A6 saloon factory fitted retractable towbar sticking / rear bumper removal

[Smudge79]

I've had my a6 from new with a factory fitted retractable towbar. A couple of years ago i took the Teleflex cassette apart as the towbar (cable) was stuck. It was a bit of a bodge getting it back together as i did it with the bumper still on (very tight fiddling about with the fittings) but surprisingly it worked fine afterwards. Subsequently i haven't been towing anything for any length of time and so it seems to have become stuck again. The warning light is now permanently on.

Local garage seems to think it is knackered, but!! I'm an inquisitive Royal Navy aircraft engineer by trade (though that was 25 years ago) and I'd rather have a go at fixing it. Any advice on removing the rear bumper without damaging it would be appreciated and any tips or tricks / knacks to get the towbar off also.

I've checked with the main dealer and it seems there are no spares available via VAG for the towbar, so I'm looking at reconditioning anything that needs it myself. Any contacts for sourcing spares / bits and pieces would also be really appreciated
Thanks Smudge79

[jbmercapple]

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5f72370e82239/Removing%20rear%20bumper.pdf
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5f72371d24af6/Removing%20tail%20lights.pdf

Some info I found when I fitted a towbar to my saloon.

Cheers


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[Smudge79]

thanks
I eventually plucked up the courage to remove the rear bumper and remove the towbar to have a good look at it. The problem was the release cable had corroded both at the point it enters the teleflex sprung cassette, and also where it was chafing against the towbar . I replaced the cable with a bicycle (racing brake) cable with a bit of fettling, cleaned up the towbar and sprayed with hammerite - looked good as new. I manufactured a new entry point that i bonded (araldite) to the cassette to create a more robust and watertight housing for the cable. My other problem was the towbar warning signal on the dashboard. This required removing the tamperfproof screws on the swivel release mechanism and checking the microswitch which operates on a chamfered spigot that pops up/down during the release / locking of the towbar in the in/out position. Just needed 3 tiny strips of harry-black-maskers to adjust its position and that was fixed as well. Wish i had taken photos to sahre but happy to talk anyone though it if they come across the same problem.