Hi All. I've got a 2000 A6 2.7T. About a month ago, I started noticing little bits of black foam sitting on my dash. Most bits are extremely small (the size of a grain of sand), but every once in a while they are the size of a nickel. No matter how often I clean them up, they reappear within days. I'm assuming they are coming from the vents on top of my dash (thought I've never actually witnessed a piece blowing out)...but have no idea what the source is. My initial guess was that the cabin (or other?) air filter was decaying...but it seems those are not made from black foam.

Any ideas???

 

Im having the same problem i have seen i come out and some get stuck in the vent i have no clue where it comes from but i hope it all blows out soon lol

 

I took my 2002 to the dealer with the same problem, and they said it was the foam around the vents, but that it was a common problem and there is really no need to worry. I still get little bits every once in a while. I would be interested to know if we could just remove the vents and either place new foam weather strip or just remove it entirely.

 

yes i have the same thing. its annoying! lol. at 1st i thought it was the horrible dust and dirt of the streets of jersey city from driving with all the windows n sunroof open and accumulating on my dash. but it has now come up inside the vents too.

 

Yep same thing here too! 99 A6Q

 

That's gotta be foam wrapped around various electric wires (just as you see around the sunroof's switch wire harness if you take the cover off).
As it ages, that foam starts desintegrating and the H/AC blower pushes it through the vents. Probably nothing to worry about, as it isn't weatherstripping that may need to be replaced.
Probably Auditech can confirm/inform where that foam exactly could come from.

 

I get it too. Little chunks and big chunks. I wished it just all be done. I hate seeing it all the time. No matter how often I clean it/blow the vents on HI, it just keeps on coming out.

 

Ok here's what I think..
There is no way that throught the network of blower vents, pipes and hoses in the dashboard of our cars, there are no openings to the inside of thwe dast where wires are exposed. This foam is the stuff that is used whern two vent ducts are mated together to keep the air in the ducts and from not escaping between the cracks... What kills this foam is age but not as much as moisture. Moisture attacks this type of foam and it falls off in chunks.. I already pulled aparty my dash last night to confirm it.. I run my finger across this foam duct sealent and it litterally falls off! Nothing to worry about although even if all this styuff finally comes off.. Audi designed the ducting system with very tight tolerances and when this stuff finally deterates all the way your air displacement wont be comprimised enough to notice....

Also when the first chunk fallls off the air coming out of that hole attacks the reat of the already deterated foam and its all downhill from there..

 

I had a similar problem, not with the dash but inside the engine bay. It seems it's lined with a black foam, and when I bought my car new (dealer demo) it was already flaking off around the battery terminals. They cleaned it up and it looks OK for now, but I got to wondering how long's this stuff gonna last??? Hearing about these problems with the dash makes me even more concerned. I just hope all the foam and stryofoam in the car holds up for the long run (check inside the front doors where they hinge- styrofoam painted to match the body color- what's up with that?)