[V8] intermittent instrument cluster FIXED

[Mike Arman]

Dove in today to see why my heater was blowing tepid air out the defroster 
vents only . . .

Wound up removing the dash pad and instrument cluster, figured I was there 
anyway, right?

Lemmee tellya, stuff is really *packed in* under and inside the dash and 
transmission tunnel!

Dash pad came out without too much cussing, remove the top of the plastic 
box surround on the steering column, remove the various 4mm screws (two on 
each end, one it the middle of the defrost outlet, one at the top of the 
instrument cluster), ease the pad out to the right, take it out the 
passenger door.

Instrument cluster comes out with two more 4mm allen screws on the left, 
pull back the connector locks and unplug it, take it inside.

There are three plastic covers on the back of the instrument cluster - a 
small rectangular one with three screws, and two larger ones with several 
more. Remove screws, remove rear covers.

Turn over the cluster, and note there are two PCBs, held in with screws. 
Remove screws, lift out the PCBs. There is a green connector between them - 
it slides apart. There is a multi-pin connector for a dual relay board on 
the back - this needs to be carefully lifted out first so the large PCB 
will come away from the plastic housing. I pushed on the inside of the pins 
to get it started, and then gently pried it apart with a flat screwdriver - 
did I mention gently?

Once apart, I examined the male pins on the smaller of the two PCBs - these 
go into the green connector on the larger PCB. Using a 5 power jeweler's 
loupe ($2.99 at Harbor Freight), I noticed that three of the eight pins had 
cracked solder joints.

Using a GOOD solder station, not a soldering gun, I carefully re-soldered 
the pins.

To quote Mr. B, assembly is the reverse of dis-assembly.

Son of a gun - here's what works now that didn't before:

1) Interior light now goes off when the car is started - no more "eventually"

2) Water temp and fuel gauge rock solid and indicating correctly

3) No more false alarms about no oil pressure (even though the car runs 
perfectly, makes no nasty noises, and the gauge reads correctly) - I 
presume this is the Audi equivalent of "Dave, the air lock is open . . . "

4) Heater fan blows correctly, center vents, defrost, whatever I want, AND 
I can even now see the illumination of the climate control head!

Total time was about 45 minutes to remove the pad, 20 more for the cluster, 
30 minutes bench time, 20 minutes to put the cluster back, one minute to 
reset the clock - I'm leaving the pad off until I replace four of the 
instrument light bulbs.

Still have a few odds and ends to fix - the trim strip on the passenger 
side is retained by three solid brackets bolted to the giant magnesium 
cross member - and the brackets are held to the wood by some microscopic 
wood screws, all of which have pulled out - so that's what this tiny screw 
I found on the floor fits . . . I'm going to glue (Plio-bond) the brackets 
to the trim strip and use the tiny screws only for alignment.

So far, I'm pleased.
Best Regards,

Mike Arman
(Audi V8 . . . it isn't just a car, it's an ADVENTURE!)  


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