How a Bad Timing Chain Can DESTROY Your 2.0L Turbo Audi
Known for having timing chain issues, this 2015 Audi Q5 was on the brink of catastrophic engine problems prior to this repair.
Used cars can be a major headache, as many of us are well aware, constantly needing pricey maintenance and repairs once they reach a certain point in life. This has become increasingly true in recent years, as new vehicles continue to get more and more complex and employ more electronics and fancy wizardry designed to extract both performance and efficiency while meeting emissions standards. In the case of the 2015 Audi Q5 that that recently rolled into the shop of YouTuber David Long – or the Car Wizard, as he’s otherwise known – he managed to find a major issue that could have resulted in a total engine failure before that actually occurred.
The turbocharged 2.0-liter Audi/VW engine present in this 2015 Audi Q5 certainly has its fair share of known issues, as Long discusses in this video. In this case, timing chain problems have reared their ugly head, which was diagnosed by a long cranking time, as well as the fact that the crossover ran rough once it did start. This is a common problem that Long deals with all the time, so it wasn’t difficult for him to figure out what was wrong with this customer’s Q5, at least.
Long also found that the fuel rail pressure was too high, which is yet another symptom of stretched timing chains. When it gets to a certain. point, it causes issues with the high pressure fuel pump since it’s ran off the camshaft at the back of the engine. In this particular case, the timing chains have stretched so badly that engine damage was very likely to occur soon, so the owner obviously brought it in just in the knick of time.
Luckily, this problem isn’t horrifically expensive to fix, with Long noting that it costs around $2,000 to rectify – however, rebuilding or replacing the engine is obviously a far pricier proposition. The good news is, a new timing chain kit will last an easy 100k miles, as Long notes, so if you have an Audi equipped with this engine and you’re experiencing problems starting and a rough idle, it’s probably best to get it done as soon as possible.
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