(If you happen to break your module by overheating something or burn down your house, please send me
your name and address so i can quickly send you some money to cover your costs..........JA UHUH!)
If i could afford it i would...
If you don't want to risk harming your module, you can pay a guy $60US on Ebay to do it for you.
A little background
My CC hadn't worked since i bought the car. I tried thoroughly cleaning the stalk switch using this
write-up:
http://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/1996882.phtml . It didn't help, and the preliminary tests
he has you do AFTER you remove the steering wheel all checked out anyway. To check the stalk switch
without removing the steering wheel, use this guide:
http://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/2601924.phtml (much easier than it looks, because your mainly
dealing with one easy-2-reach connector.
What you'll need:
soldering iron (i used a 30watt)
8mm socket wielded with a driver or socket-wrench and extention
Internet search engine possibly
So grab the module. Its under the glove box. Instead of removing the glove box, try removing the module
by just flipping the glove down-ward. To do that, simultaneously press the release tabs on either side
of the box. Remove the 8mm headed bolt. You can feel it too, its on the glove-box side of the module as it lies in the car. Disconnect the connector( a screwdriver helps for the tabs).
Now notice the 4 bent tabs on the connector side of the module, the aluminum is simply bent inward to
hold the plastic side in. Using a screwdriver twist the aluminum so the plastic piece comes off and
slide the circuit board out.
Now, on the back side of the circuit board, you'll see all of the individual solders. Notice the film
that covers 75% of the PCB (printed circuit board). I only re-wetted the un-filmed side and about 4 of
the solders on the filmed side that looked like they might be cracked. Basically what you want to do is
"re-wet" the solders, because 1 or more are cracked and have lost connection completely or are not able
to transfer enough juice. I'd recommend doing an net search for "soldering basics" and also, for photos of "cracked solder".
HOW TO SOLDER
Not much of a clue, but one reoccuring concept in my 10 minutes worth of Googling seems to be "heat the work, not the solder",(it also says this on the back of my iron package) in other words, in order for the different metals to bond, they all need to be hot, so poking just the solder won't help and may hurt. What i did was hold the tip of the iron to the metal prongs sticking out of the PCB first to heat it for a few seconds, then angling the tip so it touches solder. You can kind of see when the solder melts, it ripples kind of.
The only other thing i'd advise is snuggly re-crimping the aluminum so it doesn't allow the PCB to vibrate.
