Flasher unit DIY repair (part 8Z0 941 509 B)

Slight change to the usual indicator/relay problem......... currently the indicators work fine but when locking the car only the offside lights flash, nothing from the three on the nearside. When I tried the Hazards, same outcome, no nearside lights just the offside.

Is it just that I need a replacement relay for just the Hazard light and not indicators?

Andy
 
Hi AndyC,

the same flasher unit handles both indicators and hazards. There are two relays inside it, one with a single contact for the indicators and the other with twin contacts for the hazards. Looks like one of those contacts has packed up. Replacing the flasher unit should solve your problem.

Regards,

Dev
 
Thanks for the advice everyone!

The indicators on my 6 year old A2 started to go wonky a couple of weeks ago. I noticed it first when clicking the 'lock' button on my key fob and only one side of the indicators was flashing in response. Then the indicators themselves started to stop whilst driving - even though hazards worked ok - and the problem got progressively worse.

But THANKS to all the shared collective wisdom here on a2oc.net , I got a replacement unit from an Audi parts garage, followed all your advice and fitted it in 15 minutes today.

I can drive with an eased conscience that all the angry beeping horns behind me are solely due to my bad driving and not from nonfunctioning indicators any more! :D
 
Part?

Hi

From reading this thread it sounds like I definitely need to replace my flasher unit. However, I live on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles, so don't have direct access to go and get the part. Can anyone recommend somewhere I can order this on the web (I tried VAG parts, but seems they are no longer in business), or can I ring Audi and order over the phone?

This will be my first DIY job (other than very basic stuff), but seeing I’ve just got the car back after 6 weeks in the garage and an £831 bill, I don’t really have much choice but to do it myself! Hopefully I’ll be fine with the comprehensive instructions here.

Thanks
Rachel
 
You will be fine doing the installation yourself and I'm sure if you ring the nearest dealer to yourself, explaining that you are on Lewis, they'll post the part to you (it comes in a small box, so will be easy enough to seal and stick a label on).

Cheers,

Mike
 
OK, have no ordered the flasher unit from Highland Audi, but thought I'd have a try at getting the unit out and seeing what I could do with the relay as the indicators have totally gone now.

Managed to get the storage compartment out no problem, but cannot seem to get the unit disconnected from the connector. Have squeezed the two clips from every angle and with all strengths and it just won't budge, even had two of us - one squeezing the clips and one pulling the unit to the right, but no luck. It's almost as if the clips just aren't doing their job of releasing it, or not clicking like they should. Managed, inadvertantely, to release the unit from it's cradle, so that's lose, but just can't get it from the connector. There is plenty of slack on the cable, so don't think that's the issue.

Any ideas?
 
I take it you have the relay released from the dash but can't get it from the connector??, hold the clips in and wiggle it side to side, it will come loose as mine was a bit stiff but it will go

Phil
 
Yes that's right, but tried holding the clips in and wiggling and pulling it for over an hour and still no luck getting it away from the connector. It just seems well stuck. Will give it another go tomorrow and see if I have any more luck with it!

Edit: Just spent another hour trying to get the connector loose and still no joy! I've had a good look at it and it seems that one of the clips (the bottom one) is loose, but the top one just won't budge. Starting to get very frustrated (and sore hands) with this!

Don't know if it makes any difference but my flasher unit is the opposite way round to the photographs earlier in the thread i.e. my wires are coming into it on the left as you look at it.
 
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i've got the the symphony unit which i have removed. i found the flasher unit and with a bit of persuasion got it it out.
However the new unit wont go back into its holder as the springs keep pushing it out.
Ive given it all my strength but obviously im just a weed.
Anyone got any good tips?
Great thread.
 
flasher unit

I had the same problem only I couldnt get it out so I tried leaning in through the passenger door instead of the drivers door which changed the angle of the dangle and hey presto the unit popped out.So try switching sides it worked for me.:D .On another point as a temporary repair with both relays out of their housing the one on the right being the indicator.If you take a small piece of card(cake box or similar) and place it between the stop for the relay and the back of the contact it closes the gap enough as let the relay work.Just sounds a bit softer thats all.I had to do this as my dealer ordered the wrong part:(
 
Hey.. Just a quick big thank you for all the guidance and tips here.. Job done.. bit less skin in the process.. and sore finger tips getting the connector off..
My unit was installed with the cable on the left (opposite way to the pic in post #18) so the process was.. cable off to the left, unit pushed out to the right.. and wriggled it free... Oh and £26.61 incl VAT.
Thanks all.. Cheers GB.
 
Still can't get the tray out?? Try this (to get to the flasher unit)

Hi Everyone. To start with thanks for the help fixing my A2. However like some others I couldn't get the tray out (even with two of us tugging at it :confused: )
So I improvised:rolleyes:. What I did was to make up a tool to remove the tray so I wouldn't have to remove the ac unit :) . Basically the tool is a 13mm od steel rod which I welded and ground, to make a small strong hook and bent the other end to make a handle. The hook was about 5mm proud of the rod and about 3mm thick.

View attachment 3646

View attachment 3647

Next task was the bit which involves drilling a slot in the tray at the top, of the back face, of the tray, (right hand side worked for me) as close to the side corner at the top as possible, but only the back face so it stays strong!
(As can be seen below)

View attachment 3653

View attachment 3651

View attachment 3652

Either make the slot bigger or the hook smaller until the hook fits behind the tray snugly. Then you will be surprised with a tug on the handle it will come out :) . (Remember to have ash tray open!!!)

View attachment 3650

Read some of the other posts first for the normal way of removal and try them, if still you have no joy follow the other guides but instead of tugging with your hands to remove the tray use the hook tool. I hope this will help.

When and if you do this;
1: You are drilling into the tray so it won't be like new obviously. (But since I have done this about 3 months ago now and no anyone else has noticed the slot due to the position of the tray compared with the seating position).
2: Be Very careful only to drill the tray if you are not careful you may do more damage than good (also I did this on a 2003 1.6fsi A2 yours may be slightly different I don't know)
3: One of the two clips holding it in may break (My A2 has only one working clip and it is fine so far). Also remember don't break your ash tray getting the tray out!
4: Protect you fascias (plastics (or similar) around the tray)
5: You are doing this at your own risk and I hold no responsibility.

Hopefully the pictures will come out for all ok.

I hope this will help many with this problem. :)
 
i did mine

I replaced my flasher unit. I have heated front seats & the switches made the storage box smaller & more intersting to get out. Bloody knuckles & cut fingers later job done... Thnaks audi for making it sooooooo easy .
 
Repaired

hey, just followed the most excelent instructions from the members and in approx 15 mins went from a probable £200 bill to working indicators again, scraped the contacts clean and nudged them a bit closer together and presto they work.
 
Glad you're sorted Chris - be aware that it's a temporary fix though and you'll need a new flasher unit in time.

However, it's not a £200 bill, even if Audi does it - the relay is around £25-30 and fitting is, as you now know, a fairly straight-forward process when you know how.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Once again, the A2OC comes to the rescue.

My wife called me yesterday lunchtime, saying she too was having problems with the indicators on her 2001 A2 1.4TdiSE.

A quick check on here to see what was needed, a phone call to the local Audi dealers (Gilders in Sheffield). They confirmed that they had stock. Calle din last night after work, just under £24. Went home and spent 15 minutes in the garage fitting the unit.

Hey presto - working indicators.


Thanks Folks.


PS A3's suffer from a similar problem, only their control unit is built into the hazard warning light switch; I know I've had to fix my Son in law's.
 
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Job finished, but wish I read this thread in detail before I started.

I've had the climate control unit and storage tray out before to replace the ashtray so had no problem there.

However, I didn't open the ashtray before removing the storage tray and broke the catch which isn't repairable. Only option was to break the spring so it would close again.:mad: The ashtray was already broken when I removed the storage tray previously so wasn't aware of this.

In case anyone else missed it - MAKE SURE YOU OPEN THE ASHTRAY BEFORE YOU PUSH OUT THE STORAGE TRAY!

Once that was done, I could access the relay. What an absolute b****r it is to remove!! I pushed left and right, compressed the retaining springs to no avail. Eventually I gave it a very rigourous push to the right and it came free. Once that was done, it was easy enough to feed through the wire so I could disconnect the wiring connector.

Que b****r number two. I was only short of swinging out the the wire connector with both clips compressed. Eventually (and after the loss some more skin), it came free.

Good news is that the indicators work fine again even though the ashtray was a casualty. When we bought the car, the spring was broken on the ashtray and it kept sliding open so I replaced it. Goodish news is that the mechanism on this one is stiffer so it shouldn't slide open. It's not something that's used so not that big a deal.

Why do Audi have to over engineer the housing for a relay? It could be a lot easier to remove and replace.
 
Here's my happy ending flasher story.
The -20 temperatures finally killed my flasher unit, so after a week of manual flashing, i decided to fix it.
I have a double din dash, so at first i removed the Symphony unit, with the help of four hooks/keys i bought for just over 2E. You can make do with 2 of them, but it'll be a bit of a hustle because for some reason, the bottom clamps on the HU tend to grab the hooks and it's difficult to remove them without having the unit out.
Next i tried to grab the flasher unit from above, but if you have climate and heated seats, it's gonna be a lot of cables preventing you from reaching it.
So i went on to remove the ash tray. First you need to open it's drawer, and behind it you'll see a black plastic bracket on the upper side. Gently remove it and you'll see two screws. Remove them and take out the whole ash tray unit. Behind it you'll see two more screws, holding the flasher unit's cradle in place. Firstly remove the cable connected to the flasher unit. On double din dashes, it is connected from the left side, while on the single din type it's from the right. The cradle is also held by two hooks on it's upper side, but they will detatch once you take these screws outand give it a gentle upward push. Take out the cradle, and then the flasher unit from the cradle.
If you have a hard time taking the cradle out, you could take the climate control unit out. It's held by four clamps ( /_ ) seen in the post below:
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showpost.php?p=95410&postcount=12

Once the flasher unit removed, take off it's cap and then try to pull out the circuit board from the plastic box. It's held by two plastic teeth, and i could only take it out by breaking them. This is not a problem as it cam later be easily glued back in place because it's not under any stress.
The culprit relay is then visible, the one on the left side if you're looking at the board with the cable plug in top. Mine was producing a lovely electric arc when it was closing it's contact. But enough with the electronic mambo-jambo.
Bought a 1 Euro 12V 10A relay (it's a bit bigger in power handling (A) than the old one, but hopefully it will last just as much as it), removed the old one, soldered 4 wires and attached the new one. It doesn't need to be soldered on the board, because the plastic flasher casing is big enough to acomodate it. Just make sure you use some sort of glue to hold it in place or it will rattle. I used a plastic bar heat gun so i can remove it fi need be. If you've come this far, there is only one thing to look out before replacing the relay, and that is to check that the new relay has a bigger or equal resistivity compared to the old one, we wouldn't want to short anything. Also be sure to properly shield all the exposed cables you added.
Now put it all back together and don't forget to reconnect the cables to the flasher/HU/climate unit.
And there you have it: 3E and one hour of labour is the total cost of a working flasher unit.:D What's that AUDI, it's a 200E job?
 
damn, damn and double damn..

Firstky thank to the forum again for quickly providing then answer to the failed indicators saga.

I duly bought the part on Saturday am for £30 inc VAT, ashtary and cubby hoel came out in seconds, realy visible if not easily reached. Connector wouldnt pull out. 2 hrs and 3 or 4 failed attempts later connector still wouldn't come out. Finger tips are really hurting now as those clips on the connector are really pointy. 2 bloodied knuckles also.

After lunch I decide to break 2 of the fragile plastic strips holding the relay in place to bring the relay 'forward' so I could get at it better to remove the connector. 1 hr later still no joy, conector wont shift !!!!!

Final attempt to remove the connector was by breaking the 'tabs' with the square holes in on the faulty relay as these (should) be the only things preventing connector block from coming out of the relay!!!!???

Nope, its like the bloody thing is fused into the connector block. :(:(


So after feeling really good about the advice on ihere and the likely result of a £30 part and 15 mins time invested = car fixed I now find myslef thoroughly peeved off that I cant chang a simple damn relay despite spending several hours on it. Crazy d:
 
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