspot in lieu of no DPF or AdBlue issues. Great to hear about the pads that's already sorted one thing on my list. How are you finding the Android Headunit, I was about to pull the trigger on the same one. I don't suppose you have needed to grease your sunroof at all by chance?

Cheers,
Andrew

[Daniel_M]

Great that you avoided AdBlue as they fail all the time and cost a small fortune to fix. The AdBlue was introduced late 2015 sometime (luckily mine is a mid 2015 build so I dont have it either). You should have DPF's though as I believe all SQ5's have them. They are just behind the front wheels (2x of them side by side), jump under and have a look.

Also expensive, though very worth it, to remove AdBlue & DPFs later!

It takes a little while to boot up, then you have to select which phone to connect to even if you are the only person in the car, then open the app on the screen that connects to Carplay. So it doesnt just turn on and go straight to Carplay like an OEM unit would - you have to select a few things and wait.

That's a bit crap for Carplay, perhaps a wireless thing. I've got Android, which must be plugged in, but the system picks it up automatically and launches Android Auto. I find boot time acceptable, but I do tend to click on the "Phonelink" icon to manually launch Android Auto as usually I can get to the button before the system background launches the app and auto-launches it.

Refer to this link for a pic of where to place the soft side of the velcro on the sunroof tracks.

Just confirming, the velcro is on the "top" surface of the rails not in the grooves? I think that's what I see but want to confirm. Suffering the same issue, so be good to perform a fix for it!

Thanks for the help and advice as always..

[Lucas_R]

That's a bit crap for Carplay, perhaps a wireless thing. I've got Android, which must be plugged in, but the system picks it up automatically and launches Android Auto. I find boot time acceptable, but I do tend to click on the "Phonelink" icon to manually launch Android Auto as usually I can get to the button before the system background launches the app and auto-launches it.

Im still learning how to use it. It would be nice to not have to go through the process of selecting which phone to connect to.

Just confirming, the velcro is on the "top" surface of the rails not in the grooves? I think that's what I see but want to confirm. Suffering the same issue, so be good to perform a fix for it!

Yes as per the photo in that link I posted, the velcro goes on the top surface of the 2x plastic rails (not in the grooves). Give it a try, it made a significant difference on my car anyway.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Ok so is been 6 months or so since I updated this thread. Not too much has been going on with either car as ive been busy with other stuff like moving house etc.

But I did replace the brake disks on the SQ5 a few months ago. They weren't too bad, but the 40,000km or so they had done with the original brake pads before I replaced them with less aggressive pads had worn a good amount of the usable disk surface away. I got the Bremtec cross drilled disks for the front and Bosch disks for the rear. Shame that Bremtec dont make a matching rear disk but oh well.

I noticed that the coolant in the overflow bottle became discoloured all of a sudden. The coolant became very dirty/rusty looking and it stained the coolant tank. After doing some research, this is relatively common as the coolant overflow tank has a silica bag inside which is designed to make the coolant last longer, but if this silica bag fails then it makes the coolant go all rusty and dirty looking. Great!! I ordered a new genuine coolant overflow tank, some G13 concentrate coolant + demineralised water and a Draper coolant vacuum filler Draper Tools Expert Universal Cooling System Vacuum Purge and Refill Kit For Sale Online | Mektronics | Draper Tools. I drained the coolant, flushed it with various Nulon and Penrite coolant flushes, flushed it about a dozen times with just water, and then finally once I was satisfied the system was pretty damn clean - did the final fill with fresh G13 + demineralised water mixed 50:50. Thankfully, its been several months since this ordeal and the coolant is still a nice pink colour and very clean.

Took a gamble on some alloy sway bar end links simply to replace the factory plastic ones and they were a perfect match. Run Auto Parts sell these.

Also decided (just for an experiment) to replace the tiny 6.5" subwoofer which is part of the optional Bang & Olufsen stereo upgrade on these cars. The original "sub" was of pretty poor quality which was not a huge surprise, so I grabbed a $120 Hertz sub (theres not very many options in 6.5") and fitted that. Not much difference and definitely not worth the $120 or so it cost but it's done.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

With a bit of time off over Christmas I decided to remove the 2x DPF's, inspect them and give them a clean seeing its been a few years since I last looked at it. I was looking at some of the DPF cleaning sprays (which actually do not require the DPF to be removed, but seeing its very quick and easy to do, plus I wanted to see the before vs after I removed the DPF) and decided to try the Penrite P26 DPF cleaner out simply because they were in stock (and on sale) and my local SuperCheap Auto and saved me having to buy another brand and have it shipped from Sydney or Melbourne.

Penrite DPF Cleaner P26 400mL | Supercheap Auto

Before I removed and cleaned the DPF, I took the car for a drive and performed a regen. So soot level was low at 6.73 grams which is about normal after doing a regen (anywhere between about 6-8 grams).

The DPF catalyst looked visually clean after the regen so I was curious to see what (if anything) the cleaner was going to achieve. This process was more of a curiosity or experiment than anything else as I do not have any DPF issues and the car does regens every 500km or so. The spray comes out of the can in a thick foam, and then slowly shrinks/liquifies/evaporates. I used both cans but in hindsight, I think 1x can would have been enough. After leaving the product to soak into the catalyst for about 20-30 mins, I then flushed it out with the garden hose. I tried to capture the dirt that was coming out after the clean which I was able to capture in a short video.

DPF was left to drip dry for a few hours and then re-fitted to the car. No issues or error codes. Car has been driven about 1000km since.

[MIG]

Nice, did the soot level go down after the cleaning?

I need to do this on my mum's Touareg, it just clogged its Intake Manifold Flap too :\

[Lucas_R]

Nice, did the soot level go down after the cleaning?

I need to do this on my mum's Touareg, it just clogged its Intake Manifold Flap too :\

It actually went up about a gram or two (I was expecting it to go down a bit) but no doubt there was still some moisture and some of the product still in there that was making the pressure sensors think it was fuller than it actually was. I took it for a spin after putting everything back together just to be sure the car wasn't going to trigger a CEL or have a hissy fit of some kind and was checking the soot level with VAGDPF and Carista.

Its done a regen since the clean and everything worked as normal so its fine.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Well its been 8 months since the last update on the SQ5 - not too much has happened as we bought a new house late last year and a lot of the money and time has been spent on the new house.

- Wagner intercooler and RS front grill - ready to be installed at the same time while front bumper is off
- 4x new Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 SUV tyres (265/40/21) and wheel alignment in June
- RSNav Version 4 screen upgrade (10.25") with Carplay - ready to be installed this weekend. Currently have another Carplay screen fitted which is fine, but the RSNav is supposed to be better - we will see.
- Car is due for its 90,000km service in September so ill probably remove and clean the intake once again before it goes for the service.

Unfortunately the custom Garrett intercooler that my brother was making for me has been put on hold indefinitely, as he passed away unexpectedly late last year. Hence why I have decided to buy the Wagner.

[genebaby]

Some nice things going on there but sorry to hear about your brother.

[ML24WA]

Great updates on the build diary. Also condolences on your brother.

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