CASE STUDY AUDI Q5

To provide proof that using the BG Performance Service works, making your vehicle greener we are purchasing and testing vehicles to provide results before and after. The first cab off the rank is Greenie, our little Audi Q5 2010 model.

Meet Greenie, the BGREEN 2010 Audi Q5 2.0 TFSI Quattro 8R Automatic Wagon.

Our History & Experience with Greenie.

17th February 2021
This 2010 Audi Q5 had a major repair just before we bought it. 

Upon purchase this vehicle had travelled only 100,606 km. This vehicle had been serviced per the manufacturer-recommended service intervals. It is a turbocharged, direct-injection petrol engine.

Intake valves, valve lifters, timing chain and head gasket, were replaced at 100,005 km, it was a major service.

With such low kilometres, this should not have happened. Typically, the need to prematurely repair timing-related lubricated parts happens because of lubrication issues. Not enough protective film and volume of lubricant causes excess heat and engine oil break down, leading to premature wear.

Air intake related parts in GDI vehicles such as this suffer from excessive oil evaporation (oil consumption) and intake deposits from surprisingly low kilometres. If this vehicle had undergone a BG Performance Service from new, it would be covered by BG Lifetime Protection Plan®. This major repair was preventable with BG Performance Service. Worst-case scenario, BG Lifetime Protection Plan® would cover this vehicle for up to $4000.

This vehicle does not have high emissions stationary, which is no surprise because of its more efficient emissions control system and the recent top engine rebuild. In this case study we will be monitoring the condition of this vehicle and reporting on its journey.

25th March 2021 
We took Greenie for a road trip from Newcastle to Tamworth. Until now Greenie had been driving mainly inner-city around Sydney. With just regular commuting Greenie has been performing well and we haven’t noticed any out of normal behaviour.

On the trip to Tamworth the vehicle began notifying a transmission malfunction. This vehicle has a CVT transmission, which is belt driven. This transmission type has a tendency of belt slipping, causing the transmission oil to start to lose its friction properties. We are monitoring this condition.

At the same trip we got first notification of low engine oil. We added 1 litre of manufacturer specification engine oil.

17th June 2021
Mainly, Greenie has been in city drive mode, in and around Sydney. We checked the oil level from the vehicle’s system and it was under half of the maximum level. At this point it has been driven 111,080 km. We are also seeing the transmission malfunction warning more frequently.

Because of the excess oil consumption Greenie will have already started collecting deposits, especially within the air intake area. It is most likely loosing piston ring function because of this deposit formation. Because of these symptoms we will need to do additional services before starting preventative measures with BG Performance Service.

We will do a Dynamic Engine Restoration to thoroughly clean the oil system. This product was actually developed for Volkswagen and Audi. We will also be doing a BG Platinum® Fuel System Service to clean the intake, injector and combustion chamber deposits. We will report our findings before and after these services.

BEFORE

22nd June 2021
It was time to put Greenie to the test where our purpose is to discover information about Greenies emissions under load. For this purpose we partnered with one of our service partners in Rutherford, the DPF Centre.

In the before testing did many tests and photographed the piston tops and intake. Our focus was to understand the emission values under load, hence the dyno runs.

Before:

• CO: Very high (partially combusted) ranging from 1.62 - 6.66%

• CO2: Ideal is 14-15 (measure of completely combusted fuel) ~ 12

• HC: anything is undesired (unburned fuel) ranging from 18 - 24 ppm/1

• O2: Leftover reactant (low amounts with high CO is bad) 0.05

• Lambda: 0,83 -0.95 desire value = 1 (burn quality how close is combustion to ideal) “stoichiometric”

9th June 2021
We had our partner Radical Mechanical perform Greenies first BG Service. Due to continuous oil consumption Greenie was to receive more than just the preventative Three-part BG Performance Service. We carried out the BG Dynamic Engine Restoration first to make sure we reset the engines lubrication system.

We then continued cleaning the “upper engine“ with a BG Platinum® Fuel System Service. This service is designed specifically for modern direct injection petrol engines.

After

3rd July 2021
After one tank of fuel it was time to do the tests after the BG Services. We specifically wanted to drive the car to consume the fuel system cleaner and allow the GDI Air intake Cleaner to continue cleaning. 

We were surprised how much emissions this vehicle had under a load. That being said, we felt quite confident that we can effectively lower them.

CO: Essentially zero (minimal partial combustion) ranging from 0.01 - 0.19%

CO2: Closer to ideal (indicates more complete combustion) ranging from 14.61 - 15.30%

HC: Cut in half from before 2 - 10 ppm/1

O2: (Very good sign if extra O2 left over when CO is essentially zero) Ranging from 0.09 - 0.15.

Lambda: Ideal = 1 vehicle is running as close to 100% efficiency as possible. Ranging from 0.999 - 1.005.

Remarkable improvement on carbon monoxide and hydro carbon values.

The most harmful emissions from vehicle integrity and pollutions point-of-view are CO = Carbon monoxide and HC = Hydro Carbons. Both these values point to unburned fuel and incomplete combustion.

2nd August 2021
Greenie has been driven for over a thousand kilometres and so far we have seen no oil consumption. Greenie seems to be driving well but the transmission system is showing an alert. This constant malfunction warning keeps coming on. We will be doing a BG Transmission service to see if this is a deposit related warning.