Swisstony

snap. did that ages ago and works well for short trips ( i.e bringing your coffee back home ) but on longer trips the height of the cups tends to get in the way of you changing gear you will find. 

I sling mine in the glove box when not in use 

As stated above if you remove it you get left with this mess. 

I knew that I was going to change it so left it taped over as best as I could until I could source a centre console. Unfortunately there is no easy way to get rid of the holes unless you are an expert at filling in holes using plastic putty and even then you will still see the marks, or you get something to cover the holes or like me you replace the entire centre console. Not cheap but by far the best method. 

On 11/20/2022 at 3:27 PM, Ali78 said:

I want to buy the phone to sit in it. I don’t want to be able to use it! Any ideas?

man, why would you want to, it will be the oldset phone know to man 

I had the same thing when I bought my car , could see it would leave a mess if removed so bought a 3D printed cradle that was designed especially for that car and holes. Turned up and fitted so badly I sold it and instead ordered a second hand centre section and just replaced it . So you go from this 

to this 

On the list today were two things. Cam follower and snub nose front mount . 
Second one was so easy, jacked up the car, front tray off, banged my head so wondered why there was blood on the driveway  
Easy to remove the two sections and discovered that it was well past its best

got a replacement from awesome gti , whacked it on and happy days

Next was the cam follower A bit daunting for me as its quite an involved job but watched a few youtube videos and eventually managed to get the old one out. Think this was getting worn

Anyway all back together, primed, checked for leaks and then took it for a spin. Seems to be fine.

On 10/3/2022 at 8:35 PM, Steve Q said:

Please keep us posted on how you get on 🙂

Well all sorted and pretty painless though it is a bit tricky trying to work out how they did it. 

1. getting the boot liner off to gain access

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfbyfQ-735Y&list=FLNrEzF0hwD1r9VeGFJy1Cig&index=5

That video shows you how to get the boot liner off ( though the section about the rear seats is only applicable if you have folding rear seats. I dont so I skipped that part. )

2. The replacement part

This is the part you will need. It usually comes with the solenoid /actuator with the rod which is pushed backwards to unlock and forwards to lock. You also get the emergency red cord which allows you to open the fuel cap if the pin  is locked.

3. Removing the old one

This is by far the hardest part as couldnt work out how to remove it at first as there are two bolts/screws on the other side which you can see circled in this photo. 

They are screwed in from the other side which made me scratch my head a little until I tried loosening the shaft of the bolt a little from this side with pliers turning anti clockwise. This meant as they disengaed a could feel the unit free itself. Then realised it was a sliding mechanism thingy so they slide along two slots in the internal skin of the boot. 

Slide them to the left and they then pop out and the unit comes free. 

4. Replace the old with new

This is just a case of loosening the bolts that come with the unit just enough that they can slide back in the slots. Test it first before it tightening up the bolts. Just lock and unlock your car and you will see the pin engage. 

Then slot the pin back through the grommit that is the side of the fuel flap, slide onto the slots and turn the bolts tight. Then take the red emergency cable and slot it over the hex 

Button up the side of the boot lining, stand back and admire your handiwork 🙂

When I got the car I knew there was going to be stuff that I needed/wanted to do. Some because previous owner had bodged it or it was missing/broken/didnt like it. 

On the outside I have done quite a bit but this is all on the inside

• The rear bench was loose so with help from Rob sourced the retaining clips and installed them
• Bulbs for reading lights- god awful LED bulbs, most of them blown so replaced them with factory
• Retrofitted cruise control. That was a fun upgrade, has to make a hole in the bottom cowling for the extra stalk and teach myself the coding side of OBDeleven but it all worked out well in the end
• replace clutch control switch- that was needed for the cruise control to work
• RS4 pedals install- that was a !Removed! of a job as the RS4 covers are not as rubbery. Had to remove the accelerator pedal to get that one on
• 3D cupholders. Found some which fitted well. sanded them and painted and now they live in the glovebox when not in use. 

•  
• Replace centre console . The original had that silly 90's nokia style phone holder. Looked at 3D printed parts but in the end plumbed for a magsafe holder in the air vent. So there is a whopping big hole where the bracket used to be so sourced a centre console and will be replacing the whole unit when it arrives. In the meantime I discovered why the hands free calling was a bit muffled ( they had hidden the mic behind the trim...odd ) . Anyway was looking to see how I could have both the cable for my phone and the mic present and came up with a genius idea.Remove two buttons not in use, drill out access ( rubber grommet going in soon to tidy it up ) and feed cables back to head unit

• My brushed aluminium trim sadly had a big dent ( probably from passenger putting their fee on the dash.grrr ) so sourced a set of trims. They came pretty bashed up TBH but I wasn't too fussed as  knew I would be covering them. These are them from eBay.

• R

So decided to teach myself how to vinyl wrap. Never done it before but why the hell not 🙂

Came out all right I think on my first attempt.

and all installed in the car.

Getting there 🙂

6 minutes ago, Just Rob said:

You can find me on ASN aswell , been there for a fair few years now.

is that Audi sport net ? 

3 minutes ago, RoyC said:

Got a photo of your car ?

No problem. There is one  photo when I got the car. second one is the front a few weeks on but with the RS4 badge.A LOT has been done

13 minutes ago, Just Rob said:

Theres a knack to it, do it a few times and You'll wonder why it was so hard to start with👍

After scraping my nicely painted calipers, using every profanity I know, kicking random stuff around the driveway and nearly turning to alcohol in the afternoon, I wish I knew the knack !!! 🙂

29 minutes ago, Just Rob said:

That aftermarket bumper has Headlamp wash which implies the car had headlamp wash from the factory , which means it already has xenon's.

Unless the previous owner went all the faff to fit headlamp lamp into that bumper which seems a bit strange for halogens, xenon's were only available from the factory with headlamp wash.

Ah you return, this place hasnt been the same without you , nice holiday 🙂 

Sadly not . This bumper is aftermarket and this weekend decided to swap over my headlights which meant bumper off job. Now the headlight swap was a disater but will leave that for another day. In the meantime managed to do quite a few things whilst the bumper was off. 

1. remove the RS4 badge . In fact have removed all the RS4 badges as well this isnt that

2. tidy up the honeycomb grill where some had cracked.

3. Clean and tidy up behind the bumper, the airtec hoses etc.Tidy up the wiring loom for the front fogs which was all over the place 

Discovered that some parts of the bumper were tiger sealed to the existing bumper frame, really odd, basically a right bodge job. Then can see the parking sensors which are not plugged in and the headlight wash which are also emoty as my options on this car was neither of those things. so yes Halogen from factory. 

Anyway old lights back in for the time being whilst I wait on some parts. will update when I have this finally sorted 

2 hours ago, RoyC said:

No problem at all.

It is actually stuck to the square on the spring so almost no heat at all.

clever idea. Talking about that spring, what an absolute barstweard that was to get back in !!! why oh why did audi decide to use that instead of normal spring like things . 

41 minutes ago, RoyC said:

I purchased new callipers and sprayed them thunder grey.

 

Thunder grey is a fab colour, nice job there . I see you didnt go down the route of caliper decals but opted for a stuck on S-line bade ? How is the adhesive holding up on the heat ?

1 minute ago, dalswinton said:

Chris,

I took the outside route, if you are careful, you can remove

the black plastic surround without breaking it, on mine there are

4 indentations in the plastic, (2 top/2at the bottom, you would need to

cut a small slot in each one, then insert a screwdriver to prize

the trim out.

best of luck which ever way you go.

Brian.

Inside , outside, its like the hokey cokey in here 🙂 Well I am going to go from the inside first, if that fails, I shall try your method. If that fails, I shall throw all my toys out the proam, say loads of rude words and stomp back inside to have a sulk. 

Stay tuned for further updates. 

16 hours ago, Steve Q said:

I'm confident you have to go from the inside. You'll need to remove all trim surrounding the mechanism and flap. 

I was hoping that would be the best route as it is the least invasive. I have a nice video from you tube that shows the way to remove the boot lining ( though it does involve removing the rear seats !! ) and the part is arriving soon so when I do attempt it, I will take some photos and share either either my success or complete failure 🙂 wish me luck 

16 hours ago, Steve Q said:

Now that's a good job done! 

Thanks Steve, slowly working my way through the list of jobs 🙂

2 minutes ago, dalswinton said:

Hi Chris,

I have a 2017 A4 b9. I had the same problem earlier this year

( the fuel flap would not stay shut)

I think you will find, that you have to remove the complete plastic

moulding surrounding the fuel filler cap, to gain access to the

locking mechanism, as you cannot gain access from inside the

boot. try looking on u tube to see how it's done.

Brian.

This is my problem as there seems to be a conflict on what people say. Some say you need to go from the outside, break the plastic to gain access to the inside which obviously means you have to replace that part. Then some say you can go from the inside ( once you have removed the boot trim ) and just replace the actuator . It is the actuator that has the red emergency release pull. 

So hence my question, which is the best/correct method as no-one seems to know 

12 hours ago, coupe4 said:

hi chris, i think theres a thread on here somewhere  about replacing this mechanism,im sure i saw it a while back

I did have a search but will try again, thank you 

anybody ?

Guess people have had this issue before. Flap seems to have the pin disengaged so depsite me locking the car, the flap can still be pushed /lifted open

I assume when locking the actuator is meant to engage the pin to lock the flap and vice versa. 

Would this be a case of replacing the solenoid /actuator and if so how easy is to access. I assume I have to go in from the boot side ?

I have this one in my watch list on eBay , hopefully this is the right part 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324746197125?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338343596&toolid=10001&customid=eb%3Ag%3Avms%3Aeb%3Ap%3A324746197125%3BCjwKCAjwhNWZBhB_EiwAPzlhNhJkKtY2cHsU5EOmujuS763WENMmlfGkWAj870tC4bbJEu7GB58u4BoCIkMQAvD_BwE&gclid=CjwKCAjwhNWZBhB_EiwAPzlhNhJkKtY2cHsU5EOmujuS763WENMmlfGkWAj870tC4bbJEu7GB58u4BoCIkMQAvD_BwE

9 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi my impression of refurbished would be new seals and pistons and then a repaint, hey-ho thats just me.

Steve.

I agree but I guess the previous owner was quite happy to let some garage take his money and do a poor job. The refurbished wheels were another story...look great from the outside but boy the insides were just blown over  and you could see the paint over all the weights, glue residue etc. They didnt even bother trying to prep the wheel. 

We all get this , buy a car and start making it like you would like it, putting your own mark on the car etc. However every now and then you have to fix stuff that the previous owner did. Some is because its not to your liking , some of it is just plain crap and this is a perfect example. I remember the guy saying he had spent a lot of money getting the calipers refurbished and I even have a receipt from the garage. Well they have fleeced him something rotten as it was such a bad job. Spray painted whilst on the car and their masking was poor. And the cherry on the top ? They even painted the !Removed! brake pads !!! 

Anyway decided the only way to fix this was to remove the front calipers ( only hanging as I didnt want to bleed the brake lines) and clean and repaint but by hand with a brush. I have done this on my wife's Porsche cayenne so it wasnt new to me. 

First up the before shots with overspray, bad masking etc

Fronts cleaned, degreased and hand painted, fresh pads. 

Then decals applied ( not so easy on these style calipers ) and back on

Backs were a bit harder as I didnt have the tools to remove the handbrake lines so they were painted on the car and later I will replace the pads when they are worn

All cleaned and painted and back on

That is another job ticked off, onto the next which are the dodgy RS4 badges everywhere !!

Hi guys

My footwell lights dont work . They are wired in, all the bulbs are in , the fuse is good. I am trying to get my head around OBDEleven coding, particularly this section

Controller adjustment

select STG 46 (comfort system)
STG adjustment
  Channel 061 (ECU variant) (only 8E)

0 - without footwell lights / lighting package, four door control units
1 - without footwell lights / lighting package, mech. Fensterh. behind
2 - with footwell lights / lighting package, four door control units
3 - with footwell lights / lighting package, mech. Fensterh. behind

  Channel 061 (ECU variant) (only 8H)

0 - without footwell lights / light package (PR QQ0)
2 - with footwell lights / light package (PR QQ1)

But for the life of me when I go into that section there is nothing there about footwell lights ..any thoughts ?

I think ( possible ) that I may have solved this. 

It seems that the headlight section under Central Electrics was set to North America when it should be rest of the world/nordic countries. Obviously US have this silly sidelight/blinker thing as standard .Luckily I have OBD eleven and using their forums could see that if I wrote the values back to Rest of the world it will work. So made the changes last night and seems to have worked. This means when I turn on position 1 ( to old school people like me that is sidelights) it makes the driving lights/inside bulb come on. Then I have main beam in position 2 which is fine. Finally the outside or sidelights will only illuminate as orange when I use the indicators. 

So at last when my new bulbs arrive I can swap out for better ones , remove the orange cover and have them all working as expected. Fingers crossed as I need to get this sorted before the dark nights approaching. 

Hi Maz

They are 43 as well , see below 

8J X 18 ET 43

I have an S Line edition and was very lucky to pick up an immaculate set a week or so ago 

My car is weird ....

When I turn the ignition on and go to the first position on the headlight switch, I get a small bulb come on in the left hand cluster ( where there is another one for high beam) and the !Removed! sidelights come on but are orange as they are in the indicators !!! 

So when I use the indicators they just glow brighter....man that is so odd, almost like it is a US import... 

If I remove the orange lens and put a silvertec bulb, you know the ones that look silver but glow amber when activated, that means that they will still be on with the sidelight switch to position 1.

Someone please explain what the devil is going on with my car. 

Some photos. 

This is position 2

and this is full beam (apologies for the photo)