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Ok. With mine I could always hear the motor running but the trunk wasn't moving so it had to be slipping. The motor is pretty quiet mind and easy to confuse the sound with the latch pull down motor in the same area which does sound like a stalling/dieing motor.
Regards the sound of the clutch slipping it's actually pretty much inaudible as the friction surfaces are very smooth. The only time I ever heard it making a slipping noise was when I sanded the clutch faces. It made a squaking sound when it was slipping.
If you have the time, a couple of follow-up questions to your brilliant solution:
1. How difficult is it to disassemble the motor? I can take it off the vehicle bit looking for any experience on how to break it down.
2. Is there a need to clean and/or lubricate any of the metal drive contact parts (obviously excluding the friction load pieces)?
3. Any other adjustments necessary to the hinges or struts?
FYI to everyone, I bought the new improved metal bodied trunk motor a little more than a year ago and now I have to help it go up. It will go down on it's own. I do have the correct shocks per TSB. Audi recommends replacing with updated hinges so I guess that will be my next move.
So replacing the motor will work for a while but not a 100% fix by itself.
FYI to everyone, I bought the new improved metal bodied trunk motor a little more than a year ago and now I have to help it go up. It will go down on it's own. I do have the correct shocks per TSB. Audi recommends replacing with updated hinges so I guess that will be my next move.
So replacing the motor will work for a while but not a 100% fix by itself.
I replaced my trunk motor a year ago with a used 2008 motor/unit and last winter one of my original 2004 hinges snapped in two. So I replaced with used 2008 hinges...deck lid still goes up and down perfectly.
But I will say I could not see any difference between the two sets of hinges...not in geometry, thickness of stock, nothing. But they say there's a difference of some sort.
FYI to everyone, I bought the new improved metal bodied trunk motor a little more than a year ago and now I have to help it go up. It will go down on it's own. I do have the correct shocks per TSB. Audi recommends replacing with updated hinges so I guess that will be my next move.
So replacing the motor will work for a while but not a 100% fix by itself.
Your hinges must be a bit bent. It is easy to strait them.
If you have the time, a couple of follow-up questions to your brilliant solution:
1. How difficult is it to disassemble the motor? I can take it off the vehicle bit looking for any experience on how to break it down.
2. Is there a need to clean and/or lubricate any of the metal drive contact parts (obviously excluding the friction load pieces)?
3. Any other adjustments necessary to the hinges or struts?
Thanks!
Removing and replacing the unit from the car is probably the trickiest part. Once you have the unit out, just undo all the screws, including the position sensor and electronics board cover and the casing comes apart. Un plug the 2 coil wires from the board and the two case halfs come apart completely. From there the clutch parts just lift out. You can grease the gears if you want for peace of mind.
Reassembly is the exact reverse of reassembly. Although prior to fitting the motor back into the car you need to let it re calibrate itself so the motor mechanism is in the correct position for the open trunk. Just plug the motor in and leave it on the trunk floor, press the trunk close button, and manually close the trunk. Wait a few secs, then open the trunk with the key remote and open the trunk manually. The motor now should be in the open position and you can put it back on the car. Once it's back on carefully open and close the trunk manually to see if it binds at all. If it does, the motor position needs to be reset again. Whatever you do don't force it as that will bend a hinge or break the actuator.
FYI to everyone, I bought the new improved metal bodied trunk motor a little more than a year ago and now I have to help it go up. It will go down on it's own. I do have the correct shocks per TSB. Audi recommends replacing with updated hinges so I guess that will be my next move.
So replacing the motor will work for a while but not a 100% fix by itself.
Looking at the new vs old, the unit seems pretty similar except the motor case appears larger and it's now a metal. The clutch mechanism area looks similar in size so is probably very similar inside. And by the sounds of it, the clutch still wears out the same so is still no longer able to transfer the (now greater) torque available from the larger motor.
The only possible mode of failure in the mechanism where it gradually gets weaker is the the clutch failing, as the rest is all gears and worm drives. Electric motors don't get gradually weaker either. They either get noisy (bearings, magnets detaching etc), or just don't work at all.
A hopefully definitive fix for this well known and annoying issue on the 04-08 A8 D3's before they brought out a revised motor unit.
This fix tackles the problem at it's root cause; the electromagnetic clutch in the trunk motor assembly wearing out so it slips and is no longer able to transmit sufficient torque to open the trunk lid. My unit had become so weak that it couldn't even close the trunk!
There are various other fixes out there involving extra springs, solder flux paste, and a few others, however none of them were satisfactory or worked for me .
To fix a worn clutch you replace the friction material. A replacement clutch part is not available so I had to figure out a way of increasing the torque capacity of the existing unit's worn out clutch.
The solution lay in the form of a 5" 120 grit sticky backed sanding disc (pack of 5 less than $3 from Home Depot). A sanding disc is essentially very high friction and robust, friction material.
5" 120 grit sticky backed sanding discs
You have to remove and disassemble the trunk motor to get to the clutch plate (plenty of info out there on the web on how to do that) which is the part shown below.
A8 D3 Trunk motor clutch plate
Trim the sanding disc so that it fits flat inside the clutch plate.
Trimmed to size sanding disc
Peel the sticky back off the disc and then stick it onto the clutch plate.
Clutch plate with new friction material stuck on.
Reassemble the motor mechanism, re-install it in the car and you're done. Your trunk will now open and close at the touch of a button as though it were new!
Disclaimer: this is for information only and you choose to do this at your own risk. I accept no responsibility and cannot to be held liable for any losses or damages as a result of you carrying this out etc etc.
you not fixing anything.
all you are doing is altering the original design removing the biggest safety feature out of it.
so now it works up/down open/close.
that was not the original simple purpose of this device.
what if something is in the way of the trunk lid while closing?
10-18-2014, 08:21 AM
