A4 owners - do this today and save yourself over £150!

[quattrojames]

The glovebox hinge on A4's have a damper to allow the lid to drop gently. Over time these get stiff and they WILL break the hinge. For ages I've been thinking "Soon I must lubricate that damper" - but I left it too late and the hinge broke

This will take you one minute at most!

Pop the end of the dashboard on the passenger side and you will see the damper. Lubricate the barrel with a silicon type lubricant and replace. Save yourself the griefy glove box fix!

Credit to Marc1 for the following: It is possible to remove the damper and split it and take out the O ring which provides the damping. The glovebox will still work fine but the damper will not be stressing the weak hinge.

 

[markyzs180]

Thanks James.....another little job for the weekend....

 

[BahnStormer77]

thanks.... and now I just need to remember to do this!!

 

[paul20v]

Mmmm i will do this soon
bet i forget thou

 

[BILKO1]

When mine broke i repaired it and lubed the damper but it was still very stiff so i drilled a hole in the end of the damper tube and it worked a treat.

 

[Marc1]

Good skills James. No need to credit me, I probably read it on here anyway. That's what the forums are for sharing the knowledge.

 

[dansansome]

already broken

this damper unit also provides glove box locking with the central locking doesnt it?

 

[quattrojames]

already broken

this damper unit also provides glove box locking with the central locking doesnt it?

I don't see how? Unless you know otherwise .... There is no link between the damper and the lock, and the only wire there is for the switch on the damper that activates the glovebox light.

For everyone else - try and remember! I cannot over emphasis how easy it is!

 

[dansansome]

after looking at your other repair thread, i realised mine isnt broken, what IS broken is teh little pin that connects the end of the damper to the glovebox hinge. phew, no need for immediate repair.

the light switch makes perfect sense. i looked at it quickly and though that teh damper was actually a solenoid that just locked out with the central locking.

judging by how easily the little hinge pin borke, it wouldnt have been all that secure lol.

cheers for the reply

 

[quattrojames]

what IS broken is teh little pin that connects the end of the damper to the glovebox hinge.

The damper part no. is: 8E2 880 324.
The hinge pin part no. is: 8E0 880 802.

 

[dansansome]

thanks again James

 

[JohnboyC]

Don't laugh - my glovebox hinge on the side nearest passenger door broke today........hinge looks like it has sheared off....
Its £101 for a whole new Glove Box lid ......sheesh !
(The worst thing is that I have had a new damper assembly sitting in my glovebox for months...never got around to fitting it)..

That'll learn me

 

[BILKO1]

The damper part no. is: 8E2 880 324.
The hinge pin part no. is: 8E0 880 802.

Thanks James didn't know the damper was available separately.

 

[Funkyfin2000]

Perfect, got this sorted on mine today! job easy done and a b it of WD40 saw it right

Thanks

 

[jd26]

Ow Thanks for this thread mate will have a look at mine, its gone a bit creaky

 

[scott b]

job for tomorrow whilst at the unit

nice one cheers

 

[Turkster]

my glove box seems to just drop open when i flick the catch, can anyone film and upload what its meant to look like in action?

 

[quattrojames]

You'll probably find the damper has either broken or become detached. It shouldn't be hard to diagnose.

I can't see my film of glovebox closure getting many youtube hits....!

 

[Funkyfin2000]

i wd40'd mine and its now rather quick opening........but i guess it will sort itself out

 

[Turkster]

try it and lets make it a hit!

 

[crazypainter]

Done, a good heads-up there. Thank very much!

 

[Marc1]

James, One year on and your thread is still helping others. :icon_thumright:

 

[crazypainter]

Looks like the thread has lasted longer than the gloveboxes themselves. I couldnt believe how flimsy that mechnism looks!! like something from a christmas cracker........a very cheap christmas cracker. No wonder they give up so easy......and then charge a small fortune to repair. Deliberate under-engineering me thinks!

 

[LandSpeed]

The damper part no. is: 8E2 880 324.
The hinge pin part no. is: 8E0 880 802.

after reading this repair thread ive just been into the garage to lubricate the damper and.........there was no damper !!!

anyone one remember how much it is for a new damper ?

 

[A4 nut]

Just lubed mine but the damper is still stiff hopefully it will work its way arround and loosen it up.

 

[Funkyfin2000]

Just lubed mine but the damper is still stiff hopefully it will work its way arround and loosen it up.

Get the WD40 straw right up the damper if you can and pile it in. Mine was like that until i did that!!

 

[scott b]

put some spray grease on mine made a massive difference, nice one

 

[Mike B]

My damper is snapped .Audi say still same part and cost£16 plus vat .Seems they sell lots cos they had part no without checking

 

[Mike B]

Fitted new damper and it siezed .Had to cut off the pin cos they are not designed to come out and need force to push in.Audi reluctantly gave me another saying they could not sell the original again cos it was marked where I had cut through the pin ignoring my saying that it had seized and the lid had to be forced open.I soaked in the wd40 until the replacement was moving with almost no resistance and fitted with a split pin held there by a wire so that it could be removed easily. The lid now needs aslight pull to open slowly and becomes freer as the lid is moved so if it stays like this it will be acceptable and the light works but you would think that a redesign is a must

 

[quattrojames]

I'll bump this for newer members.

 

[Chrisavant]

My damper got stiff and eventually broke the hinge before I read this thread! My solution was to drill both sides of the break and insert a small piece of stainless wire as a dowel, glued into both sides and on the break itself. I then reinforced top and bottom outside faces with glass strands embedded in more plastic glue. Sounds bodgy but actually quite smooth and neat. Only visible with door fully open and very close peering.

I disconnected my damper completely to take the stress off the hinge. The action isn't so sexy but the hinge is happier and has been fine for over two years now.

But now the opening release handle has become disconnected from the espangolette (?) bolt inside the locker lid. This meant that I couldn't get my wallet out of the glove box. Not many people have thought of that one!

However by popping off the end of the dashboard, it is possible to push in the end of the bolt through a thoughtfully provided hole in the base of the lock keep recess, and this also automatically retracts the bolt at the inboard end of the locker door, so now I've got it open. But I cannot find how to get inside the door to fix it. The inside is a smooth black plastic moulding and the outside skin is textured matching the cabin trim, but there seems to be no means of separating the two mouldings. The only fixture I have found is a torx screw head adjacent to the inboard bolt.

Anybody got any ideas, please?

 

[quattrojames]

Couple of threads for your info:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-a4-cabriolet-s4-forum-b6-chassis/83231-glovebox-hinge-repair.html

This one shows you how to take the whole catch out and replace/reinforce as required:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-a4-.../45496-broken-glove-box-pully-thingy-bob.html

 

[Chrisavant]

Thanks Quattrojames once again! You second link looks like what I need, but actually it's the same as the first one! If you do have the correct link I would be most grateful. I did see another photosequence on here, actually about hinge repair, but showing somebody actually separating the inner and outer shells of the glovebox lid by breaking a large number of thermal welds inside the door with a paint scraper. It looked pretty destructive, but did expose the sliding bolts mechanism.

 

[quattrojames]

Sorry, user error! I've not been able to access the site on Firefox all night so I've resorted to using my phone.

It should be fixed now anyway.

That post you mention refers to another way of mending the hinge, it depends how far you need to go! Mines held for a couple of years and I'm happy with it.

You don't need to split the lid to get the catch out, just undo that screw and it will come out. The hardest bit is opening the lid which you've already done! £22 ish for a new catch from memory and easy to fit.

 

[Martin69]

Why am I only seeing this thread now ... EPIC Thread ... thanks a million lads... was thinking about spending money on a new glovebox

 

[quattrojames]

I'll bump this due to the recent glovebox damper discussions!

 

[MrG A4]

Thanks James, it's always good to know tips like this!

 

[starnon]

Thanks for the info, I used it to perform a similar operation on my car. The only difference was that I used bolts and nuts as opposed to self tappers. Being that I had to part the two skins on the glove box to fix the spring that came off the closing latches, I reckoned that while it was apart that using bolts and nuts would give a more secure fixing. It all worked great, the hinges are now very strong and the spring catch works fine. But now it's all back together I wish I used a locking glue on the nuts so they won't wiggle loose over time..

The glovebox seemed to have various previous attempts/bodges as the broken hinge was smeared with glue and the opening damper is missing. I'm still wondering if I should bother getting a damper or just leave it AWOL..

 

[unitzero]

thanks for the bump, my lid had stopped damping and needs to be manually pulled all the way down. tried some thick grease on the damper but hadn't worked, so I'll squirt a good amount of WD into the mechanism and see if it helps matters. at the moment I can actually see it stressing the part where it's attached at the side of the box. it's deffo seen better days.

 

[CHEZ]

ok so carried out this precautionary measure out today and now have a couple of issues,
firstly, my glovebox lid was ok,it opened and closed ok, with a sort of dampened effect on opening, but with a slight stiffness on closing, i followed james"s advice to "er" on the side of caution and service the damper to save on a costly repair in the future.
i used GT85 as i feel its a bit posher than wd40 (and is all i had anyway),
i removed the side plate of the dash, located the damper, placed a cloth underneath, and blasted GT85 into the damper using the straw.
i then worked the glove box lid up and down a few times to get the oil into the damper.
now, it seems the GT85 has disolved any grease in the cylinder as the glove box lid just drops really fast when opened!
the damper is working because i can hear it making a squelching sort of dampening, hissing noise! (if that makes sense at all!)
its just now that it drops so quickly, surely that wont be doing the hinges any good, as its not really taking the shock out of it!
so my question really is, can i use any type of grease to put on this plastic damper? can you purchase plastic grease? or would something like vaseline work as a thicker lube rather than a very thin lube like i have used?
thanks in advance
chez!