tbisaacs

Thanks in advanced for the help. I just traded my 2009 A4 for a 2006 A8L, 66k miles, one owner, clean car fax.

The cars is great, except for a few minor issues that I was hoping to get some guidance on.

1. I have a halogen driving light out. My local dealer quoted me $300 to replace it (I assume because it's under the intake)



Sound about right? Is this something I can replace myself? I'm not opposed to paying to have it replaced, but $300 sounded high.

2. The detail folks at the dealership broke my rear sunshade. The clip that holds it to the bar is missing, as is the wheel that rolls is up the window. The dealer made a good faith attempt to repair, but couldn't, and are refusing to fix it. The cost to replace is about $1300.

Has anyone successfully repaired the shade? I looked around on this forum and the prognosis looks grim.

3. Both soft-close doors on the driver's side do not work. Is it coincidence that it's both on the same side? What's it like to repair / replace these?

I love this car - but I'm still on the tipping point as to whether or not this was a smart upgrade, or a load of long-term hurt.

Talk me off the ledge please

mishar

Get off that ledge and welcome in. This is nice place.

Bulb you are showing is for parking light and it is easy to replace it. Earn those $300 yourself. Search for bulb replacing. Recently we had good tread with pictures. I just remember that it is easy.

Broken rear sunshade is quite common thing since it is extremely poor design. I've repaired mine with spare parts from used one from UK. Now I am waiting for CNC machine to be free to make those crucial sliders out of aluminum. There is a tread about that too. It will be soon. If it is only wheel missing I can make one for you at the same time. You should get some bucks from guys who broke it and repair it yourself.

Can't help you on soft close. I don't have that, or any experience with it. I think that doors without that feature closes extremely nice. There is a recent tread about that too.

At the and, if you love your A8 you will enjoy her very much. A4 is nice girl but this lady is Miss Universe.

AudiOx

Here's the link with pictures for the Parking light bulb replacement.
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...ht=drl+replace
My passenger's side was out when I bought the car last month. It took me about 40 careful minutes to replace, but I could do it in 15 next time. I took the opportunity to clean out the air box and filter at the time. Before replacing the bulb, I would get a new air filter too; I just didn't have one at the time.
Two weeks after replacing that bulb the driver's side one went out. Another 40 minutes mostly due to getting the headlight edges aligned right.

Summary: replace both bulbs at the same time.
I got a 2-pack of Sylvaniz 2528 bulbs at Autozone for about $7; it's in their bulb catalog.
Make sure you have a 10-12" extension for your phillips head and torx bits as it's a long reach. The phillips screws on the air box don't have to come all the way out (which is good so you do drop them). For the two inner torx screws, get your hand down in there before removing them so you don't drop them.
You'll lose a little skin and get finger cramps trying to get the bulbs out/in of the headlight housings, but unless your hand is huge, you can get it.

Good luck.

HillbillyMafia

do a search for drl's to led for a great picture intensive thread for DIY, the author also has these threads to his credit, also very well done and lots of pics

How to's Step by Step
Parking light swap to LED.
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2788968
Courtesy step light swap to LED
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2783733
Trunk light to LED swap
https://forums.audiworld.com/showthre...5#post24032345
Wiper Change
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2781240
Air cabin filter
https://forums.audiworld.com/showthread

tbisaacs

Super helpful, thanks so much!

tbisaacs

Haha, thank you The A8 is not even in the same solar system as the A4 was - but my A4 also had warranty & audi care.

I actually paid a lot less for the A8, so I keep telling myself it's okay to spend a little more in the way of maintenance and upkeep.

This forum is really great, lots of DIY stuff here (lighting, filters, etc).

One more question - I also read that the thermostat is only good for about 60k miles. I'm in Texas, and we'll be over 100° for the next 3 or 4 months.

Is this a simple enough job that I should preemptively replace it? Looking around the forum I saw a couple of folks paying up to $750 to replace it at their Audi dealer (gulp).

Mister Bally

In the '04 & '05 model year, they seem to crap out at that age. "06's seem to last longer though. Mine ('04) lasted until 110,000 miles so it's helter-skelter. To get at it, the timing belt has to come off which means front end removal. May as well replace the timing belt, water pump idler pulleys and tensioner while you're in there.

mishar

Well, you could have A8 with all those warranties. It would be just three times more money. For the difference you can repair and maintain it at NASA.

Thermostat wise, don't do anything before you have to. Thermostat is moody component. Some of them (most) can last forever and some would die young. Preemptive change could end up in swapping the first kind for the second. Anyways, it is not a rocket science. No need to disassemble half of the car. Check for treads. Find the smart one. It is not always one strictly by the book.

tbisaacs

You've all be super helpful. I look forward to hopefully contributing back to this community over the years.

Mike_k

The headlight is really easy, just a bit tedious with what has to come off to remove it.

As far as the shade, did they break it after you bought the car? If so, I'd be insistent that they fix it. You don't get to break something and then refuse to fix it unless they broke it and then you bought it anyhow.