Dale Kirstein

After looking at the dashboard on my 96 A4 slowly curling up from under the windshield for over a year, I decided to take action. Since even the sides had begun to curl, the option of reaching the problem areas by removing the windshield was out. I opened up my trusty Bentley Repair CD, and researched what is involved in removing the dash. To my surprise, it looked fairly straightforward. Next I spoke with the local auto interior shop, which assured me they could easily re-glue the dash once I removed it.
I won't attempt to describe what is involved in removing the dash. I'll just make a few points. First, you have to take out the passenger side airbag. This scared me. However, I followed all the precautions in the shop manual, and wore goggles just in case, and had no problems with the airbag.
Second, although the manual says you need to take off the steering wheel, I managed to remove the dash with the wheel still on. It took some serious maneuvering to get the trim around the steering column off, but I was able to avoid taking the steering wheel air bag and spring apart.
Third, although you don't need any special tools, this job takes patience, methodical work, and a flexible spine. You spend a lot of time with your head where your feet should be. And you end up with lots of loose pieces. Don't try this without the manual. Don't think about driving the car without the dash. Every gauge and switch is gone. I don't know how the computer would deal with it, but I didn't want to find out.
The removal took me about 3 hours (I didn't rush). The shop (Boulder Auto Interiors in ......Boulder) took two days to re-glue the dash. And the reinstallation took another 3 hours.
When the moment of truth arrived, I reconnected the battery and everything worked! No airbag light, no check engine light, all the gauges worked! What a relief. Best of all, the dash looked almost new. There was a very slight bump in a few spots where the clamps had been, but no one but me will ever notice it. Definitely worth doing, at least in my opinion.

Total Cost: 6 hours of time and $50 at the interior shop.

Graves

...control arms, pw motors, sunroof switches, 2nd gear synchos, dashes, clutch cylinders, master cylinders, high oil consumption, noisy valves, and on and on.

Audi you may have good engineering but your parts manufacturer and QC are horrible!

Graves

Dale Kirstein

Listening to this board gives a really poor sample of Audi quality, because this is where people go to find help and get answers to problems. Most people don't post with "Another trouble free year" messages. True, my car has had more problems than it should, but it is an early production version (8-95), and I'm really picky.
I also have a Miata, which is one of the most trouble-free cars ever made. But if you go to the Miata web site, you would think that they are constantly breaking down because everyone is asking how to fix things.

Dale