Truewit

Hello folks -- I thought I'd share a little modification to the very helpful guide provided by Kris Hansen in the Tech section (AudiWorld Tech Articles). My flasher started acting up a few weeks ago to the point that it would blink maybe once, twice or at most three times before cutting out completely and producing a situation that called for using hand signals to indicate turning intentions -- not a pretty sight in an A6. I referred to Kris's article to remove the trim and pull out the module, and then followed his instructions for dismantling it. On examination I determined that the likeliest cause of the problem was a build-up of oxidation on the points of the flasher coil. So rather than unsolder the four-way flasher coil and reposition it for the turn-signal flasher, I decided to use a 1/4 inch strip of sandpaper to run over the two points successively. I then sprayed the contacts with an anti-oxidation spray. This did the trick and the flasher has been back in service now for a few weeks operating as new. I'm very handy with a soldering gun, so was in no way fazed by the prospect of switching the coils, but this solution proved to be much simpler and very effective -- and I didn't need to surrender my four-way flashers. Hope this might be useful for other C5 A6ers. Cheers.

jcman

One of the problems with relays is the contact points lose the plated material after many hours of arcing causing carbon build-up and pitting,
I've seen this on commercial HVACR equipment controls in contactors but of course we are talking about much higher current, aside from this you might see the relay contact points doing it again.

If you need small electromechanical general purpose relays that are cheap in price check out this link "example": 1-1393277-7 TE Connectivity / P&B | Mouser And of course do your research on what you need or buy.
I've bought quite a few components from them for my home power amp re-builds and for customer equipment control repairs.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

The original contacts were plated and the arcing wears off the plate and causes pitting/material transfer. Just like the really old days with point ignition where you had to replace the points annually or 12K miles. Eventually everyone went to electronic ignition w/o points. I guess that is too expensive for turn signal flashers/hazard flashers so they still use mechanical contacts. But are too damn cheap to gold plate the contacts so they will last the life of the car.

jcman

Agreed, I'd even settle with AgSnO2 or AgNi0.15 plating instead of the cheap chromium china crap I'm seeing and the "God Only Knows" what else junk contact plating I'm seeing on new equipment control relays, man do I miss mercury displacement encapsulated relays....different days, when for ever meant for ever with exact repeatability cycles.