B5 A4/S4 in-dash cup holder repair

Nearing 130K miles on my A4 and it finally happened. The cup holder stopped working. So I decided to see if there was anything I could do about it. It's all mechanical and as a mechanical engineer, I thought, "How hard could this be?" Not too bad. However I had to hunt around to find out how to remove the thing, and no one seems to have any info as to how to fix the root cause of the failure. So here's my go at it. I hope you find it useful.

[aaronsilva]

Thanks! All these years and this video is still making the difference. Perfect procedure to getting my cupholder functional again!

[tily]

I am a Brazilian man. with video, the problem was solved. Thank you very much

[popogie]

Thank's for this video. My cup holder didn't close properly anymore because the spring went lose and stucked at the very end of the case. I disassembled it and didn't know where to attach the end of the spring. Thank you for enlightening me!

[christianh]

Awesome vid, Thank you, I had to plastic weld the two pieces that hold that ribbon in place mine were broken off I took a plastic tab that broke off in another place and with soldering pen I melted the plastic over the ribbon and smoothed it out. It held it in place and was able to reassemble again. Hope this helps anyone else with broken slot tabs for the ribbon.

[BNelson]

This tutorial was fantastic once i got the unit out. TY!! I ended up using JB-Weld to keep the spring in place, so needless to say i won't be fixing it ever again.

The important part that seems to be overlooked was the removal. There are two metal clamps located on top of the cup holder that hold the cup holder in place. You can remove them with a flat-head screwdriver. Once you remove them, make sure to be careful pulling the unit out, as there is a wire attached to the back. Hope this helps!

[valealvarez]

Thank you for enlighten me to dissasembly this sorcery, i now understand the mechanism and i am pretty confident i can fix it. (Audi A4 B6 cabriolet)

[tbagger]

yes you are a life saver. took mine out to change the hazard switch and ended up with a pile of parts and no idea how to re-assemble. this was very helpful and saved me lots of money. thanks..nj

[Paulmolive]

Thank you for the video. The plastic tabs holding the end of the spring was broken so I super glued the spring right on the plastic. Seems to be working fine now.

[nikolaisikes]

Awesome! Works for B6 as well. I disassembled mine to get it to slide easier amd dropped the spring before I saw where it came from. The only difference between the B5 and B6 versions are the B6 spring slides into the top of the casing. It has the same slot as the B5 but the slot is in the top of the case.

[rcrich]

Followed you to a T in 2013 worked flawlessly!!! both my A6's. This Vid is now iin my favs. Thnks.

[Oueax]

Great video!
I just bought a 2nd hand cup holder because mine is jammed. I will replace and check if I can fix mine, then I'll have a spare part.
Oh btw, I had no problem reinstalling the spring, maybe your's wanted to escape. Just put the T end in the groove and make sure to align the cylinder ends with the sliding part. Then it'll work on the first try.

[tayarbass]

a big 'THANK YOU' smjanows.. I tried it step by step it should work but the 'slot' for the spring's tongue had worn off and it just won't hold.. so I just put it back together and let the matter rest..

[projectxj]

Thanks for posting this! Mine quit working just like you said, where the cupholder wouldn't go back in all the way due to the parts that had fallen out. I ended up having to glue the spring in place, because the plastic that held it in was partially broken. But it worked out fine.

[emcsl]

just used this to fix the cup holder in my A3, brilliant video, the cup holder is slightly different but the same principle applies, thanks for sharing the vid!

[markraiteri]

Fantastic video--I could not figure out how that worked.  Thanks every so much!

[alexjanito]

I couldnt figure out where the metal end went to, Thank you!

[cteklife]

There is a permanent fix on the VW vortex forums that utilizes drilling holes into the spring and through the plastic so that its mechanically fixed into place. Incorporating this fix, or utilizing some glue would vastly improve this fix.

[samaa]

I tried but the tip of my spring was already broken so i glued it and it worked fine for about 5-6 times and the glue did let go due to much tension so i have to buy a new one, but still thanks for learning me how to replace it at least 

[PaulZak]

Great posting. Useful for the trim removal necessary to replace flasher relay. Turn signal contact needed to be bent slightly to restore flashing.

[dimitristsaravas]

congratulations
with your help I fixed it in 5 minutes
thank you very much