I bought my 2015 Audi Q3 used about a year ago. Engine is in great shape, so is the car. However - on a hot day - or, after driving for more than one hour straight, if I shut off the engine - and then attempt to restart? The steering column shakes, the power steering light error comes on, and the car is not operable. About 30 min to a few hours later, the car starts up fine as if nothing happened. I have had the alignment and new tires put on, I have had Audi Dealer and Private German Shop look it over, no one can figure out how to fix it - especially since by the time it gets towed to a shop after a breakdown such as I described? The problem is gone.The Audi motherboard computer shows no history of errors in the system, although I understand that the prior owner may have had her history of aggressive off road driving “cleared” by another Audi repair shop. Possible, but unlikely since she was about 70, and there isn’t one scratch on this 7 year old car. It has 88K miles on it. Help!!
You need someone at your trusted shop to drive the car until it exhibits these bizarre symptoms. Im afraid you just found out why the car was for sale.
If neither an authorized Audi dealer’s service department and an independent German-specialized shop have been able to figure-out the underlying problem, then the issue just might be insoluble, and old_mopar_guy just might be correct:
Well this sounds like a fun problem for a mechanic who is well-versed in module networking, CAN bus issues, and has the proper tooling.
Since the issue presents itself along with a Power Steering Warning indicator and steering wheel shaker activation, the logical first place to test would be the power steering system. Unfortunately, intermittent problems are the hardest to find, and that’s because often times we need the issue to be present to start our testing.
If the car were at the dealer and in a “no-start” mode the trouble should be easy to track down.