Fitting an A4 B6 steering wheel to an A6 C5?!

DavidMacA8 · #1 28th December 2020, 09:21 PM

Hi guys

It's been sometime since I was last here, but I return many Audi's later with a curious query! First off though, I would like to say I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and sincerely wish you all an amazing 2021. Whoever you might be, you'll deserve it!

On to my quandary. I have a 2005 C5 A6 Avant 1.9TDI Final Edition. It has a standard SE spec steering wheel, not MFSW, and neither am I aiming to fit one. I am however, hoping to fit a sport steering wheel. I successfully acquired one from a B6 A4 in the colour I was after, but the airbag connection and setup within the wheel itself seems quite different. The A6 airbag and horn are wired into the airbag assembly, and connect to the car with a single row yellow plug. The sport steering wheel has double row yellow plug, and wiring into the steering wheel itself. Has anyone made this conversion before and/or give me any advice at all?!

I was so sure it would be plug and play, and I've seen so many steering wheels for sale that are advertised as being applicable to the A6 C5 and B6 A4...so am I missing something?!

Looking forward to any assistance anyone might be able to give me, and many thanks in advance!

David

MikkiJayne · #2 28th December 2020, 11:10 PM

Don't see many of those about these days

I assume they are physically interchangeable and its just the wiring which is different?

Do you have the same number & colours of wires in the B6 wheel? Could they be cut and spliced on to the C5 plug perhaps? I've done a few swaps like that between various models, although I don't recall having seen inside a B6 wheel.

DavidMacA8 · #3 29th December 2020, 10:23 AM

Hi MikkiJayne

No you don't! But my family and I all have one! My Dad has a '98 1.8T saloon, and my Mum has a 1.9TDI Final Edition Avant too. Obviously we just love them!

I bought this one recently, and I've done so much work to get it to a decent standard, and she's going in for paint soon which I'm very excited about!

That's right, they are physically interchangeable and the wheel itself mounts fine, it is just the wiring.

Well we were looking at doing that, but couldn't be sure about which wire was for what! So there were 4 black wires for the original wheel, 2 to the airbag, and the other two for the horn. On the sport wheel, there are 5 wires coming out of 4 pins, so two wires out of one of those pins. They're all black bar one, which is brown. As usual, 2 blacks to the airbag, and then 2 backs to the wheel, and a brown. What worried me was in trying to splice them that I might confuse canbus communication and cause an irreversible fault of some sort! I'll get some photos at some point and make it a bit clearer!

ainarssems · #4 29th December 2020, 10:33 AM

Does the B6 have 2 stage airbag? That would explain extra wire.

paulrstaylor · #5 29th December 2020, 12:19 PM

Pretty sure the b7 was the into of dual stage airbags to the a4?

DavidMacA8 · #6 29th December 2020, 05:53 PM

Hi ainarssems

No the A4 b6 doesn't have a 2 stage airbag - that I'm aware of anyway! The b7 definitely does.

MikkiJayne · #7 29th December 2020, 06:22 PM

Probably what you have there is a slight difference in the wiring for the horn switch. Got any pictures of the two sets of wiring?

I have a dead B6 in the yard. If I get time I'll pull the airbag off and have a look.

DavidMacA8 · #8 29th December 2020, 11:50 PM

I did wonder that but was too afraid to risk damage! I've been naïvely "brave" before and caused myself more hassle than I'd asked for!

I don't have photos right now, but I'll get them tomorrow and post them so you can see. That would be amazing, thank you!

DavidMacA8 · #9 31st December 2020, 07:26 PM

Hi guys

Apologies for delay, just got around to it today! So I took photos, but also as we said earlier, my Dad and I were curious to see if we could somehow splice the connection. We ended up managing to remove the pins from the A6 steering wheel, and managed to re-insert the pins from the A4 wheel into it...fitted the wheel, stood outside the car for turning the ignition, and hey presto!

I was slightly nervous of wiring being incorrect and blowing the bag, or my horn not working, or a fault on the dash, but all was well! So thank you very much all for your input and help, gave me the confidence to go for it. I'll attach the photos so you can see the difference of what I spoke about, plus a photo of the wheel installed