S5 Coupe Rear Seat Pass-thru Replacement

[GRDave]

So, long time lurker, first time poster. Got my 2010 S5 back in February, and it had some issues, naturally, for being almost 10 years old and having just over 70,000 miles. One issue that I thought was superficial was the rear seat pass-thru door. What looked like just the rear felt coming off was actually a completely smashed plastic body, with shards of plastic everywhere. I've seen a few other AZ members hunting down this part in the Classifieds section, and the only place I could find one was eBay.....it was grey. My thoughts, I'd rather have a functional piece that's grey, than have nothing at all.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Audi-20....c100290.m3507

While trying to remove the entire assembly, I lost even more plastic pieces, and important hooks and clips.

This is the pile I ended up with at the end



This is the lower trim piece, removed and my attempt to glue some parts back together (small pic shown, link to full size below pic)

https://i.imgur.com/c5JQUor.jpg

BTW, this is the epoxy I used to try and glue everything together, before I bit the bullet on the replacement part. Ole' Harbor Freight special. Most of this black trim is ABS, so it doesn't bond with standard CA glues, like super glue or crazy glue.

https://i.imgur.com/mTjtiSS.jpg

The part arrived and now it was time to swap the armrest. Piece of cake.....or so I thought. The four bolts are T25, M6x1.0, low profile, shoulder bolts...with loctite. And they are in there tight. Do not use a drill. They'll just strip out.

https://i.imgur.com/qwdpdP2.jpg

I stripped three heads, and snapped one. I was able to get one bolt out with a ratchet wrench, another with vice grips, and one I had to use a dremel to add flats to the head and use an 8mm open end wrench.


That was after I snapped this one off


Long story, kind of short, I used a pan head screw to replace the broken one. I actually ground down the head/shoulder of the broken bolt to make a collar to slide over the threads of the pan-head. Worked pretty well, and had just enough clearance.

https://i.imgur.com/sUUqyM3.jpg

Here's what it looks like installed

https://i.imgur.com/lTyaB3J.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/KH7kn1U.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/gsurBex.jpg

Here's a pic of the trim piece lined up with the snap hooks on the pass-thru frame. Not sure how this part would ever come off without breaking. Mine re-broke as I pressed it on. I heard some plastic pieces rattle around, but it's secure enough for me.

https://i.imgur.com/vAxYVNB.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/c89VX9L.jpg

I'm not concerned about the color, or the lack of a lock in the pass-thru door. I never have rear seat passengers, except my dog. So this was a win overall. Hope someone finds this useful. I'm not sure how widespread this breaking issue is. ABS gets pretty brittle as it ages, so I'd guess there will be quite a few of these breaking in the near future.

Anyway, I've done a few other repairs, like clutch line replacement, and used the how-to's on this site. Figured I contribute with this. Hopefully someone can use this info to their benefit. If anyone has any questions about something I didn't cover, please ask and I can answer to the best of my ability. Happy motoring fellow S5 owners!

[Darel]

Wow! I know we've exchanged messages before, when you asked if mine had "broken apart" I didn't realize you meant the whole door! On mine just the sliding latch broke apart, and fell down inside, and the inner latch (that faces into the car) also broke off. But the door is intact. Looking at it I figured it was easier and safer to just replace the whole door....but now I'm rethinking that. I'm surprised replacing the door was this much of a PITA.

I really appreciate the writeup. In the end I know I'll do this because I am pathologically incapable of having anything broken or defective on my car so it will come in handy.

Thank you!
Darel

[monatex]

the pass-through on my 09 is totally falling apart also. I can only get it open from the trunk side as the front side level broke off. The back is also broken but I can still get it open.