A4 armrest lid catch - easy fix

[Spitfires]

I've been having some fun in the garage with our "new" Cab - cleaning the engine bay, conditioning leather, painting calipers, valeting things nobody ever sees, that kind of thing, and fixing a few minor issues. One of these was the very common and annoying fault of a broken catch on the armrest lid - a very weak and poorly-designed part. Anyway, all the forum advice is the same - you need a new lid. Which, for a leather one, means £100 at Audi or a knackered one from ebay. The thing is, it's absolutely not necessary at all.

I bought one of these for £3.99 (ebay)


Black Armrest Lid Console Cover Latch Clip Catch For AUDI A4 B6 02-07 E177B


Then, without bothering to remove the lid from the body of the armrest I used a stiff, narrow filling blade to pry the top trim part of the lid away from the hinged part. Starting from the inside down near the hinges, pry on both sides - 3 evenly spaced clips per side. When these are free, push the section backwards and away from the other half - it's held by hook shaped retainers so don't lift the part straight up but slide it off. The new catch part can be popped in very easily and the trim section snaps back on with no fuss.

Probably worth ordering a couple of catches, I'm certain they'll be just as short-lived as the originals but the job to change them took 3.5 minutes...

[wmccann]

Good find, just ordered few from Hong Kong at £1.20 each!!!

W.

[Spitfires]

£1.20, lol. If only Audis were always this easy to fix, eh?

[rhencullen1989]

Hi Spitfires, unrelated to your post, but as a new A4 owner, check your plenum chamber bungs are not blocked,
the one under the brake servo you should be able to poke something through it, the one under battery will need battery and tray removed to check it. You could just pour several litres of water into the plenum chamber area and see how fast it flows out!

[Spitfires]

Ah, plenum chambers... I recall a dealership cleaning them on my old Mk IV Golf turbo years back. I'd forgotten all about it, I will lift the bonnet tomorrow and check them.

Thanks very much for the heads up...

Tim

[Spitfires]

Hi Spitfires, unrelated to your post, but as a new A4 owner, check your plenum chamber bungs are not blocked,
the one under the brake servo you should be able to poke something through it, the one under battery will need battery and tray removed to check it. You could just pour several litres of water into the plenum chamber area and see how fast it flows out!

So I had a chance to inspect the drains this morning before work - the drain plugs appear to be trimmed, I can see where they've been cut so it looks like Audi has got to them at some point, looks like a minor recall 'modification' maybe? Everything dry. I really appreciate your warning though, really can't be doing with a knackered brake servo or a flooded cabin from such a daft cause.

tim

[Dee Edwards]

HI never been on a forum before but i have this problem also just got a4 2.4 6 speed convertible on monday the glove box hinge is broken is this an ebay buy aswell also need a manual it was missing i have a orange traingle light with arrow / circle around it any ideas

[Spitfires]

HI never been on a forum before but i have this problem also just got a4 2.4 6 speed convertible on monday the glove box hinge is broken is this an ebay buy aswell also need a manual it was missing i have a orange traingle light with arrow / circle around it any ideas

Hello, hope you're enjoying your new Cabriolet.

The glovebox hinges and catch are a very common failure on these cars, I have already read a lot about it even though I'm a new owner too, The fix is a more complicated procedure than the armrest - it involves removing the glovebox from the dash to be able to fit a new reinforcement for the hinge. There are various ways to do this, but brackets to repair hinges are actually available on eBay although I'm not sure they fit our cabriolets, as well as the saloons. Many people simply change the entire glovebox - Audi charge around £150 to supply and fit one I think.

Do a search on this site or on google - 'Audi B6 glovebox hinge broken' - you'll find a lot of info already posted, should give you a good idea what to do.

As far as the warning light on your dash... that's the ASR (traction control) warning. It will flash on if the system is activated when driving, that's normal, but if it is permanently lit up it means that the system is either switched off or a malfunction has occurred.

You can switch ASR on and off with the button on the dash above the stereo that says 'ESP'. Touch that button and see if the ASR warning light goes off on the display. It is a safety system that helps control the car's handling in certain conditions so it is best in normal driving to leave it on. When it's switched on with the ESP button you won't see the warning light any more

Hope this helps. You can pick up a manual for the car on eBay, quite useful to have but I expect you can get it as a pdf online as well if you do a search.

Tim


ASR warning light (traction control system) - this warning light will illuminate on startup then go out after about 2 seconds. The light will start flashing when your Audi A6 is moving if the traction conrtol system is activated. If this light is continuously set on it means that the system is switched off, or a malfunction has occured. Since this system works in conjunction with the anti lock braking system (ABS system) the ABS light will also illuminate.

[rhencullen1989]

Probably best to fix your glovebox hinge with a repair kit, usually thin shaped steel plate and screws, buying new is expensive but will be new obviously. Chek and double check ebay if buying secondhand, the boxes are different from left and right hand drive and a secondhand one may have started to fracture but not actually broken.

The reason they break is because the damper is to stiff and people force the glovebox down and force it shut again which stresses the already weak hinge, a lot of people remove the damper but then the glovebox light will not work, spraying the damper assy with silicone spray helps a bit or take it apart and remove the guts.

Better still open and close the glovebox as if you were stroking a maidens thigh!!