Just got back from stealership after discussing a rattle with them. While there, the dealer showed me an alert on my car saying that an Audi required repalcement had not been done...

"Oh yeah?" says I, "And what would that be?"

"They want to place the water pump and braces and coolant. We need your car for about a half day."

Guys, is this a known issue with 2008 Q7's?

EDIT: Or is this something they "forgot", and when I took out the extended warranty (recently) they thought they'd better do it before the pump failed and the insurance company discovered their "oversight". Perhaps I'm just being paranoid...?

Not yet! That said the guys in the Q5 forum had a bunch of fails on early production 09 water pumps. Audi replaced them with alloy impellor type. Perhaps yours is also composite. They fail in cold... like freezing. Just a thought. Keep us posted.