Tailgate lever broken..97 A6 Avant
 

I can no longer open my tailgate from the outside, have to open it from the inside. The outside lever is loose and I can hear parts banging around in there. Has the lever simple come unbolted, or has it broken? Anyone ever have this problem?

remove the inner panel and see what's going on. Only way to tell.
 

check the FAQ for a write up on removal.

mine is the same year, when I got it I had to adjust the latches on the gate
 

and the handle was loose too. It's not too hard to take it off, a few screws here and there and it snaps/lifts off. The handle has bolts that hold it from the inside. You have to sort of look right under the tail gate and try to find them. once you see them you can tighten them and the handle will be as good as new. Provided nothing is broken. Mine was just loose for some reason. Hmmmmm....should've put on some locktite :P

Happened to me - easy fix (sort of long)
 

I had this happen on my '98. Once you take off the rear panel you'll see where the wiper motor is. you'll need to remove some screws and the wiper motor (this requires taking the wiper off from the outside)as this makes it eaiser to get to the handle mechanism. Audi kind of botched on their design in this area. There is a cylinder pin that allows both of the latches to release when pulled. this pin goes through some holes on one end and on the other it just sits in a little slot if i remember correctly. all Audi did to keep that from falling out was to tape it with some masking type tape. After several years the tape looses its stickiness. Vibration as well as dropping the trunk lid hard will cause the pin to fall out of the slot. All you have to do is reposition the cylinder in the holes and retape the slot opening. I used duct tape instead of masking. I did this in June and haven't had any problems since. Hope this helps, sorry i don't have any diagrams. Hopefully once you get into it it'll make sense. It should only take you about 1 to 1.5 hours. Not too long.

Re: Happened to me - easy fix (sort of long)
 

I had the lid off the inner gate last summer and realized that there would be more to do to get to the latch. I have suspected something must have come loose, thanks for that info.

put back in:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...2-pict0245.jpg

then taped:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...1-pict0252.jpg