2014 Q7 TDI - #dieselgate upgrade

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
Old: 2013 Golf TDI 6MT @ 56k Miles w/Technology Pkg


New: 2014 Q7 TDI Prestige @ 42k Miles, Very well optioned



Loved everything about my golf, but my family outgrew it and it had been struggling in severe weather and back mountain roads.. It was primarily our road trip/recreational vehicle and not a daily commuter for the last 4 years, most all those miles were towing my adventure trailer and hauling my dogs and son.. I was a staunch keeper until I got my wife Pregnant last fall, then with a 2nd son on the way I started to sway and eventually caved.. However I had no desire to walk away from the TDI platform.. Had I planned accordingly all those years ago I'd of bought a wagon in the first place and still be driving it today.

Drove the Audi home on a ~600 mile road trip, other than not having a clutch pedal it was ideal.. alot more comfortable than the Golf had been on that trip, made it home with no back/neck/butt pains.. The Adaptive Cruise control was amazing, it pretty much drives it self on the highway..

Plan on buying a set of 18" OE Rims, putting all terrains on it for Winter/Spring before the year is up, and getting a Malone Stage 2 tune for it once the money for the fix is in my pocket.. In the next few weeks I gotta get the front 2 windows tinted to match the rest.. other than that she's perfect and I wont be doing much else with it.

My butt dyno tells me its just as quick as my Golf was tuned, the Q7 dont feel as big as it is.. until you hit the brakes and you feel the weight transfer. Turning radius seems comparable to our CC, not as good as the golf but not as terrible as I thought it could be..

The extra height is nice, It seems having headlights higher off the ground helps alot for night driving and now I can still see out the back window when the trailer is hooked up.. I was parked next to my dad's Jeep w/AAS in Dynamic Mode and was clearly sitting alot lower, then I cranked it to Lift Mode I had more ground clearance and was sitting higher than his was.. With some All Terrain tires this will get me into alot more back country camping sites w/out worry.. You guys shoulda seen some of the roads I took the Golf through, I had been considering lifting the Golf for a while, but my Westy hitch could not be height adjusted so the trailer would of had to been lifted w/the car..

Taking the Q7 out this Weekend for our first Camping trip of the year, thanks to Dieselgate I'm one happy camper..
 
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Mythdoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2017
Location
Tennessee
TDI
2011 Touareg, 2015 Q5, 2015 Golf
I finally ordered my Chipwerke. I see it as "fix insurance" in addition to whatever other merits it will no doubt have. It arrives on Monday.
 

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
I finally ordered my Chipwerke. I see it as "fix insurance" in addition to whatever other merits it will no doubt have. It arrives on Monday.
Mine didn't come with directions. You unplug one sensor, plug it into the chipwerke harness, and plug the other end into the sensor. I mounted the module on the drivers side of the strut mount bar and attached the harness to the harness that runs under the engine cover using the included zip ties. It takes 5 minutes or so to install.
 

kooyajerms

grocery getter
Joined
May 5, 2004
Location
Pomona, Southern California
TDI
97 B4V (mine), 11 x5 35d (hers) 04 V10 (that one you want), 2014 Q7 (mom's) 74 Shasta 1400
Good to hear it's finally home. That silver looks great, I bet that limestone is nice too. Take a picture with it lifted up for us if you can please =)

Adaptive Cruise Control. The business or what?
 

BarryT82

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Location
Charleston, WV
TDI
‘12 JSW TDI
The adaptive cruise control is nice. I've had it on while approaching a sharp turn and the brakes slammed on because it senses the guard rail.
 

cevans

TDIClub Enthusiast, TDI Parts Ninja Vendor , w/Bus
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
Location
Hingham, MA
TDI
2015 Beetle Conv. TDI 6-Speed & 2006 E320 CDI
Nice upgrade! I always loved Q7s.
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
Sorry for the lack of response, been busy

Fit some BFG T/A KO2's in 245/65/17 on some 10 Spoke Porsche Rims:


Suspension is on Comfort mode which is about 50% lift.. FYI Calipers are too large for 17's unless your willing to attack em w/an angle grinder :p
Installed mudflaps, but dont have any pictures of em on..

Registered this for Dieselgate, its getting me >$4500.. I'll be getting a Malone Stage 2 w/DPF & SCR Delete once its 'fixed'.

Adaptive Cruise is the tits, works great on the highways and traffic.. I left it on in the mountains and didnt have any problems with guardrails, but it did let off the accelerator when cornering hard so it was not powering through em.. kinda neat

Installed a Recaro Car seat, rear facing behind my seat and I didnt have to adust my seat settings at all; thats pretty freaking badass.. I'm 6'4" and I could barely tolerate a carseat behind me in the Golf, forget a rear facing one..

I'm just as much in love w/my Q7 as I was my Golf, cant wait to take it to Oregon this summer for the Eclipse... Finally I can drive out on the beach.
 
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willyworm

Active member
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Location
On the road, SC
TDI
2003 Jetta
I see your Q7 has the Class III receiver. As far as trailer wiring goes, does it come OEM with the std 4 pin connector, or is it the round 7 pic?
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
Round 7 pin, it also has provisioning under the dash for a brake controller... I installed a Redarc TowPro Elite

plugging trailer in locks air suspension (tongue) height, changes traction control for trailering, disables rear parking sensors and blind spot monitoring, and changes adaptive cruise to give more braking room.. also has a setting on rear cam for hooking up hitch thats visible on cam.. All that goes back to normal when you disconnect trailer.

Getting ready to tow a small camper with it for a week straight.
 

willyworm

Active member
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Location
On the road, SC
TDI
2003 Jetta
Good info. If the Lord smiles upon me and I do find a Q7 TDI within my budget I hope it'll come with the receiver as I pull a trailer often.

What's the actual mpg numbers look like so far on it?
 
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nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
pretty much as advertised on sticker, not like my 2.0L where I could far exceed sticker..

got 32mpg last week driving back from RedRocks @ 1am w/Adaptive Cruise, that was the best I seen so far and everything was stacked with me.
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
nope, waiting to get fixed before I get a Malone Stg2..

Just got back from my Eclipse Trip, ended up bailing on Oregon and going to Idaho then Yellowstone for the week after.. and I have to say I have zero regrets ditching my Golf and I am finding my self entirely smitten with this vehicle.

Put air suspension in Comfort, tow a camper through the mountains netting 20-22mpg while hauling ass.. unhook the camper, put air suspension in Dynamic and the transmission in Sport mode and really tear up the twisties in the mountains.. then put it in Offroad mode, disable the traction control and go hitup the trails and play in the mud..

Stuck in traffic in Yellowstone I'd set Adaptive Cruise and then could enjoy the view and look for wildlife like I was a passenger, trusting it to keep me from hitting the car infront of me.

The kids had so much room in the back my wife was able to crawl back with em and calm the baby while I looked for a safe place to pull over for her to nurse.. Seats are so comfortable that after a 16h day on the road I'm feeling pretty good all things considered.

Photos: http://imgur.com/a/XWLaA
 

007_e350

New member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Location
Chitown
TDI
Q7 AL
nope, waiting to get fixed before I get a Malone Stg2..

Just got back from my Eclipse Trip, ended up bailing on Oregon and going to Idaho then Yellowstone for the week after.. and I have to say I have zero regrets ditching my Golf and I am finding my self entirely smitten with this vehicle.

Put air suspension in Comfort, tow a camper through the mountains netting 20-22mpg while hauling ass.. unhook the camper, put air suspension in Dynamic and the transmission in Sport mode and really tear up the twisties in the mountains.. then put it in Offroad mode, disable the traction control and go hitup the trails and play in the mud..

Stuck in traffic in Yellowstone I'd set Adaptive Cruise and then could enjoy the view and look for wildlife like I was a passenger, trusting it to keep me from hitting the car infront of me.

The kids had so much room in the back my wife was able to crawl back with em and calm the baby while I looked for a safe place to pull over for her to nurse.. Seats are so comfortable that after a 16h day on the road I'm feeling pretty good all things considered.

Photos: http://imgur.com/a/XWLaA
Be careful with dynamic cruise when traffic comes to a complete stop the system will stop the car and deactivate cruise, it expects the driver to take control right away, vehicle still in D and car starts moving... that's the biggest glitch with this thing, unless there's some setting error that prevents this, I would love for this thing to stop - hold the car till traffic starts moving and then accelerate as usual but my hopes were shattered lol
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
So I finally got fixed 300 miles ago, the Original Owner did not claim so I got the full payout, nearly $10k + the Bosch Settlement.. Waited til last moment, April ends the settlement program.. they gave me a brand new DPF and sensors I'm about to rip out

Since I last posted, I added a FrontRunner Roof Rack, a Kenwood D710 Ham Radio, and a new camper.. a very rare Intech Discover Flyer, Tandem Torsion Axle toy hauler.





I got my flash loader all ready, rawtek downpipe and midpipe here and tomorrow I've got a few hours scheduled in a buddy's shop bay so I can use his lift to un**** this whole dieselgate nonesense.

 
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Joined
Jan 14, 2020
Location
East Bay Area, CA
TDI
'15 A3 - 2.0 TDI, '14 Q7 - 3.0 TDI
Awesome. I'll get mine eventually and do it as well. The power from Malone Stage 2 was pretty nice, too bad I couldn't get the issues ironed out at the time...
 

mannytranny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Location
CA
TDI
02 Jetta (sold, such a great car) '16 Touareg
Do you not have smog concerns in Denver?
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
nope, just an opacity test which anyone will pass as long as they dont roll coal on the dyno.. If for some reason this dont pass with the little bit of smoke at WOT, I'll simply request an Eco tune from Malone thats smoke free.. My old Golf TDI passed just fine tuned.
 
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casioqv

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Location
California
TDI
2009 Touareg TDI
I love the webasto install, I need to start planning that for my Touareg. Could you share roughly the time and cost involved?



I'm in the same boat as you- had a Golf but mostly used it for family road trips + mild offroading. My Touareg is a huge improvement... but I wish it had air suspension like your Q7.
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
Fitting the heater and the fueling was super easy.. not much time at all, the wiring was a ***** though hadda take apart most of the rain tray to find the passthrough and get some wires in it.. that took nearly a full day of cursing and stuff, mostly putting it all back together perfectly the way it was before I started.. hadda take parking brake all apart, then a few wiring plugs all the way apart and then route and clean up the wiring all OCD like so it was as close to OEM as I could make it.. If you had everything ready to go, and were not discovering new hurdles along the way you could fit it in during a weekend comfortably taking your time.. overall my vehicle sat waiting on parts more than it did getting worked on because I was making the road as I went along, I didnt know how to access firewall passthrough, I didnt know my fuel tank already had a parking heater standpipe, I didnt know what fitting fit that standpipe used, I didnt know the plugs needed swapped out, I didn't know component protection would cock-block me at the last moment, etc..

I'm at about a grand for the swap when all was said and done, which is rather steep but the last 2-way remote start I installed cost me ~$800, a Webasto Thermotop C on Amazon is $1600, and this parking heater was a +$2000 Euro option originally.. I did buy a very low mileage one w/a newer build date than my Q7.. might be able to get it down to ~$800 if your patient and look for the right deals.. A Tregg would be a bit cheaper since it wont need plugs swapped, or component protection fixed.. they are also Espar heaters not Webasto and a bit cheaper there too, not having 4 zone could make international shipping cheaper due to weight.. I think you can put one in your vehicle for ~600-800

I've still got another $150 to spend on it getting the remote so I can fire it up inside the house too.. but thats all wired up and plug-n-play at this point, I'll wait til it starts getting cold before getting one.
 
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Blue Chip

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2020
Location
Northwest Misssouri
TDI
2010 Audi Q7 P+
Sorry for the lack of response, been busy

Fit some BFG T/A KO2's in 245/65/17 on some 10 Spoke Porsche Rims:


Suspension is on Comfort mode which is about 50% lift.. FYI Calipers are too large for 17's unless your willing to attack em w/an angle grinder :p
Installed mudflaps, but dont have any pictures of em on..

Registered this for Dieselgate, its getting me >$4500.. I'll be getting a Malone Stage 2 w/DPF & SCR Delete once its 'fixed'.

Adaptive Cruise is the tits, works great on the highways and traffic.. I left it on in the mountains and didnt have any problems with guardrails, but it did let off the accelerator when cornering hard so it was not powering through em.. kinda neat

Installed a Recaro Car seat, rear facing behind my seat and I didnt have to adust my seat settings at all; thats pretty freaking badass.. I'm 6'4" and I could barely tolerate a carseat behind me in the Golf, forget a rear facing one..

I'm just as much in love w/my Q7 as I was my Golf, cant wait to take it to Oregon this summer for the Eclipse... Finally I can drive out on the beach.
Hey Nayer, followed your thread all the way through here. Great Stuff. I am new to the forum and will be getting my first Q7 (2010 TDI P+)this wekend. Needs tires. I was thinking of getting a used set of 18 in. 6 spoke Q7 wheels from a 2015 standard to get a better ride. Think they would have the same problem as your 17s regarding the caliper fit? Do you see any other issues? TPMs? I would appreciate your insights. By the way, that is a killer camp trailer! Where do they come from?
 
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nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
na 18's would fit fine, i didnt have tpms in mine but a 2010 might.. forget when they went from active to passive.
 

Blue Chip

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2020
Location
Northwest Misssouri
TDI
2010 Audi Q7 P+
Thanks Nayr, I wondered where you went. However, somehow I missed your 10/8 reply. Just found it as I was cleaning out my email. I did get a set of OEM 18s and put 245/60/Mich. Lattitude HPs on them. Ride didn't approve as much as I had hoped, maybe 44 psi is too much. I wonder if 40 or 36 might work better. But I like the look. My speedometer now reads about 2 mph fast at 70 mph. I put in a new set of TPM sensors in the wheels, but I don't know if that was necessary. I read that they went to the passive system in 2011, but I am not sure mine did not already have it. How did your Malone 2 work out for you?
 

nayr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2014 Audi Q7
Yeah 44psi is way too much, I'm sitting at about 38psi IIRC.. a little bulge is okay, and normal.

I'm loving my Malone Stage 2, never hesitates anymore and I'm seeing better fuel economy with AT's and a roof rack than I ever did completely stock and unfixed.
 
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