hubturn

Day one and only a few problems that diverge from Greg Kiernan's Tech Article. The Cab pax side airbag has to come out, along with the 4 T-30 bolts directly behind it, and one center duct hat nut. The driver's side electrical connections stay with the car wiring and there are two screws on the lower portion of the dash and one near the left foot area. Greg has you disconnect these electrical connections and its not necessary on the Cab. The ash tray must come out,too. Tomorrow I'll get into the heater box. I need some advice. All, and I mean ALL, the foam everywhere is a gunky mess. Bowden cable and electrical wiring covers, duct joints, heater doors, etc. What's the approved solution here? Strip it all off the cables and let it go? Use some hardware store adhesive foam between the ducting? Craft foam on the heater doors? I don't want to do this a second time due to an avoidable error. Also, Audi has the heater core for $200, Napa for $75 and AutohausAZ for $25. I've read other posts where they felt it was worth it to go with the dealer part due to fit. I might mention I asked the dealer and they said the pipes are plastic,(vice the brass ones on my original). Makes me think cheap import. I look forward to your opinions.

Luxus Panzer

As for the foam on the flaps...strip it off and replace with metal furnace tape.

jbrentd

Here's a good write-up on rebuilding the airbox. I did it a few months ago.

http://forums.quattroworld.com/9080/msgs/22137.phtml

I didn't have any fitment issues with the heater core I bought from AutohausAZ.

hubturn

I got the heater box out today. There is one clip between the heater box and AC box that is a bear to get out. It's only accessable from the bottom by mirror. I had to make a curved tool to pop that one off and another tool to pop one off on the top side. NO WAY that can be done with couple of screwdrivers. The heater box is a mess, and thanks jbrendt for the referral. I've looked at that before and it seems that he doesn't take into account the extra foam that has to brush against the box to seal the passage closed. The wife saw it and said "Buy a new one." Is she great or what? If it is fairly reasonable (dealership) I will. Otherwise a repair is going to happen. Online I found a place caller Haywire,inc that sells a "quiet split loom." It is a braided tube that is split lengthwise and wraps and seals around wiring, etc. Cheap too, $3.40 for 5 feet. I am going to try that to cover the wires and bowden cables that had foam on them. I don't want them clanking around.

sanchius

Ugh, it's a bad, bad job. Been there, don't envy you....

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8075731813_2b36b43c70_b_d.jpg">

egp320i

The only choice for the core is OEM from the dealer [gvap], all other off brands are suspect to fail or not fit as well.
With such a bitch of a job no sense in doing it twice.
You can buy new foam for the box for a few bucks with your order.

varia

to change the heater core is not a difficult job.
I did it in less then two hours.
and any decent aftermarket brand will do it Febi, Meyle
my car had an after market installed in 2001.

sanchius

Wow, < 2 hours.... I'm _very_ impressed... Seriously...

varia

dont think i am alone with that time, many did it before me.
here is the help
http://s2central.net/S2_How_To/Interior/dashboard.pdf

egp320i

Sure if you labeled everything and have done it a few times, anybody that does it the first time will have issues or you are just really mechanical minded.

Meyle is junk, why chance fate? Yes OEM cost most but it can be so worth it to not have to do the job twice.

Plenty of horror stories here and QW about using aftermarket only for it to fail.

Buy once, cry once is the term.