RS4 Start Button

RS4 Start Button install into 8P A3

You will need to order the following parts to complete the installation

8E0 863 284 E 5PR - compartment for centre console with cigarette lighter and switch mounting (soul black) - £45.83 \ €83

8E0 905 217 - pushbutton for start system - £54.99 \ €110

8L0 971 883 - flat contact housing for push button starter system - €5.98

000 979 009 - repair wire x 2

1. Remove trim from around hazard light button\coin tray

1. Remove Air Conditioning unit by pulling down from the top as shown below:

1. Unit should come out easily, but may be a little tight at the bottom

1. Unclip the four connectors from the back of the Air Conditioning unit

1. Dash should look like this once the unit is out

1. Remove gear lever surround by inserting your hand as shown below and pulling up

1. Remove plastic trim from leather gaiter by unclipping from the underside

1. Remove bolt from underside of grab handles using allen key.

1. Allen bolt will not come out but should hang from grab handle when undone

1. Next remove the 8mm bolts from the front edge of the grab handles

1. Next unclip the lower tray from under the hole where the Air Conditioning unit was. There is a clip where my thumb is in the image below

1. There will be two more 8mm bolts underneath where this tray has been removed. Remove both of these and the grab handles should come out.

1. The dash should now look like this:

1. Remove the four torx screws from around the gear lever. I have the non-smoker's pack in my car so the rubber storage compartment just pops out once the grab handles are off. Removal of the ashtray may require some bolts to be removed

1. Remove the cap from the driver's footwell

1. Remove the 8mm bolt from behind the cap

1. Remove the two caps from the passenger footwell and remove the 8mm bolts from behind them

1. Remove the cover from under the handbrake by prising it out

1. Next remove the ashtray from the rear by opening the lid and pulling it out.

1. Then remove the tray under the ashtray by pulling up on it

1. If you have the front centre armrest installed, then next step is to remove the armrest using a 13mm spanner

1. Once the armrest is removed remove the two 8mm bolts at the rear of the centre console

1. The centre console will now be free. Lift it up from the back and it should slide out. You will need to lower the handbrake to get if over it. You will also need to disconnect the cigarette lighter connector.
2. With the console removed turn it upside down and undo the two torx screws holding the cigarette lighter in. The old tray will pop pop out and the new tray will slide in.

1. Take the two repair wires (listed at the top) and cut them in half and insert them into the flat contact housing (also listed above). There are 8 pins on the flat contact housing, but you only need 4 of them. 1, 3, 4 and 6. Pins 1 and 3 control the illumination and 4 and 6 control the starter button.
2. On the new cigarette lighter tray there are three wires - red, grey and brown. The red wire is 12v for the cigarette lighter, the grey wire is for the illumination circuit and the brown is earth for both. Join the grey wire to the wire from pin 1 on the start button and the brown wire to pin 3 from the start button. I used scotch lock connectors for this.
3. Next take some speaker cable and join one wire to pin 4 and the other to pin 6 on the start button. It is better to use speaker cable with different coloured wires, but if you only have one colour then be sure to mark which one is which. I put some black tape on either end of the wire from pin 4. This makes it easier to distinguish which wire is which at the ignition end and assists with troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Leave yourself enough length on the wire so you don't need to add any more to it.
4. With that finished the next step is to install the new tray where the old tray came out and then replace the centre console reversing the above steps. You should run the speaker wire from the start button along the driver's footwell, behind the dead pedal and up under the steering wheel. Due to time contstaints on the day of the installation I decided to break the install up into two parts by installing the button one day and then tackling the ignition wiring another day. You can leave the console replacement until after the ignition wiring if you wish.

1. In order to connect the start button to the ignition system you will need to remove the steering wheel. As a precautionary measure, let the car sit for about 30 minutes, then open the bonnet and disconnect the battery using a 10mm spanner. The 30 minute wait is entirely optional, and you can skip it if you want - you'll see later on that there are a couple of disconnect\reconnects so a 30 minute wait may add too much time to the install. Once the battery is disconnected step on the brake pedal several times to discharge any capacitors that may have residual power in them.
2. Using the lever under the steering wheel unlock the steering column and pull the steering wheel all the way out and all the way up and the lock it back in place. Put the key into the ignition and turn it to the ON position so you can turn the wheel. Keep the key in the ignition throughout the process, even while reconnecting the battery. This will keep any power surges out of the airbag circuit (according to Bentley).
3. Turn the steering wheel 90 degrees from centre to the left (counter-clockwise) and remove the cover in the image below.

1. This will reveal a torx screw which should be removed. It will not come out, but loosen it until the airbag starts to wobble.

1. Turn the steering wheel 90 degrees from centre to the right (clockwise) and repeat the procedure.
2. Once both torx screws have been undone the airbag should just come off. Disconnect the yellow connector by pulling out on the orange tab. If you have the MFSW you will also need to disconnect theblack tab to the right.

1. Set the airbag aside with the Audi logo facing up so that if the airbag does go off it won't shoot off like a rocket!
2. The steering wheel should now look like this

1. Next remove the bolt in the centre using a 12mm 12pin bit. When the bolt is out you need to mark the wheel and the slip ring so that when you put the wheel back on it is in the same position.

1. Next remove the top of the steering column by unclipping it and then remove the two torx screws from the lower surround.

1. Then remove the three torx screws from the underside of the steering column. One of these holds the surround the the column and the other two hold the column lock to a metal bar. Once the scews are off the column surround should come off.

1. Next you will need to break the seal on the steering ECU and remove the small silver torx 11 screw from under the slip ring

1. Once that is off the next step is to carefully remove the printed circuit board. It can be pried down using a small screwdriver.

1. Once you have it down remove the black and yellow connectors from the PCB. The yellow one can be removed by pusing back on the orange lever. The black one can be removed by releasing the red clip and then releasing the clip.

1. Next you will need to remove the black cover from under the steering column (above where the PCB was). This can be done by pushing the two clips where my fingers are.

1. Next remove the black clip from the end of the ignition barrell. It will have 6 wires - yellow, grey, green, blue, purple and red. It will have a rubber sleeve on it running down to a 12 pin connector under the steering column.

1. The next step is to attach the two speaker wires from the start button to the system.
2. I'll give a brief explanaiton of how the ignition system works before we go any further. The yellow wire is switched live and is given 12v+ when the key is turned to the ON\ACC position. When the key is turned to the START position the 12v+ current is taken from yellow wire to the inition barrel onto the red wire, and out to the starter motor.
3. It doesn't matter which cable you connect to the red and yellow, but the way I did it was to connect the wire from pin 4 on the start button to the yellow switched live wire and then pin 6 on the start button to the red wire. There was no real reason for this other than for troubleshooting it is easy to remember that the current on the button flows from pin 4 to pin 6.
4. Here is the finished connection, with the wires joined to the red and yellow wires. The tape looks a little loose here, but once I had tested the system I tidied them up and covered the six wires with some OEM Audi felt stuff.

1. The next step is to reconnect the six pin connector to the back of the barrell and then replace the PCB. At this point the system should be working. To test it you should reconnect the battery and then turn the key to the accessory position and then making sure your car is not in gear depress the start button. If all is hooked up properly the engine should start. If not, then it is possible the wires are not connected properly. To test, turn the key all the way to make sure the engine will start. When the battery is reconnected you will have an steering wheel on the instrument cluster and the DIS should alert to an ESP failure. Don't worry about these- we can clear them when the install is finished.
2. When you have verified that button and key can be used to start the car you should disconnect the battery again, press the brake pedal a few times and then put the steering column back together and reattach the steering wheel - but not the airbag.
3. With the steering wheel reattached without the airbag, reconnect the battery and take the car for a short drive to verify that it is centred. If it is not then remove the bolt, remove the wheel and replace it one or two notches either way.
4. Disconnect the battery again and reattach the airbag connectors and then tighten the torx screws on the back of the wheel and replace the covers.
5. Reconnect the battery one final time. You will have the yellow steering wheel light in the instrument cluster and an ESP fault in the DIS. Driving the car a couple of yards will clear both of these errors. Your auto windows may also be disabled after the battery disconnect. Rolling the window down all the way and rolling it back up should reenable the auto windows.
6. There will also be some errors in the system which will need to be cleared using VAG-COM. Launch VAG-COM and on the main screen select Applications then select Gateway Installation List and you should get a list of the installed controllers and the ones with errors will be in red. There will be errors for the Air Conditioning (HVAC), Airbag and steering wheel since the battery would have been reconnected while these were disconnected. You can just double click on one of the red lines and when it opens up select "Clear Codes" to clear the errors. If you don't have VAG-COM don't worry about it - your dealer will be able to clear the errors whenever you take it in for a service or to have warranty work done.

The video below shows the system in operation. Note that pressing the button or turning the key while the engine is running has no effect.

back to audi retrofit