Hello from a newbie

[Robert20]

Hello Everyone,

I am Robert from Vancouver, BC. We have a 2012 VW Tiguan and 2016 Audi Q5 TDI in the household.

I was searching for answers to issue I am having with my Q5 and stumbled upon your forum which I found very informative.

Cheers!
Babak

[Lucas_R]

Hi and welcome. Is your Q5 the 2.0TDI or the 3.0TDI? There is only a very small community of Q5 owners on here (mainly SQ5 owners and we get the 3.0TDI V6 biturbo engine here, not the supercharged V6 you get in USA and Canada) but we will try and help.

[Johnjon]

Hello All,

My name is John, I'm from Melbourne Australia and own an '03 T4 SWB Transporter Syncro. I've had it for a couple of years and converted it ( amatuerish but practical for short trips) . Love getting away in it and although it's had a few issues, enjoy the freedom aspects the Van allows me and my wife.

Was recommended this site after visiting other sites O/S. Which is a great heads up as it seems a different T$ world here compared to there.

Regards

John

[Robert20]

Hi and welcome. Is your Q5 the 2.0TDI or the 3.0TDI? There is only a very small community of Q5 owners on here (mainly SQ5 owners and we get the 3.0TDI V6 biturbo engine here, not the supercharged V6 you get in USA and Canada) but we will try and help.

Thanks for the warm welcome.
My Q5 is 2016 3.0TDI. Perhaps one of the last ones they sold in North America. My engine light came on few weeks ago. I took to car to the Audi dealer. They originally said the AdBlue pump is faulty and needed to get replaced. Took the car in and it turned out there was this white gooey substance had clotted the pump. They said this happens with Diesel gets mixed in AdBlue. They are now saying it's my fault and that I put Diesel in the AdBlue tank. I have never opened the Adblue orifice in last 7 years that I owned the car and neither have I taken the car to any other mechanic shop or full gas station. This dealer has been servicing the car for the last 7 years. They claim that they didn't do when they service the car either. Their estimate is over $8000 to replace the AdBlue reservoir and the pump. How is this even possible? Any insight? Thank you!

[Lucas_R]

The AdBlue systems are notorious for being problematic. And the parts to repair them are very expensive. The injector pumps fail / leak and the AdBlue crystalises (looks like a compact white powder) when it dries and clogs the injector. The injector can be removed and cleaned if thats all the issue is, but if the pump is faulty then you have to replace it.

Thankfully my car is a 2015 model and does not have AdBlue, they were fitted from late 2015 onwards.

Personally I would find a company local to you who can put new software onto the cars ECU and effectively disable the AdBlue system. I know of a well regarded Audi diesel tuning company called Malone Tuning - seems they have several dealers in the Vancouver area.

Malone Tuning

But if you want to repair the system, you basically have no option but to pay for genuine Audi parts. You might be able to find an Audi specialist workshop to install the parts to save you some money rather than paying dealership prices? Note that even with fixing the AdBlue system - it will fail again in a number of years. They just arent a good robust design. $8k sounds very expensive to repair it though.

As for the AdBlue tank, who has been filling it up? A full tank of AdBlue should last around 10,000km (6,000 miles). So if you aren't filling it up, who is?

[Robert20]

The AdBlue systems are notorious for being problematic. And the parts to repair them are very expensive. The injector pumps fail / leak and the AdBlue crystalises (looks like a compact white powder) when it dries and clogs the injector. The injector can be removed and cleaned if thats all the issue is, but if the pump is faulty then you have to replace it.

Thankfully my car is a 2015 model and does not have AdBlue, they were fitted from late 2015 onwards.

Personally I would find a company local to you who can put new software onto the cars ECU and effectively disable the AdBlue system. I know of a well regarded Audi diesel tuning company called Malone Tuning - seems they have several dealers in the Vancouver area.

Malone Tuning

But if you want to repair the system, you basically have no option but to pay for genuine Audi parts. You might be able to find an Audi specialist workshop to install the parts to save you some money rather than paying dealership prices? Note that even with fixing the AdBlue system - it will fail again in a number of years. They just arent a good robust design. $8k sounds very expensive to repair it though.

As for the AdBlue tank, who has been filling it up? A full tank of AdBlue should last around 10,000km (6,000 miles). So if you aren't filling it up, who is?

Thank you for your insight. Very helpful. It looks like disabling the AdBlue system is the best approach.

As for the AdBlue tank, the Audi dealer that I have been taking the car to for regular service in last 7 years has been filling up the AdBlue tank. I suspect they were the ones who accidently mixed diesel with AdBlue but they don't admit it and now they want us to pay for it!!! Totally unfair since I have never touched the AdBlue system and neither have I taken the car to another shop.

[Lucas_R]

Thank you for your insight. Very helpful. It looks like disabling the AdBlue system is the best approach.

As for the AdBlue tank, the Audi dealer that I have been taking the car to for regular service in last 7 years has been filling up the AdBlue tank. I suspect they were the ones who accidently mixed diesel with AdBlue but they don't admit it and now they want us to pay for it!!! Totally unfair since I have never touched the AdBlue system and neither have I taken the car to another shop.

Yes I would definitely look into disabling the AdBlue via a tuning company like Malone. Bonus is that you can get a stage 1 tune at the same time which will give you another 40-50hp and a nice chunk of extra torque.

[Robert20]

Thanks again. I am in contact with Malone Tuning rep here in Vancouver. I will keep you posted.
Is there any concerns with disabling the AdBlue system from regulatory perspective?

[Lucas_R]

Thanks again. I am in contact with Malone Tuning rep here in Vancouver. I will keep you posted.
Is there any concerns with disabling the AdBlue system from regulatory perspective?

Do you mean from a legal point of view? You would have to check your local laws and regulations.

Here in Australia we have pretty strict emissions laws and legally you are not allowed to disable any factory fitted emissions equipment, but people do all the time - you would have to be so unlucky to get caught out. All of the AdBlue parts are left untouched, so it looks completely factory under the car. Only the software on the cars ECU is altered to disable the AdBlue system.