2012 AUDI Q7 engine overheat

Instrument s and warning /indicator lights 11
too high, or the coolant level is too low
¢ page 32.
If the needle is well in the upper area of the
ga uge , the coolant temperature is too high.
Stop the vehicle , switch the eng ine off and
allow the engine to cool.
If the warning light
comes on again after driving a short distance,
contact an authorized dealer.
A WARNING
-Always observe the warning in
¢ page 248, Engine compartment, be ­
fore opening the hood and checking the
engine coolant level.
- Never open the engine hood if you see or
hear steam, or if you see engine coolant
dripping from the engine compartment.
You could burn yo urself. Let the engine
cool off first so that you cannot hear or
see any steam or engine coolant.
(D Note
- Mounting additional lights or accessories
i n front of the air inlets reduces the cool­
in g effect of the rad iato r. At high outside
temperatures or high engine load, the
engine could overheat.
- The front spoi ler has been designed to
properly distribute the cooling air when
the vehicle is moving. If the spoiler is
damaged, this cou ld red uce the cooling
effect and the engine could then over­
heat. Ask your authorized Aud i dealer for
assistance .
Tachometer (engine rev counter)
The tachometer indicates the engine RPM
(revolutions per minutes) .
The tachometer @¢ page 10, fig. 3 is the left
of the two large clock-type displays.
The engine turns at a speed
1,000 times the
single digit in the display, e.g . if the needle is
pointing at the "2" the engine is turning at
2,000 RPM. If
eng ine RPM drops below 1,500, you should
downshift to the next lower gear. The red area
at the end of the scale indicates maximum
permissible engine RPM after the break -in pe­
riod. Before reaching this area, move these­
lector lever to position "D (Drive)" or ease
your foot off the accelerator pedal.
Q) Note
The tachometer needle should not move
i nto the red range. If it does, then only for
a very short per iod of t i me. You could
damage your engine by driving at high
RPM .
@ For the sake of the environment
Upsh ifting early saves fuel and reduces en­
gine noise .
Digital clock with date display
Date and time of day can be set in the MMI.
Fig. 4 Instrument cluster w ith digita l clock
The date, time of day, and time and date for­
mat ca n be set in the MMI. You can find out
more in the MMI manual.
(D Tips
- The d ig ita l clock and the odometer are
turned on for about 30 seconds when
the driver's door is opened.
- When the ignition is turned off, the od­
ometer reading and the digital clock w ith
date display can be switched on for
about 30 seconds by pressing the
! CHECK I button c> page 12, fig . 6.

12 Instruments and warning/indicator lights
Speedometer with odometer
The speedometer shows you the vehicle
speed, and the odometer shows you how many miles (kilometers) you have driven .
Fig. 5 Instrum ent cl ust er Odo mete r an d re set bu tton
The odometer and trip odometer are located
i nside the speedometer.
- USA mode ls - Miles
- Canada models -Kilometers
You can sw itch the display from miles to kilo­
meters and vice versa via the MM I. You can
find out more in the MMI manual.
Lower odometer
The low er odometer shows the total number
of mi les (kilometers) driven.
Upper odometer (trip odometer)
The upper odometer shows the tota l number
of mi les (kilometers) driven since you last re­
set the odometer to zero. You can use this od­
ometer when you want to keep t rack of how
many miles (k ilometers) you have driven for a
single trip or errand. The last digi t indica tes
1/10 of a mile (100 meters) .
You can reset the trip odometer to zero by
pressing the Reset button
~o.
Malfunction message
If there is a malfunction somewhere in the in­
strument cluster,
dEF will appear in the trip
odometer and will stay on. Contact your au ­
thori zed Aud i dealer to have the problem cor ­
rected.
(D Tips
- The digital clock and the odometer are
turned on for about 30 seconds when
the driver's door is opened.
- When the ignition is turned off, the od­
ometer reading and the digital clock with
date display can be sw itched on for
about 30 seconds by pressing the
! CHECK I button ¢ page 12, fig . 6 .
Fuel gauge
The fuel gauge only works when the ignition is
on.
When the needle reaches the reserve mark,
the ~
page 35 (i symbol appears in the in­
strument cluster d isplay as well as the mes­
sage
Plea se refuel. There are app rox imately
between
2.6 and 3 .2 gallons (10-12 liters) of
fuel left . This message is meant to remind you
to
refuel.
T he total tank capacity of your vehicle is l isted
i n
¢ page 316.
(D Note
Never run the tank completely dry . An ir­
regular supply of fuel can cause engine
misfiring and fuel could enter the exhaust
system . The catalytic converter could then
overheat and be damaged .
~button
You can perform different functions with this
button.
Fig. 6 CHECK butto n in the instrument cluste r

110 On the road
The parking brake warning light. (USA)/ .
(CON) illuminates when the parking brake is
set and you switch on the ignition.
_& WARNING
-
Always release the parking brake com­
pletely. A partially engaged brake will
overheat the rear brakes, reduce their ef­
fectiveness and cause excessive wear. This could lead to brake failure and an accident .
(D Note
Only after the vehicle has come to com­ plete stop, should you firmly set the park­
ing brake and move the selector lever into
"P".
Parking
To prevent a parked vehicle from rolling
away, there are a few things you should do .
When you park your vehicle, do the
following
• Stop the vehicle using the brake pedal.
• Apply the parking brake firmly .
• Move the selector lever into the
P position
~ &.
• Switch off the engine and remove the igni-
tion key from the ignition lock.
When you park your vehicle on hills, do
the following
• Stop the vehicle using the brake pedal.
• Apply the parking brake firmly.
• If you are parking headed downhill, turn
the front wheels
toward the curb.
• If you are parking headed uphill, turn the
front wheels
away from the curb.
• Move the selector lever into the
P position.
• Switch off the engine and remove the igni­
tion key from the ignition lock.
_& WARNING
This is how you can reduce the risk of in­
jury when leaving your vehicle. -
Never park the vehicle where it can come
in contact with dry grass, spilled fuel or
any other flammable materials.
- When parking on hills, always turn the
wheels so that the front wheels will first
roll into the curb, if the vehicle should
start to roll.
- Never allow anyone - especially small
children - to remain in the vehicle when
it is locked. locked doors make it more
difficult for rescuers to access the pas­
senger compartment in the event of an
emergency. Danger to life!
- Never leave children unsupervised in the
vehicle. Children could release the park­
ing brake or move the gearshift lever out
of gear. The vehicle could start to roll
away and cause an accident.
- No matter what the season is, the tem­
perature in a parked vehicle can reach
dangerous levels.
@ Note
-Please exercise care when you park your
vehicle in parking areas with parking bar­
riers or curbs. Parking barriers and curbs
vary in height and could damage your
bumper and related components as the
front of your vehicle moves over a barrier or curb that is too high, as you park or as
you back out of a parking spot. In order to be sure that no such damage can oc­
cur, you may wish to stop short of having
the front tires of your car touch the park­
ing barrier or curb.
- Please also exercise exceptional care
when you drive up or down steep ramps
or drive over curbs or other obstacles, for
which the vehicle is not designed, be­
cause components of the vehicle close to
the ground, such as bumper covers, spoilers and suspension and exhaust sys­
tem components, may become dam­ aged.
Starting on hills
Hill Hold makes it easier to start on hills.

156 Hom eli nk®
Homelink ®
Universal remote
control
General information
Applies to vehicles: with Home link® universal remote
control
The Homelink ® feature can learn up to three
radio frequency codes for most current trans­
mitters used for operating garage doors, es­ tate gates, home or outdoor lighting sys­
tems, and other devices.
You must first program the Homelink ® trans­
mitter before you can use the system
~ page 157, Programming the Homelink ®
transmitter.
In order to program the Home link ® transmit­
ter for devices utilizing rolling code, a second
person on a ladder who can safe ly reach the
garage door opener motor is recommended. I t is also necessary to locate the "learn" but­
ton on your garage door opener motor . Refer
to the operating instructions for the opener,
as the location and color of this button may
vary by manufacturer.
You can still use the origina l remote control
for the device at any time .
.&_ WARNING
-
- Never use the Homelink ® transmitter
with any garage door opener that does
have not the safety stop and reverse fea­
ture as requ ired by federa l safety stand­
ards. Th is includes any garage door open­
er model manufactured before April 1,
1982.
- A garage door opener which cannot de­
tect an object, signa ling the door to stop
and reverse does not mee t current feder ­
al safety s tandards. Using a garage doo r
opener without these features increases
risk of serious inj ury or death.
- F or sa fety reasons never release the
parking brake or start the engine w hile
anyone is stand ing in front of the vehicle . -
A garage door or an estate gate may
sometimes be set in mot ion when the
Homelink ® remote control is being pro­
grammed. If the device is repeatedly ac­
tivated, this can overstrain motor and
damage its e lectr ical components -an
overheated moto r is a fire hazard!
- To avo id possible injuries or property
damage, please always make abso lutely
certain that no persons o r objects are lo­
cated in the range of motion o f any
equ ipment being ope rated .
(D Tips
-If you would like more information on
Homel ink ®, where to purchase the
Homel ink ® compatib le produc ts, or
would like to purchase the Homelink ®
Home Lighting Package, please call to ll­
free: 1-800-355-3515 .
- For Declaration of Compliance to United States FCC and Ind ustry Canada reg ula­
tions~
page 322.

Electronic differential lock (EDL)
The electronic differential lock monitors the
rotational speed of the drive wheels.
G ener al note s
The electronic differentia l lock (EDL) helps the
car to start mov ing, accelerate and climb a
gradient on surfaces providing poor or almost
no gr ip . W ithout EDL, this would be difficult,
if not impossible .
How the s yst em work s
The EDL operates automatically . It monitors
the rotat ional speed of wheels w ith the help
of the ABS sensors <=>
page 223. If a noticea­
ble
slip i s detected at the wheels (e.g . on slip­
pery ground
on one side), the spinning wheels
are braked and power is transferred to the
other wheels. This is done up to a speed of
about 60 mph (100 km/h). Noises from the b rake system signal that wheel spin is being
contro lled .
Driving off
When driv ing off , a lways be sure to keep road
conditions in mind as you accelerate . If one
drive whee l spins because it is on a surface
with less grip, apply
plenty of throttle until
the car starts to move.
Overheating of brakes
To prevent the disc brake of the b raked wheel
from ove rheating if subjected to excessive
l oads on this whee l, the EDL cuts out tempo ­
ra rily. The vehicle remains operational and be­
h aves in the same way as a vehicle without
EDL.
As soon as the brake has cooled down, EDL
switches on again automatically .
A WARNING
-When accelerating on slippery surfaces,
such as on ice or snow, always be careful
when depressing the acce lerator pedal.
Even with the EDL working, the drive
wheels can spin and reduce your ability
to control your car . R isk of crash!
Int ellig ent technolog y 221
-The increased safety afforded by EDL
does not mean that you can take safety
risks. Always adapt your driving style to
the road condit ions and traffic situation .
(!) Tips
If a fault occurs in the ABS, the EDL is also
not functioning. This is ind icated by the
ABS warning light <=>
page 18.
' Anti-Slip Regulation System (ASR)
The Anti-Slip Regulation System prevents the
driven wheels from spinning when the car is
accelerating.
G eneral not es
The Anti-Slip Regulation System (ASR) is inte­
grated in the Electronic Stability Control
(ESC). When the vehicle starts up and acceler­
ates, the wheels are prevented from spinning
by adjust ing the eng ine power to match the
amount of grip available from the road sur ­
face .
How the system works
ASR performs automatica lly, i.e. without the
driver 's intervention. With the aid of the ABS
sensors <=>
page 223, ASR monitors the speed
of the dr iven wheels. If the wheels start to
spin, engine torque is reduced automatically
unt il the t ires find enough grip to lock onto
the road surface. The system is active across
the enti re speed range.
The ASR works in conjunction with the ABS. If
a malfunction should occur in the ABS, the
ASR wi ll also be ou t of act ion.
A WARNING
The increased safety affo rded by ASR does
not mean that you can take sa fety risks.
A lways adapt your driving sty le to the road
conditions and traffic situation. ...,
•
•

-Before descending a steep grade, reduce
speed and shift transmiss ion into a lower
gear or lower driving range. Do not ride
the brakes or hold the pedal down too
long or too often. This could cause the
brakes to get hot and dimin ish braking
efficiency.
- Do not "r ide the brakes" by resting your
foot on the pedal when you do not intend
to bra ke. Th is may cause the brakes to
overheat, prema ture wear and increased
stopping distance .
- Under certain climat ic and operating
condit ions such as passing through wa­
ter, driving in heavy rain or after washing
the vehicle, the effectiveness of the
brakes can be reduced . In winter, ice can
accumulate on the brake pads, linings,
discs and drums. Carefully apply brakes
for a test . Brakes will dry and ice coat­
ings will be cleaned off after a few care­
ful brake applications.
- Driv ing for an extended period of time on
salt-covered roads w ithout us ing your
brakes can also affect braking efficiency .
Clean off accumulated salt coating from
brake discs and pads w ith a few caref ul
brake applicat ions.
- If you damage the front spoiler, or if you
install a different spoiler, be sure the air
flow to the front brakes is not obstruct ­
ed. Otherwise the brake system co uld
overheat reducing the effectiveness of
the entire brake system.
- Failure of one brake circuit will impair
the braking capability resulting in an in­
creased stopp ing distance. Avoid driv ing
the vehicle and have it towed to the near­
est author ized Audi dealer or qualified
workshop .
Brake booster
The brake booster adds extra braking power.
The brake booster works with vacuum pres­
sure which is created only when the engine is
running¢ &,.
Int ellig ent technolog y 223
A WARNING
-Never let the veh icle roll to a stop with
the engine shut off .
- If the brake booster is not working, for
example when towing your vehicle, or because the brake booster has somehow
been damaged, the brake pedal must be
pressed considerably harder to make up
for the la ck of booster assistance .
Functioning of Anti-Lock Brake System
(ABS)
ABS prevents the wheels from locking up un­
der braking.
T he ABS contributes effect ively to vehicle con­
trol s ince it preve nts the whee ls from
locking
when the brakes are applied. This means that
the vehicle remains steerable and is less likely
to skid .
With ABS y ou do not nee d to pump the
bra ke. Just h old t he br ake ped al d own .
However, do not expect the ABS to shorten
braking distance under
all circumstances.
When dr iving on g ravel or on new ly fallen
snow o n top of icy s urfaces, braking dis tance
may be even longer, therefore, under these
circumstances, it is especia lly important that
you drive s low ly and wit h great care.
How the ABS s ystem works
An a utomat ic check is made when a speed of
about 12 mph (20 km/h) is reached . When
th is happens, a pumping noise can be heard.
If an ind iv idual whee l begi ns to rotate too
s low ly in relation to vehicle speed and tends
to lock, the ABS automatically reduces brake
pressure to prevent tha t whee l from locking .
T his automatic adjustment p rocess will cause
a
sli ght vibrati on of the brake pedal and some
no ises to a le rt you that ve hicle speed m ust be
adapted to existing road and traffic condi ­
tions. •
•

@ Tips
- When the engine is running, never hold
the steer ing whee l turned a ll the way to
the right or t o the left f or longer than 15
seconds . The power steering pump w ill
overheat the hydraulic f lu id if you keep
hol ding the steer ing wheel turned all the
way . This is likely to damage the power
steering system .
- If the power steer ing system should fail
ent irely, or if the engine is not running
(fo r example , while being towed), you
will still be able to steer the vehicle .
However ,
considerably more effort will
be required to do so.
- If the power s teer ing system should
have a leak, or is not f unct ioning proper ­
l y, contact yo ur authorized Audi deale r
immediately.
- The power stee ring system requires a
spec ially formulated hydraulic fl uid. The
power steer ing reservo ir is the one locat­
ed farthest to the rear on the left side of
the engine compartment
c> page 260.
The co rrect flu id leve l in the reservoi r is
i mportant for p roper functioning of the
power steer ing .
Driving with your
quattro ®
With all-whe el drive , oil four whe els ore driv ­
en.
General information
W ith all -whee l dr ive , power is dis tr ibuted to
a ll fo ur wheels. This happens automatica lly
dep ending on yo ur driving sty le and the road
conditions at th e time . See a lso
¢ pag e 221,
Electronic differential lock ( EDL) .
Winter tires
When driv ing in the w inter , your ve hicl e w it h
all -wheel drive has an advan tage, even with
regu lar tir es. In wint er road conditions it may
be adv isable to mount wint er tires (o r all -sea­
son t ires) for improved driveability and b rak-
Int ellig ent technolog y 225
ing: t h ese tires must be mounted on all four
wheels. See also ¢
page 289, Winter tires .
Tire chains
Where tire chains a re ma ndatory o n cer tain
roads, this no rma lly also app lies to veh icles
with all-wheel drive¢
page 290, Snow
chains.
Replacing wheels/tires
Vehicles with all-wheel drive must always have ti res of t he same s ize. A lso avo id tires
with different t read dep ths. For det ails see
page
c!;> pag e 285, New tir es and replacing
tires and wheels .
_& WARNING
A lways adj ust yo ur driv ing to road and traf­
f ic conditions. Do not let the extra safety
afforded by all-wheel drive tempt you into
taking extra risks .
-Altho ugh the all-wheel drive is very ef ­
fective, always remember that braking
capacity is lim ited by tire traction. You
should therefore not drive at excessive
speeds on icy or slippe ry road surfaces .
- On wet road surfaces, be careful not to drive too fast because the front wheels
could begin to slide o n top of the water
(aquaplaning). If th is should occur, yo u
will have no w arning from a s udden in­
cre ase in engine speed as w ith a front ­
wheel drive veh icle. Always drive at
speeds which are su ited to the road con­
ditions -risk of crash.
Energy management
Starting ability is optimized
E nergy management controls the distribution
of electrical energy and thus optimizes the
availability of electrical energy for starting the engine.
If a vehicle with a conventiona l energy system
is not drive n for a long per iod of t im e, the bat­
te ry is discharged by idling cur rent consume rs
(e .g. immobi liz e r) . In cert ain circum stan ces it ..,_
•
•

Catalytic converter
Applies to vehicles: with gasoline engine
It is very important that your emission con­trol system (catalytic converter) is function­
ing properly to ensure that your vehicle is run­
ning in an environmentally sound manner .
... Always use lead-free gasoline¢ page 250,
Gasoline .
... Never run the tank down all the way to
empty .
... Never put too much motor oil in your en-
gine ¢
page 264, Adding engine oil~-
.,. Never try to push- or tow-start your veh icle.
The catalytic converter is an eff icient "clean­
up" device built into the exhaust system of
the vehicle. The catalytic converter burns
many of the poll utants in the exhaust gas be ­
fore they are released into the atmosphe re.
The exclusive use of unleaded fuel is cr it ically
i mportant for the life of the cata lytic convert­
e r and proper fu nctioning of the engine.
A WARNING ,~
- Do not park or operate the veh icle in
areas where the hot exhaust system may
come in contact with dry grass, brush,
fuel spill or other material which can
cause a fire.
- Do not apply additional undercoating or
rustproofing on or near the exhaust
man ifold, exhaust p ipes, catalytic con­
verter or heat shie lds . During driving, the
substance used for undercoating could
overheat and cause a fire.
{[) Note
-Be aware that just one tank fi lling with
le aded fuel will already seriously de­
grade the performance of the catalytic
conve rter .
- Do not exceed the correct engine oil level
¢ page 264.
-Do not drive until the fuel tank becomes
completely empty. The eng ine could mis­
fire . U nburned fuel could a lso get into
Dri vin g and en vironm ent 229
the exhaust system and this cou ld cause
the catalytic converter to overheat .
- Do not turn off the igni tion while the ve ­
hicle is moving.
- Do not con tinue to ope rate your veh icle
unde r these conditions, as othe rwise fuel
can reach the catalytic converter. This
co uld result in overheating o f the con­
verter, requir ing its replacement.
- To assure efficient operation of the Emis ­
sion Control System:
- H ave your vehicle maintained prope rly
and in accordance w ith the se rv ice rec­
ommendat ions in you r Warranty &
M ain tenance boo klet.
- L ack of prope r maintenance as we ll as
improper use of the vehi cle w il l impair
the function of the em ission contro l
system and could lead to damage .
@ For the sake of the environment
Even when the Emiss io n Control System is
operat ing properly, the exha ust gas can
have a sul fur -li ke exhaust gas smell under
some operating states . This depends on
the sulfur content of the fuel being used .
Using a different brand of fue l may help,
or f illing the tank with lead-free super
grade gasoline .
Diesel particulate filter
Applies to vehicles : with diese l eng ine
The diesel part ic u late filter filters nearly all of
the soot particles out of the exhaust . The fil­
ter cleans itself automat ica lly under normal
driv ing cond itions . If the filter ca nnot clean it­
self (for example, because you a re o nly dr iving
short distances), the fi lter becomes clogged
with soot and the. symbo l for the diesel
particu late filter ill uminates ¢
page 3 7.
A WARNING
- Do not park your vehicle over flammable
materia ls such as grass or leaves because
the high temperature of the diesel par-
ticulate fi lter could start a fire. ..,. •
•