when i push the switch forward to turn my brights on it doesnt do anything. I can pull it back towards me and the brights will turn on as long as im holding them back. Sometimes when i push it forward the brights turn on and stay on. I think it might be a short in it. I saw the https://www.audiforums.com/forum/diy-do-yourself-55/replacing-turn-signal-relay-dudley-doright-17621/ for the diy on the turn signal relay but i dont think that is what is happening. Does anyone know how much this would be to fix?

 

It's likely your turn signal stalk (aka combination switch). They're known to fail in many ways, and the fix is to replace it. Look through www.audiworld.com or www.audidiy.com and you'll find a tech procedure to replace it. It's not hard to do, although you need to be careful since you have to remove the airbag from the steering wheel, and the part is around $158 from ECS Tuning.

 

If you can DIY it I would recommend it, mine was bad when I bought the car and like a newb I took it to the dealer:

Jerk: "Ok Mr. Cook you're all set, that will be $300"
Me: *Tears arm off and places on counter*

And I second what Upstate said, be carefule takin the airbag out

 

Yep - the biggest thing in dealing with airbags is ESD (electrostatic discharge). Despite what people may say, ESD is real (I work in aerospace engineering and I've seen (and done) my share of cooking electronics with the body's electrical potential). Disconnect the battery, and before you handle the airbag connector (the yellow one), you need to discharge your body.

Ideally you'll go to an electronics shop and spend $5 to get a grounding cord and wrist strap - put it on your wrist snugly (with the metal contact pad on a part of bare skin that you've moistened with saliva) and connect the alligator clip of the cord to a metal part of the car. This will ground your body so you don't risk detonating the airbag with bodily charge.

If this is not possible (and I stress, I'd make the effort) at least keep contact with one hand on the frame while you disconnect the connector with the other - have someone else hold the bag itself so it doesn't fall. Once it's undone, handle it by the vinyl part (where the Audi rings are) and set it facedown well away from you and anyone else with you. Then tear away at the car. Follow the same precautions when reassembling and you'll be fine. Believe me, don't f*ck around when it comes to these things - you don't wanna be on the receiving end of a discharging airbag when it's not anchored to the steering wheel (think "cannonball through the chest").

If you're uncomfortable with sitting in front of the bag while you work on it, it's possible to undo the two bolts when not in the driver's seat. Sit in the passenger seat for the right-hand bolt, and stand outside the car for the left bolt. Oh, and after you remove the big R55 Torx bolt that holds the wheel on, mark the splined steering shaft and the wheel with a fine-tip Sharpie marker - there's about 200,000,000 splines and it'd be VERY easy to misalign the wheel when reinstalling.

 

oh good tip, never thought of that.

I didn't know that your body created that much electricity that you could set off the air bag, thats kinda wild. Also didn't know there was such a thing as a grounding cord for a person lol.

 

Yep - I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if there is any safeguard in the airbag system that makes its firing threshold higher than typical body static, but with the power of an airbag, I'm not willing to bet that there is. Best to play it safe.