I have a rare opportunity to do my downpipes or gut my cats. and tune my 4m Q7. Anyone have any experience with this?

All Q models & VW Touareg
#1

I will be pulling my motor and swapping it on my 2017 Q7. I dreamed of tuning the TCU/ECU since day one but quickly found out it has little options for performance items. I spoke extensively in emails with JHM last summer and eventually gave up hope and I am glad I didn’t move forward with tuning it as the motor had a catastrophic failure. I must have deleted all communication as I cannot find any trace of my old email conversations with them and now talks with them seem to be ignored, maybe they thought I wasn’t going to purchase anything. I distinctively remember them saying they have a catless tune for their test pipes they do sell for my year Q7 and they use a 207mm crank pulley. But now when I go to their website I see nothing listed for the 4M Q7’s. Have they halted production on that tune option?

Anyone have experience with any other tunes for my Q7? APR doesn’t offer TCU and they won’t do a catless tune.

#2

I do. Getting the cats out is a fucking nightmare. If you gut them that’s not supper hard but getting JHM downpipes makes the after install WAY WAY WAY easier. Screw trying to put those trashcan dps back in.

Sucks about the motor. Can you speak more on what happened to the motor? Did you do a comp test. As those PCV units are known for eating oil.

With JHM they’re usually pretty good getting back to you but I’d shoot them a follow up if you don’t hear from them over the weekend. I know lots of times I’ll shoot them an email and if they need to get more info back to me I tend to see those emails over the weekends.

The APR tune is not bad. I JHM has had the Q7 tune out for a while but that system is rare. I’d expect to see more companies able to flash that system later this year but I’d also caution you on what tune you pick. While JHM tends to be VERY strong and fast there is no shortage of companies willing to blow up your car to try and make a name for themselves. The Audi game is now changing a bit from whos the fastest to who’s less likely to blow up your motor.

As for JHM I know they still sell parts for the 4m You’d just need to ask for them in Email for now due to some of the EPA issues. Many companies are not going to open advertise

#3

Thanks for the detailed reply. All I know about the motor (bought it with 99,xxx miles and currently at 113,xxx) is I have a loss of compression on cylinder 1 and a hide cylinder error as a result. I first took it to any reputable warranty shop that was available as the shop I bought the Q7 from, meaning I basically picked it up at Manheim and drove it 11 hours home and paid them the fees and got a loan to pay them back for the cost of the car at the auction and who is a good friend of mine, was not in a position to work on it. But I got it at such a deal, I paid $5100 for an extended warranty. I am glad I did. My friend said he will try to squeeze it in so I told the first shop I will go elsewhere and. Currently it’s still sitting. The first shop wrote up 2 invoices, 1) new long block crate motor and swap parts from my motor 2) a yard motor with equivalent mileage. I wanted a newer motor but not brand new as it would eat up too much of my warranty. I found many within a 5hr drive with low miles in the 30k range and that is why my friend said he’d do the warranty work. I just need him to free up some time to get the warranty approved. But still not sure if it’s a stuck valve or a scored cylinder. I told him I’ll stop by this week to see if I can help with anything so he can get the ball rolling but he has a big exotic car show this week so he has no time.

As for the cats, I would rather gut them them take the $700 risk of not liking the sound the downpipes have been known to make that I hear most hate, especially on a luxury normally quite Q7. As far as I know, the 4M through JHM is a 207mm crank pulley, a catless tune if I go that route and a TCU flash as well. No other mods are available through them and they have strong suggestions on not porting the blower. So I will only be able to push that motor so much, but like I said, rare opportunity to tune it so I will deal with 425hp (give or take) on Audis heaviest vehicle they have the 3.0L in :hugs:

#4

The 3.0T is a pretty solid platform. But too many times just like any platform people push mods for the sake of mods.

The throttle body is kinda a wash as the blower necks down in the neck area to be more or less a bigger restriction. You can port the blower but you have to look at what’s the goal. A 207 is a great pulley and best I know JHM is the ones who came up with the idea. Most people were doing a smaller pulley and then an upper pulley. APR A long time ago came up with the aftermarket blower kit and then abandoned it. Then the concept was brought back up and you can see nothing really is coming from it as you can make enough boost on the stock blower to damage the motor putting a bigger blower on isn’t solving anything.

The thing that kinda sucks in the 3.0 supercharger motor game is where some companies draw the line. For me I don’t care about the last bit of power I can get or being johnny race car getting that last .10 out of the car. I’d rather just have a car that’s going to run. and run strong for a log time.