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Today we have something NEW, something DIFFERENT, and something BROKEN.
This is a failed rear drive unit from a 2023 Audi E-Tron EV. Unfortunately I don't know miles but being 2 years old or newer, we can safely say it failed prematurely. In this video we tear this unit all the way down. The cause of failure is not easily apparent like in ICE vehicles, but the end result is the same; Replacement!
This failure is not uncommon, in fact there are lots of people talking about similar failures with both the E-Tron and its sibling the VW ID4.
The drive unit, which consists of the electric motor, inverter, and the gear drive, are having problems with coolant intrusion. These are liquid cooled and there are seals to keep coolant out of important places that coolant should not be. When those seals fail, it can wreak havoc on the electrical system causing faults and putting the vehicle in limp mode. Occasionally they'll require a tow in the dealer to repair. Thankfully most of these seem to be under warranty at this point but I haven't seen concrete evidence the parts they are installing as a replacement won't have the same issues in the same amount of time.
My name is Eric and I own and run Importapart, a full service auto salvage business. Normally we tear down blown up engines to find out what happened, why it happened and what parts survived that I can resell. In this case, this was simply for science and entertainment.

As always I hope you enjoyed this video. I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one!

-Eric

00:00 Intro
03:12 Disconnecting the power wires to the inverter
04:13 Unbolting the Inverter
06:22 Zipping the bolts out of one of the case sides. What's inside this?
08:21 Lifting the case side off to reveal the differential.
10:06 Sliding the differential out
10:44 Unbolting things
14:01 Zipping the bolts out of the other side, but not the entire case half
16:14 Unbolting the other case half, the big bolts
19:18 WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE
21:09 WHERE ARE WE
22:27 THEY SPINNIN'. This spins forever, but it's gotta come out!
24:25 Gettin' the heavy weighted gear moving laterally out
25:24 Mutilating the trigger wheel for science
27:43 We are going to get this out, one way or another...
30:17 The Final Blow
30:39 Full inspection of all removed parts
32:47 Summary