A4 Interior Info; Don't Discard

[dan_masi@MENTORG.COM (Dan Masi)]

"Taking Apart Your A4", or
"I Broke Parts Of My A4 So You Won't Have To".

The following is some info on how to remove various pieces
of A4.  Some of this I learned from others... some of it
I learned from guessing right... and some I learned from
making bad assumptions and hearing that stomach-wrenching
"crrrrrrAAACK!".  Hopefully, this will prevent others from
having to hear that sound; however, this is not a guarantee
that you're not gonna break something!

Front Door Panels
-----------------
Remove the two visible screws at the upper corners of the door 
panel.  Remove the screw that's visible inside the oval-shaped
hand grip area in the arm rest.  This screw holds the oval
piece in place that trims the oval cutout in the armrest that
forms the hand grip.  Remove this trim piece by snapping it
out downwards; this will expose the final two screws that need
to be removed.  The door panel will lift straight up then out
at this point.  You'll have to disconnect electrical connectors
(speakers, power windows, etc).  You'll have to disconnect the
door latch cable... this hooks into the inside door handle, 
the cable end has a shepherd's hook (question-mark-shaped
hook) that you'll need to unhook.  Then, just lift the panel
up high enough so that the door lock pin is cleared, and you're
free.

The door frame has a number of small cutouts, into which 
L-shaped hooks in the door panel slide.  These cutouts have 
rubber pieces lining them, to keep rattles down.  When you
remove the door panel, keep an eye out for rubber pieces that
have come out of these cutouts; it's easy to knock them out
and then forget to put them back in.

Front A-Pillar
--------------
There is a Motorola microphone (w/preamp) mounted in the driver's
side A-pillar.  I put a different mic there, and routed the
wire for my radar detector down this pillar.  The pillar snaps
out; it is held in place by three snaps, spaced equally along
the pillar, towards the rear of the pillar.  Fold back the
trim at the rear of the pillar enough to get access to the
pillar, and unsnap the snaps by pulling out and back (from what
I remember, you want to pull a bit more back than out).

Headliner
---------
Didn't do much here, but I know the following: the mini sun
shade in the center comes off by removing the visible screw.
The light unit, with sunroof control, comes out of the headliner
as follows: first remove the lens that covers the lights (it
snaps out); this exposes two screws.  Remove them, and the unit
drops straight out.  This would be an easy place to hardwire
a radar detector to.

Rear Deck
---------
The whole rear deck removes as one piece.  The rear speakers are
top-mounted, and can only be accessed by removing the rear deck.
First, disconnect the center brake light; you'll find the
connector by going into the trunk and looking up through a hole
in the deck frame near the center brake light.  The front lip
of the deck is held in place by three snap fittings... pop the
front of the deck upwards to free those fittings.  [oops,
memory lapse... I think there may also be 2 or 3 screws that you
have to remove from the trunk... take a look, it'll be obvious].
Once free, the rear deck slides forward.

Rear Seat
---------
Just grab the front of the seat and pull upward... it is held 
in place by two spring clips at the front edge.  It'll just
pull up and out.

The rear side bolsters are held in place by two hooks; one 
at the top, and one near the bottom.  The bottom hook needs to
be freed first.  Push the bolster in and down far enough so
that the bottom hook is free... you will then be able to pull 
the bottom out.  Once the bottom is free, the top hook can be
lifted out.

Driver's Side Lower Dash
------------------------
I needed to get the panel off that hides the underside of the
dash from the driver's footwell area.  It looked as though
there was just a flat plastic panel that I could slide forward;
until someone informed me that the plastic panel is not separate,
it's actually part of a larger assembly.  One removes the entire
lower dash on the driver's side, everything directly below the
wood trim strip, as one piece.  There are two screws (actually,
I think they're 8mm hex bolts) to remove at the front.  First,
pry off the oval trim caps... there's a looooong oval cap on
the left, and a short one on the right.  This will expose the
bolts.  [oh oh, brain fade again... I think there are two other
screws, one near/above the gas pedal, and one in the fusebox
area... look around, again, it'll be obvious].  Once all the
bolts are removed, the lower dash slides forward.

Radio
-----
The stock radio is a standard DIN mount (both the Bose and
non-Bose versions use the same head unit), except that
the face panel is wider than that of a standard DIN radio.
The radio is held in place by a spring clip at the bottom of
each side.  To free a clip, stick something flat (like a
nail file) into one of the slots at the bottom of the radio.
Angle the tool so that as you insert it, it travels outward.
Once it is in about an inch or two, straighten the tool...
you're trying to catch the outside of the spring clip and
pull it inward, so that it clears the frame and allows the
radio to be pulled forward.  The radio will slide forward
when both clips are held inward.

There is a connector diagram on the radio.  It indicates that
there are line-level outputs available in addition to the
amplified output.

Center Console
--------------
There are two large pieces that form the center console.  The
rear part is removed first.  Slide the front seats all the 
way back, and remove an 8mm hex bolt from each side of the
console (you first need to pry off the trim cap, you'll see
it, just a few inches aft of the gear shift).  Remove the
rear ash tray.  This will expose two 13mm nuts with large
washers; remove them (there may be a third nut visible,
that is visibly different; do not remove this one).  Remove
the rectangular rubber pad from the rectangular well to the
right of the parking brake (in front of the phone jack); it
just sits in there, not glued or anything.  Now remove the
phone jack assembly; it's a black box that sits in the
rear of the rectangular well, and it is held in place by
spring clips.  Push the front edge of it aft, and lift it
out.  This will expose another 13mm nut that you need to remove.

The rear part of the console is now essentially free, after
removing 2 screws and three nuts.  To lift it out, though,
you need to first remove the parking brake trim.  As you 
look at the parking brake, notice that the black plastic
trim is in two pieces: the handgrip, about 5" or so long,
and the rest of it, to the rear of the handgrip.  You must
first detach the handgrip from the larger rear trim.  Where
they meet, underneath, there is a square plastic "plug" that
is pushed in from below.  This plug is part of the handgrip,
and must be removed by prying it downward.  Once the plug is
removed, the handgrip will slide forward and off.  You can
then slide the larger trim off (you may have to slide it
forward and back a bit to loosen it, there is a piece of it
near the top rear that fits into the parking brake handle).

Once the parking brake trim is removed, you need to lift
the console at the rear and slide it backwards a bit to free it
from the front part of the console.  First, though, you need
to remove the diagnostic connector from the rear ashtray area;
do this, by using a small flat-blade screwdriver and sliding it
down along the grooves in the side of the connector housing, to
free the connector catches.  You'll be able to push the connector
down and out of the console.  The rear console is now free to 
remove.

Remove the front part of the console as follows.  The rear
console must have been removed first, as above.  In the driver's
side footwell, there is a nut that must be removed.  Pry off the
trim cap in the side of the console, up near the gas pedal, and
remove this nut.  (The passenger's side doesn't have a nut, the
console is held in place by a clip... sliding the console forward
will free it off this clip).  Remove the gear shift knob by 
unscrewing it.  Pull the top of the leather shifter surround up and
over the shifter.  Remove the wood trim from around the switches/
radio/climate control as follows: first, slide the radio forward.
This will expose two 8mm hex screws, one on each side of the radio,
that hold the wood trim in place.  Remove these (and verify that
they are indeed the screws that hold the wood trim, which is 
mounted to a plastic frame, in place!).  The trim is also held
in place by two spring clips, one on each side of the climate
control.  With the screws removed, you should be able to snap the
wood trim out of these clips.  Once these clips are free, the
trim slides straight out (NOT up or down... there are slots
above the switches, that tabs in the trim frame slide into for
alignement, so the trim must be pulled straight back).

Removing the wooden trim will expose the four 8mm bolts that
you need to remove to free the console.  It should slide straight
back a bit, then you can remove it; you will first need to
disconnect the cigarette lighter connector (the connector
has a tab on each side of it; squeeze these tabs inward to
remove the connector).

----------

That's all I have for now; if anyone has any comments or 
additional info, send it to me and I'll include it here.
Thanks!

Dan Masi
'96 A4Q, cracked parking brake trim, cracked wood trim
         frame, cracked pillar molding...