The driver side headlight cooling fan on our 2012 A7 is making noise when the car is running and during the time the headlights are still on when the car ignition is off. It’s either something stuck or, more likely I think, an indication that the fan is dying after about 90k miles.

a local audi repair shop (not a dealer) tried to sell me in replacing the entire headlight assembly for almost $3,000 fornthe part alone, until I looked online and pointed out to them that the fan is sold separately.

has anyone ever replaced the headlight cooling fan? (The parts diagram doesn’t really show exactly where it is on the headlight unit, and I can’t find any online videos about the part being removed.). Can it be removed without removing the headlight assembly? Any experience with noise from one of your headlight cooling fans.

thanks in advance!