Gerry

I seem to have a faulty lumbar control switch. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Can anyone tell me how to remove the switch? Does the plastic cover around the base of the seat come off somehow, or does the seat have to come out? The car is an '02 S6, with the comfort seats, which are just the base seats that are in all the other '02 A6s.

johnkk

I would live without it. Just imagine it's not there. If it's not just the switch, look out. Regardless of whether you have to take the whole seat out, just pulling the cover off the seat back and getting it back on right is not worth the trouble. And that's after you've take the seat apart.

Gerry

It is a possibility, but at the moment it is stopped in a rather awkward position that serves neither my wife's nor my needs. At this point I'd like to do some testing around the switch. The Bentley manual says to remove the seat from the car for every operation that is even slightly seat related, and I'm trying to determine if anyone has accomplished changing the switch without removing the seat.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

I had a similar situation with a 2K4.2A6…had to replace the memory module and I was all set to remove the seat but found I could just remove the plastic around the bottom of the seat and get to the memory module. The lumbar switch is in the plastic surround so it's even easier.

Worst case you may have to remove the bolt/nut that holds the center of the seat in front so the seat will tip back and you can see what holds the plastic surround, but after I had done that I figured it was unnecessary.

Gerry

Thanks, that is a great help. I was able to get the switch out by partially removing the cover around the seat as you suggested. I found there were many inexpensive used switches on eBay, so I've ordered one and hope that resolves the issue. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

under that trim, got it from ebay.

Gerry

SloopJohnB, Some interesting followup. So I got the used switch from ebay, and initially it only restored the vertical travel. I thought by diagnosis was wrong and I was going to need a motor, because when I used the switch for horizontal travel, there was no noise and the interior lights dimmed, like a stalled motor might do. Anyway I got rather discouraged, drove the car into the garage to start digging deeper, and low and behold, it all worked. I can only surmise that the memory module had to reset itself or something after a restart or two. I put a VAG-com on it and there were no codes in the seat module, so I guess I'll never know. Just happy to have it all working again w/o having to tear the seat apart.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

With used parts, it sometimes takes a few operations/cycles to get them working. Oxidation and corrosion on the switch parts most likely. Used parts generally aren't properly stored, like in a plastic bag with a desiccant pack.