cgthanos

You posted something about this a while ago (can't find it for the life of me) and I was wondering if you ever ended up publishing your fix. My ride today with RI RS4 (Scott) to evaluate a DRC repair in my car, which was very very positive, highlighted the rattle throughout the entire thing. It comes and goes, but when it happens, I can push down on the part of the dash that hangs over the cluster and it goes away, which sounds like the same situation you had. If you were able to fix it, I'd love to hear the details... Thanks!

ELEVENS

This is what I found on MY car (YMMV): The sound can be reproduced by hitting forward on the steering wheel with your fist at the 8 o'clock position.

The sound can be stopped by pressing downward on the instrument panel cover (service manual lingo for dashboard) directly in front of the steering wheel and about one inch rearwards of the windshield.

Guess: Although it SOUNDS like the noise is coming from the steering column, I believe it is being reflected off the windshield and/or telegraphed back to the steering column area.

Surgery: I removed the instrument cluster: Lower the steering wheel all the way down and pull it all the way out. Pull out the plastic trim piece just above the steering column and in-between the buttons, which will expose two Torx screws that hold the gauge cluster in. Remove the two Torx screws and disconnect two plugs from the rear, and the gauges pull free.

The sound is coming from exactly where the crosspost attaches to the dashboard. The repair manual specifies that a piece of felt needs to be in there, but you really can't see if it's there, or not. The only thing I could think of was to stuff a 3" piece of 3/8" rubber hose in there to insulate the two pieces from each other. When you hit the steering wheel (or hit a bump), the steering column iis bolted to the underside of the crosspost, which then relays the vibration to the dashboard-crosspost attachment and makes the plastic rub/squeak/creak noise.

The car is now as quiet as a vault.

Hope this helps. YMMV.

BAB_Inskip_Audi

great picture of the very unique RS4 CGT...

)

s4for5_TTfor2

Note..be very careful not to turn on the ignition with the instrument cluster out, bad things happen

cgthanos

thank you very much, I will perform the surgery this weekend!

cgthanos

thanks, time for a sig pic of the amulet monster!

BAB_Inskip_Audi

NO WAY I am not worthy

HiRev

are you referring to the steel piece right below the cluster or is it further down? Might you have a picture or image from the repair manual? This rattle is driving me nuts and I can't seem to solve it other than pressing on the dash or steering wheel. Thanks!