I just bought this car a month ago. For the longest time I didnt even know it was an ash tray. I have removed it from the car and soaked it in hot soapy water. I can open and close the tray by hand very easy. It locks in and unlocks. I have removed alot of stuff stuck inside it. But it will not come out on its own. When its in the car you can push on it and it wont come out enough to get ahold of it. Is there a spring that pushes it out? How do you get it to come out? Its not stuck. I have googled, and searched up and down and cant find out how to repair it. Am I screwed?

 

Not sure. But I have an ash tray from a face lift (post 99.5 year) A4. The LED lights are bad but it works fine. You could swap for your trim (mine is wood) and plug in your LED lights. PM me if interested.

 

I'd suggest that you try and pull it out with a butter knife or something. I've used a butter knife wrapped in a thin cloth or a trim removal tool whenever I had to deal with a B7 with a stuck business card holder. There's probably some gunk on the track or something.

I'd imagine that the same method would probably apply to the ashtray on a B5.