J. Patterson

Thanks for posting the link. I paid $1100 to replace one in our A6. I live in fear of it happening to the Q7. They don't like sweet tea ! :-)

RS5Will

the time has come for me to change out my MMI control as well. The links that are posted here are not working anymore though...

Dmdawes

I can get to the item http://www.densoautoac.com/product-1284.html

But make sure it's a fit for your car, contact them at Hison@shumatt.com and confirm fit to your year and model Q7 assuming with Navigation

urotex

Caig makes a contact cleaner DeoxIT, #DN5S-6N that people use to clean printed circuit boards (PCB's). They also make a protectant that can be applies after cleaning your board to protect it from future spills called DeoxIT SHIELD. has anyone tried this?

I'm going to pull my board and try to clean it with a contact cleaner (probably CRC QD) and see if it works better. I've already paid the dealer $300 to clean it once, and it works better, but still a little buggy. Apparently liquids, even water, when they evaporate leave salt residue which is the problem. You can clean PCB's with water if you use distilled water, or you can use alcohol. I've heard of people cleaning their boards in a dishwasher.

By the way, does anyone know if that chinese board works in a 2012 Audi Q7?

VAG-Fan1

When we got our Q7, I had not researched much on the "chronic" MMI spillage issue and once I found out, I got to thinking about how to avoid the problem and was thinking some sort of protector or coating over the board would be a good way to do it. I was even thinking about making a thermoform out of thin Kapton film that matched the MMI board shape such that you would just fit the form between the cosmetic switches and the board itself- spills would drain out to the perimeter and onto who knows what in the transmission tunnel, but at least not your MMI board. It would make your red LED button indicators a funny copper-orange red (from the typical raw Kapton color), but it would shield all the switch contacts from contaminants and is safe to use on electronics and higher heat areas (up to a point).

urotex

Apparently the design of the board and the large dial prohibits this. There is a rubber pad or something that sits on top of the PCB and the dial activates sensors on the PCB through the pad. I don't think that you can place another layer between the dial and the PCB and expect good signal transmission. The pad apparently affords some protection, but obviously not enough.
I don't know this from first hand experience, but rather from viewing the board and reading descriptions of the cleaning process on other forums.

urotex

This is from a different thread: Author is UnWhollyOne

"I know this is an old thread, but since I came across it when I had the same problem this week, I thought I'd respond with my solution.

I decided to take the thing apart and inspect for damage. An excellent post from One Hot Avant (https://forums.audiworld.com/showthre...Center+Console) walked me through the disassembly process. The only thing I would add is that you have to press out the rear vent on the center console and remove the arm rest using a 14mm socket.

I took the MMI control module apart and found an integrated circuit board with button and optical switches on top and processors beneath. The board was covered by a rubber mat which served to transmit button pressure and protect the board (minimally) from fluid & dust. Really an inadequate design for something next to a cupholder and beneath a sunroof if you ask me.

At any rate, inspection beneath the rubber cover revealed a fairly clean board, but with evidence of light corrosion at the solder connections of some of the switches. The switches are small white plastic boxes with a cylindrical plastic button on top actuated by pressure delivered through the rubber mat. Solder connections were on one side of the switches separated by a few mm and a thin salt deposit (metal oxides) had built up between several of them. This would serve to short the switch and the MMI would malfunction and/or automatically shutoff to protect itself. I removed the oxide using a Q-tip soaked in alcohol (not the best cleaner for electronics) and used a hair dryer to dry quickly and remove debris.

Following reassembly, everything worked great!"

urotex

I took mine apart tonight to clean it.
I was surprised how simple it was.
The hardest part was figuring out how to unclip the cigarette lighters (white clip-in connection at the very bottom) and there is a little push in clip on the yellowish white MMI connector to release it.

Anyways, there is not a "rubber mat". It appears that in my 2012, the joystick is optical. Thus, I don't believe putting a protective layer on top of the PCB would work because it would interfere with the signal. Maybe if it was clear???

Sprayed it down with CRC QD electronic cleaner and used alcohol and q-tips to remove a small amount of sticky residue in the joystick area and near the volume ****. Hopefully this solves the problem. The board on my 2012 looks very similar to the chinese board.

Overall, it was very simple. Would of taken about 15-20 minutes but I spent 10-15 minutes detailing the console while I had it out.
I had to "Reset" the MMI after I reinstalled, but it everything appears to work fine.
I guess I'll find out if it fixes the glitches when I drive it tomorrow.
Cheers!

bmwrt

A couple of years ago I had the same problem. I found a link here that show me how to take the entire system apart, washed all the buttons and rinse the board. Voila! works great every since.

Canadian Lurker

Just wondering if anybody has installed an "alternate" cupholder maybe somewhere on the dash? My wife likes the extra cupholder in our 2004 Lexus RX330 which pops out of the dash (under the vent to the left side of the steering wheel). Keeping the liquids further away, as long is it was still convenient, would help too. I've looked around and haven't found anything that would work.