I have a 2000 A8. If I try to direct airflow to the drivers side footwell, I get a clicking noise from under the dash in the footwell area and no airflow. I believe I need to replace the motor that moves the flap in the ductwork there. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it something I can do? Does anyone have any diagrams/instructions on what to do. Your help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

 

Rudi, I have a 2000 A8L with a similar problem. Clicking sound only happens when I have the controls set on AUTO. From what I have found, it is a common problem and is NOT an easy fix.

 

JM If I find out more I will let you know. Hopefully there's some tech article out there where I can do it or get my local mechanic do it. If I take it to "Hans and Otto" they will just laugh and call their wives to let them know that the kids can now go to Harvard or Stanford since I will be paying the tuition.

 

If you have vag-com, it will tell you which of the motors is making the clicking sound. The Bentley will tell you the location.

They're pretty easy to find, they all have bright yellow connectors. If you remove the side panels, (see audipages.com, unclogging A/C drains for pic on how to remove) you can easily see 4 of the 5 or 6 that are behind the dash. There is one on the pass side up REALLY high. The procedure to change that one is remove the dash!

If you don't have vag-com and the noise is constant, you can tell which one is bad by putting your hand on it. They're just little DC motors. There is also an adaption procedure in vag-com which basically runs all of them fully open to fully closed. Sometimes this will solve the problem for a short time.

You can also just unplug the ones that are making the noise (I did for the one mentioned above) as long as the airflow seems ok. Some are more critical than others.

There are just 2 screws that hold them in place. Depending on which one, you might have to use an offset screwdriver and possibly remove something. Once they're out, you can check and see if it's the flap (in the vent) that's actually jammed by moving it by hand. Once you go to school on one, they're all the same in different locations.

Finally, once you have the motor in your hand, the ones that are really shot will have a shaft that just spins freely. You can test them on the bench with a 12v source (a 9v battery will probably work too) and listen to see how smoothly it rotates and sounds. You might also need to do this if the shaft winds up in the wrong position for re-installation. Just a little trial and error until it moves into you move it into the right position. They're keyed and only go in one way.

I'm on my 3rd D2 and have done this (and everything else) at least 3 times. Give this a shot before you bring it in, they'll charge you a fortune.

Bob

 

2000 A8
Loud huming sound, driver's side at dash/firewall; told it is the Heater Control Valve;
everything seems to work Ok; problem coming ?/
Jack280sl

 

Thank you for the replies. I got lucky because a friend of mine is a mechanic who seems to be able to get into about anything and fix it. He found the bad stepper motor and replaced it. the motor was 125.00 from Audi (same price from S&G Auto parts by the way). He didn't hit me too hard for labor since it was one fairly easy to get to. I still have the car, it now has 165k on it and I hope to get to 250k without any huge breakdowns. I still love how it looks and drives. I did upgrade to some VMR VB3 rims 18" which set the car off really nice in my opinion. I do have a slight clunking noise up front...replaced inner/outer tie rods...control arms are good. I have heard that sometimes strut bearings go bad...anyone have this happen and did you get a clunking noise that sounds like it is higher up front? I also still have the curious squeek that comes from the left rear sometimes upon start up...its not brakes because the car can be sitting still...it just happens for a few minutes then goes away....Another item only happens on the first start up of the day which is the idle surges a few times then levels out...once it does that it is fine for the whole day...it lasts all of maybe 10 seconds when first starting it....anyone have that issue and get it solved? Anyway I hope all you AUDI folks are having good things happening !!