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Hello everyone, I'm Matt and thought I would briefly introduce myself and my 2005 (55) S4 B7 4.2V8 Quattro. I bought my S4 in March 2018 as a treat to myself following some tough times. Two years on and I still can't drive it, but I'm determined that's going to change this year. If anyone can recommend a good place to get engine parts at OEM or uprated standard without paying stealer prices, I'm all ears! 😊

Just for the benefit of others I am posting details of the location of the airbag control unit on a manual A6 C6 (2006) UK saloon and also the solution to my problem. The unit is bolted onto the transmission tunnel behind the gear lever and between the seats. You cannot see it even when the centre console has been partially dismantled because it is under both the rubber car soundproofing and the plastic ventilation/heater tunnel that runs down the length of the centre console. It's a pain in the **** to get to but for those that need to test or replace this unit my advice follows but first some info on how I solved my issue. It started with a parking brake and airbag warning message and lights on the dash coming up. I could operate the electronic parking brake on and off manually but it would not auto release. This quickly escalated to a full Christmas tree of lights on the dash warning of ABS, ESP and parking brake/brake faults. The car would still drive but none of the systems were active. The car had been analysed by an independent Audi specialist and showed a fault code 01321 that meant there was no signal/communication with the airbag control unit J234. There was also fault code 01316 showing a parking brake issue. Turns out both were related. The garage advice was "Further investigation needed to check voltages to and from the airbag control module". The independent was happy for me to dismantle the car and expose the airbag control unit for them to test it. All the advice on the internet is not to try and test it yourself as you could inadvertently trigger any number of airbags. After I'd spent hours finding/exposing the airbag control unit I thought I'd study all the fuses and any related relays to see if there was possibly an issue. I'd previously discounted a fuse because the problem had, on a couple of occasions, self righted so if a fuse had blown how could that happen? How wrong I was - I could have saved myself hours of research and dismantling had I done the fuse check earlier. There are three related fuses - number 10 (airbag) on the brown fuse strip on the passenger (UK) side of the dashboard, fuse F7 (parking brake) in the boot jack compartment and finally fuse 23 (parking brake) on the drivers side of the dashboard. Here is a really useful link to all A6 C6 relays and fuses. https://fusesdiagram.com/audi/fuses-and-relay-audi-a6-c6.html My issue was with fuse 23 and almost certainly a 'one off' but it does send out a message to check the bl**dy obvious first before assuming that something more serious is amiss. I'd had a dash cam professionally fitted over a year ago and the correct ‘piggy back' fuse holder had been used to tap into an 'ignition live' source. The fitter had chosen fuse 23 and for some reason over a period of time the new fuse holder had worked loose. My theory is that the spades on the new fuse holder aren't quite long enough so it wasn't in that tightly to start with. Bumps/potholes etc must have gradually dislodged it but only on one side so the dash cam was still picking up a live feed but the parking brake was only getting an intermittent contact originally and then none at all. I know the fitter and he was amazed because that to his knowledge it was the first ever instance of it happening. From my point of view hindsight is a wonderful thing but happy to know it was a no cost fix rather than having to potentially replace a very expensive airbag control unit. If you are still with me here's how to access the airbag control unit J234. First dismantle the front part of the centre console following the advice in this YouTube video. https://youtu.be/SH1PrInREi4 Very good but you don’t need special tools to remove the rear centre console vent - two bent wire coat hangers did it for me. You then need to remove the light coloured plastic console 'skeleton' starting by taking off the three press on carpet clips each side. There are two torx screws at the back of the 'skeleton' two at each side and two at the top front. You also have to undo the four 10mm nuts that attach the metal frame to the transmission tunnel at the rear of the 'skeleton'. You then have access to the plastic heating/ventilation tube that runs from front to back of the console. This however won't come out until you take out the four bolts around the gear lever and the two bolts front and back of the gear lever to drop the black metal plate out of the way. Some tugging and persuading will then enable you to remove the tube. Peel back the soundproofing and there is the airbag control unit! Apologies for the length of this post but hope it will help at least one person in some way!

Hello? ( why are we having a spate of anonymous posters?) - Sorry! Anyway, I feel for your plight in selling your car in these very troubled times. They always say there is always a buyer for anything, but if what I read is correct, the used car market is already on its knees - and that is before any official lockdown on movements which may be enforced. What I understand is that you should be sitting down before entering your registration number on the We Buy any Car website. Such is the dramatic drop in prices since these worrying times have been announced. Yes, I know their prices are low at the best of times, but they do have a significant influence on the used car market. Of course, whatever price decrease affects your car, will also affect your proposed purchase so it’s back to the old important but often ignored ‘ cost to change’ . So it may not be all bad news. As much as we may worry about the values of our cars - if we have to sell them - it’s worth bearing in mind the concerns that used vehicle retailers must have about this year’s rapid growth and stock levels of used vans. Now there’s a worry if you are stuck with these. Kind regards, Gareth.