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What is it with A4's and bulbs? I get through loads, and have made it my business to know how to replace all the bulbs - a task that VAG don't exactly make easy.
So...rear stop/tail lamp on the 2002 avant? Easy!! Here's a description for the RHS.
Open the boot (US = trunk) and you'll find a blanking gromet on the trim on the right hand side, about 6 inches up the vertical plastic. Remove it. The gromet has a T-shaped piece of plastic to prevent loss. Give it a tug to remove completely. Inside is an obvious looking cross-head bolt. It's about 1 3/4 inch long and has to be removed. DON'T let it fall into the blackhole in the trim otherwise you'll be doing a lot more dissasembly! I withdrew a way, then wrapped wire round it before removing.
Withdraw the bolt. The big plastic lens DOES NOT pull straight back. It twists. If facing the back of the car, RHS, twist the back of the lens outwards, towards the right. There are two lugs on the RHS leading edge (where the lens has a weather strip against the side of the car). This is the hinge point. Once you get some movement it comes away quite easily.
Once removed, there's a plastic bulb holder, nice and simple.
Hope this helps, Andy
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As an alternative to winding wire round the bolt, use blu-tack between the bolt head and your socket - I found this much easier.
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Audi A4 Avant 2003 - I used a 3inch offcut of copper heating tube (15mm diameter or anything similar that will fit the hole and stick out a bit further than the hole) and the blue-tac so that when the bolt came out it would sit in the tube and not fall into the gap.
The 2 lugs are like the large head phone jacks but only 10mm long that locate into holes top and bottom of the side of the light cluster. It is these that stop the light going back and the thick rubber strip on the boot/truck edge that stop the cluster falling out side ways if the bolt is missing. My dealer quoted 50pence for the bulb and £30 to replace it!!!
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thanks to all who contributed-I did the brakelight-bulb job like a dream. At the risk of being thgt. of a as a smart a$s, I didn`t use the blue-tack or wire trick, merely rolled up a piece of paper towel, and pushed one end into the gap between the boot- trim and the bolt, the other end inside the boot I fanned out into a "slide" shape, so that if the bolt escaped it would go down the slide and into the boot- it worked,
thanks again, this is the web like it used to be before big-business ruined it- this site is OK tho`
I
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Can't thank you all enough for the advise. I have an A4 Saloon so assumed a few small diferences but nothing. I was able to use a good pair of pliers to retrieve and return the bolt after slackening off with a cross head screw driver.
The really annoying part was that as soon as I removed the light cluster the blessed light came on again - such is life!
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I found this tutorial helpful..
http://www.jmaguire.com/blog/2006/02/05/stoplight.html
First answer by ID3567221883. Last edit by ID1147306619. Question popularity: 62 [recommend question]



