Decided to give the whole interior of my (relatively) recently acquired 2004 A4 B6 Cabriolet a bit of a birthday.

I found that the front end of the boot mat was soaked in oil. As the car is new to me, I assumed a previous spill - but got suspicious when I found the underside of the soft top compartment was wet with oil as well.

I'm wary of of opening the soft top to look in case I can't get it shut again. In this weather that's not a good idea - and I just got it clean.

Anyone know of a common problem with the soft top operating mechansim of this model - and if so, a route to repairing it? I have good facilities and lots of experience with cars - just not this one.

Will

Hello Will,

I maybe out of date with this, but hoods used to be operated by an oil filled compressor, so under those conditions, oil in that area could indicate a failed hose or connector. If this still is the same then it’s unlikely the hood would operate even if you tried it.

Worth having a look in your handbook to find the method ( special tool?) of manually operating the hood. Having said that, it’s probably best left closed in terms of access to the offending part.

Please let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Gareth.

Hi Gareth.

Thanks for the reply. I'd sort of guessed something like that would be the problem, unwelcome as it is. I owned a SAAB Cabriolet for many years and it was electro/hydraulic. I'm going to leave well alone for now, put something in the boot to catch any more oil, then await a bit of decent weather. In the meantime I'll research the 'manual' closing method. I've seen something in the handbook but will dig out all the detail.

Will