So I've looked all over and I can only seem to find instructions for the facelift cars. I've just seen some mixed tidbits about the job on pre-facelifts. Do I need to remove the radio or not? Does the radio have to come out before the wood trim surround can come off? I took a flathead to it and it seemed to come unclipped at the top and bottom, but seems stuck around the radio. I didn't want to pull too hard and risk breaking the plastiwood.

Any advice or guidance to a preexisting thread is much appreciated!

 

i think it just clips around the radio also. mine just comes right out. of course mine has been removed before

 

Alright, I'll give it another shot then.

 

If it is like my 96 sorry newb here when I removed my radio there were 2 screws behind it

 

Should be the same. Do you mean there were screws holding the radio in place or holding the trim piece in place? Also, how'd you get the radio out? Thanks for the help!

 

I just did my 2000 b5 and didn't need to remove the radio to remove the top plate. but, this article seems to indicate the radio needs to be removed to access the upper plate on other models. You can buy radio keys on ebay for about 5 bucks (4 needed), so pulling the radio out a little or a lot is not a big deal if you have the keys. Half of the clips on the back of my upper plate trim did in fact break, but super glue fixed all that.


How To: Airbag Control Module Replacement - AudiWorld Forums

 

For future reference, neither the radio nor the face plate need to come off to get the relay out. I stuck a flathead in the gap between the hazard button and the plate and had it out after about 30 seconds of prying and wiggling. Then I just pulled the relay out from the harness and put the new one in. I pushed it all back through the hole in the plate and voila, blinkers.

I did notice that the clips on the old relay were plastic whereas the clips on the new one were metal. I dunno if the plastic clips made it easier to pry it out like I did, but it should probably work either way. The "click" the blinkers make changed a bit too, so I'll have fun getting used to that!