Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

[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]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

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]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

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]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

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.

[Sharkie]

Good work Lucas!

Did the VW gear oil bottle come with the pump attachment? If not, where did you get it from?

Over the last couple of months I serviced the (old but new to it) front diff on the Amarok and the gearbox on the Up!. Had to do it with a funnel and a measuring jug/cup

Next would be the (old but new to it) transfer case and rear diff on the Amarok, so a gadget like that would be great.

[Lucas_R]

The pump I have is this "little mate pump" from Penrite. It works well but just struggles with the last 100ml in the bottle (sucks up air) so I had to get creative to get the last 100ml into the diff. Penrite Little Mate Pump | Supercheap Auto

I also have one of these which I had forgotton about, but will use this to do the front diff and transfer case. I also have a larger one which im hoping will come in handy to refill the gearbox oil.

[Lucas_R]

If anyone is interested in an immaculate 2015 Audi SQ5 then we are soon going to be trying to find a new home for this girl. We are moving to a 1 car family.

Wife got a new job which is much closer to home, and easier for her to catch public transport rather than deal with peak hour traffic and pay for parking - so have decided to sell both the SQ5 and the Fiesta ST and get a newer car (quite possibly a newer SQ5) to replace it.

So with most driving now going to be short <10 minute drives with me going to work, ive decided that its time to move away from diesel and go to a petrol engine, as short drives are not great for modern diesel engines.

[Sharkie]

If anyone is interested in an immaculate 2015 Audi SQ5 then we are soon going to be trying to find a new home for this girl. We are moving to a 1 car family.

Wife got a new job which is much closer to home, and easier for her to catch public transport rather than deal with peak hour traffic and pay for parking - so have decided to sell both the SQ5 and the Fiesta ST and get a newer car (quite possibly a newer SQ5) to replace it.

So with most driving now going to be short <10 minute drives with me going to work, ive decided that its time to move away from diesel and go to a petrol engine, as short drives are not great for modern diesel engines.

Get the petrol SQ5, much much better than the diesel .....

for instance carsales.com.au getting quite cheap now and a lot of of car for the money

Put a Miltek cat back on it and it will sing ....

[Lucas_R]

Get the petrol SQ5, much much better than the diesel .....

for instance carsales.com.au getting quite cheap now and a lot of of car for the money

Put a Miltek cat back on it and it will sing ....

Yes it will be a petrol SQ5 which is more suited to short drives. Only looking at 2019 onwards models as the earlier ones have rocker arm failures which cost about $10-12k to rectify as engine needs to be removed. So to get a fully specc'd 2019 model with about 60,000km its about $55-60k. There are a few that im going to look at over the next few weeks.

[Sharkie]

Yes it will be a petrol SQ5 which is more suited to short drives. Only looking at 2019 onwards models as the earlier ones have rocker arm failures which cost about $10-12k to rectify as engine needs to be removed. So to get a fully specc'd 2019 model with about 60,000km its about $55-60k. There are a few that im going to look at over the next few weeks.

Interesting, I did not know that about the rocker arm failures. I was seriously looking about 2 years ago for 1, ended up buying the new T-Roc R instead, mainly because I could not justify buying the wife an SQ5 at $90K (back then) when all she really needed was a mid range model (the way she drives ). Good thing I suppose, given I wasn't aware of the issues.

Really happy with the T-Roc R, and unless you absolutely need to go 1 size up to a SQ5, it is a lot of R car for the money (circa $60K its the same as a 2019 SQ5 and new with full warranty). Bet its cheaper to run and mod too.

[Lucas_R]

I really like the T-Roc R, but as an only car for 3x people it’s just not big enough unfortunately. We regularly go on holidays and have to transport the 3 of us, our suitcases as well as a large dog (Weimerarner) and cat and we struggle to fit all that in the SQ5.

I have also suggested a Tiguan R which is a more appropriate size, but the wife wants another SQ5.

For around $60 the SQ5 is great value. In fact, we paid $63k for our current 2015 model SQ5 back in 2018 with 28,000km on the clock.

[Lucas_R]

Playing with an Audi SQ5 TDI

Well after 10 years the original battery in the SQ5 was starting to die. Having noticed various symptoms over the past month or so such as being lazy to cold start and the mirrors not always folding in/out when unlocking/locking the car, I hooked the battery up to a tester which revealed the original battery was on its way out. (battery health 14% and only showing 322CCA when it should be 850CCA)

New Delkor AGM battery was sourced and fitted this week. New battery is healthy and showing 92% health and 863CCA. The car is much more eager to start now - something you dont really notice getting worse as the original battery was slowly dying.

I do regularly hook both my cars up to a Ctek battery maintainer, but the battery was always going to die one day. Best to change it now before it leaves me stranded in the dark one day soon.

[Lucas_R]

It's the end of an era for the torque monster diesel SQ5. After nearly 7 years and about 78,000km under our ownership, the car has been sold and now lives in Melbourne.

It was a really good car, but was time to update it and we no longer do the type of driving that suits a diesel.

So ill say Auf Wiedersehen to the mighty SQ5 TDI.