the damn thing won't come out of the dash. I have a 2001 S4, and I just got the car back from the dealer... they couldn't get it out. Apparently one or two of the 'pins' are screwed up. They said the only way to get it out was to either break the dash or the radio. Is this true? If so, that's insane. Theft deterrence is one thing, but what the hell am I supposed to do now? I wanted to do the install for the my IPod that I found here on the forums, but I guess that's out.

Has anyone else had trouble like this, and if so is there ANY way to get the radio out without major damage? Is there a diagram anywhere that would should how the pins fit into the radio/dash? I know someone who could make about any tool I wanted assuming he knew what it had to look like to get the job done.

Thanks,
C

 

No need to break anything of consequence. I had the same problem. If you pull the A/C control panel out by firmly pulling out on the bottom of the unit, you can then carefully but firmly pull the faceplate off the radio. It is held in place with 4 screws which pass through corresponding plastic tabs which you can't access until the radio is removed. The plastic tabs will break open and allow the faceplate to come off. This will now allow you to access the security clips and remove them with screwdriver and pull the radio chassis out of the dash. The faceplate connects to the radio chassis with one plug from the circuit board. Simply ensure that this plug is aligned with its counterpart on the radio chassis and reposition the faceplate on the radio chassis. Then reinstall the screws, with small washers to secure the tabs.
I took the security clips out of the radio chassis altogether, they were buggered up by the prior owner and were overkill in any event.

 

I found some pictures of what the radio looks like out of the dash, so I see the tabs that hold it in place, and I also see the 4 screws you're talking about that hold the face plate on. However, I don't really understand how it's possible to remove the A/C control panel without first removing the radio? I don't see any way to 'grab' that control panel :/ Would it be possible to do the same thing by going from the top of the radio? It looks as if I could remove the plastic over for the foglight switch, cup holder, etc and possibly use a small screwdriver to pry the faceplate off the radio. Granted, the idea of actually damaging the radio doesn't sit well with me, but at this point, I'm so pissed at the moronic design, I'm about to take a sledge hammer to the whole console.

I would still love to know what exactly happens to the interior mechanism that pulls the tabs out of the way? As I said, the pictures I saw (I can't find it again now to save my life) showed the tabs before and after the keys were pushed into the slots (both overhead and side shots). They evidently don't work the way I thought they did, since the top keys appear to insert above the upper locking tabs.

**EDIT**
I finally found the link again to the pics I was talking about earlier http://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/49519.phtml. Can anyone explain exactly what the keys interact with, because it appears the top ones insert above the upper clips, and the bottom ones insert below the lower clips. Is there a tab on the clips that gets 'grabbed' by the keys as it slides in?