Have I Just Lost It Or Just Discovered I'd Already Lost It?
 

Well, I've finally lost the plot... or at least finally realised it :D

Having now got the S8, I've been having a casual glance around it to see what needs done to it. One was three of the buttons on the front climate control unit looking a little worse for wear. A quick browse around eBay, and I bought a working replacement. Mind the W word for later.

A few days later and it arrives and all the buttons are fine. Now I had to figure out how to remove the buttons from the unit without damaging any part of it, as that's all I wanted, the rest of the unit being posted off to someone else on here for experimentation.

A little later and I've removed 16 T6 screws and a couple of ribbon connectors, so freeing up the buttons. Part one complete! Wee buns!

Now the next part, removing my existing climate control unit from the car. I've never worked on any D3s before, so first job was figuring out how to remove the top trim off the centre console. A YouTube video later, and I'm rearing to go.

Jump in the car, gear lever out of the way, and less than ten minutes later I have the unit in my hand. Back to head indoors again. We're on a roll with this!

I've already dismantled the first unit to get the buttons off, so this is going to be a doddle... and so it is. I put the replacement faceplate with buttons on my unit, connect the ribbon connectors, secure the 16 T6 screws with ease, and I'm ready to head back to the car.

Back in the car, it's put it all back together again in reverse, start the car and check everything works 100%. Back indoors again, rebuild the replacement unit with the faceplate from mine, package it up ready for posting, and time to send a PM to the other person. Not even breaking a sweat. This is easy peasy!

:o ...and then the penny dropped :-(

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1518548278

Just swap the units? (Might be some component protection though)

Sean,
What is it?
Now we are all panicking.
What have we all been missing?

Guessing it's the swapping bits thing.. Though I think the climate unit may be one of the bits with component protection on it, can't remember now.

No issues guys, just one of those days when the two brain cells aren't talking to one another :D

I honestly have no idea why I didn't just swap the units over, but since CP has been mentioned, I'm going to use that as an explanation as to what I was doing. :o

Do you think anyone will believe me?

Sean, don't kick yourself. You played it the best way. CP removal would cost you about £80, though you'd probably get a free coffee whilst they were doing it, and a quick wash.
Matty did warn me that it probably had CP and that just confirmed my thoughts.

The D3 centre console is certainly a bit easier to dismantle than the D2's from what I remember.

Undo a couple of screws behind the ashtray and the centre console lifts off which reveals the screws for the HVAC unit.

When I bought my D3, it had completely the wrong HVAC control unit fitted, one from a 3G car when mine has 2G MMI. As a result, nothing I pressed corresponded to what it should have done. For example, the driver's fan speed operated the passenger's air flow direction etc. :Confused: God knows how that happened, my guess would be the part needed replacing when it was in the hands of the dealer and they just bought the first part they could find with that part number, instead of noting the letter at the end of the part number which changes everything.

CP kicked in when I swapped that HVAC panel. The only features that could be used were ones related to safety (front demist and rear demist) until I took it to my local extortion racket who had to do their usual half hour diagnosis for £60 and they rectified it during that.

Thanks for that. Proof that Matty was correct.

I was very surprised by how easy it came out, especially with all the MMI controls there as well.

On my previous D3, I found it very easy to remove and put back.
The issue I had was I was replacing it with a 2nd hand one and CP kicked in.
None of the Audi garages near me would make the change so I was buggered (turned out to be the fan in the end anyway but still - miserable buggers:tuttut:)

Enjoy your new toy+++