Here is an article on replacing the A6 ignition switch

Here's descriptions of replacing the ignition switch on two 
1995 A6 Quattros.  The first car done had a manual quattro 
transmisison; this replacement is described below at the bottom.  
The second car done had an automatic quattro transmission; 
the description of the differences are right below.



From: Franco Barber 
Subject: Re: ignition switch replaced
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 13:32:29 -0500

OK, Now I've replaced the ignition switch on the automatic transmission 
car too.  If you look at the bottom of the quoted mail, you'll see a
bold prediction that it would take me only one hour next time I
did it.  Ha!  Took me two.

The automatic transmission models have this shift lock cable that
attaches to the ignition and this cable runs right across the top
of where you've got to work, reducing access.

The space is really tight in there, and with the extra cable in the
way I couldn't do it the same way as I did on the other car.
That is, I couldn't connect the switch to the harness before
putting it in place.  There just isn't room to move the two
together because of the extra cable.

So, I put the switch in, and then struggled to line up the
connector. Once lined up, it took a really strong push to
get it on because of the locking gizmo.  Took about 30 minutes
of fiddling with the connector to line it up.

Once I got the switch in place, I still didn't have the
right type of loctite, so I put a dab of brown enamel
(rust-o-leum) on the top of the set screw.


Franco

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On Mon, Sep 02, 2002 at 06:29:17PM -0400, Franco Barber wrote:
OK, today I replaced my ignition switch, on the manual transmission car.

The procedure wasn't too hard, but it was long.
It took me 2.5 hours.
I think the next time I have to do it, it might take
me more like 1 hour.

Some tips.

a)
I used a nice soft cloth (actually, it's a bar/cleaning cloth that
I bought sime time ago at Williams Sonoma) to put under the
instrument cluster, to keep from scratching the top of
the steering wheel housing.

b)
Disconnect the left most two connectors of the instrument cluster.
These are attached to the shortest cables.
Once these are disconnected, you can tilt the instrument cluster
up, with the remaining cables still attached, and rest it on
top of the dashboard, out of the way, while you work on the rest.

c)
It may help to remove the under covers from the drivers side.
You don't really need them for access, but it will help out
when you drop something down in there.  This way it will fall
straight down and you can pick it up.  Otherwise it might get
harder to find something.

d)
The (*&*&(*& air conditioning conduits sure do get in the way
of everything.

e)
To the right of the ignition switch and right a little bit is
a flasher relay, mounted to a bracket, with a cable that runs
back and connects to the same harness that the ignition switch
connects to.  Disconnect this cable and move it out of the way.

f)
Disconnect negative battery cable.  I thought I could
get away without doing this, but I had second thoughts
after the first sparks flew...

g)
The book says you should also disconnected the red airbag
power connector in the front passenger footwell.  Since I wasn't
going to remove the steering wheel, I didn't do this.
I did however spend about 20 minutes looking for this to see
if it was so easy to disconnec that I might just do it anyway.
I did find it, and to get a really good look at it would require
pulling the carpet out, which would require pulling the trim out at
the passenger door opening, which would require opening the
passenger door.  Since there was a work table 4 inches away from
the passenger door, I decided I didn't really need to disconnect
this connector.

h)
The switch is held in place by two set screws.
There is some red loc-tite that keeps them from vibrating loose.
Have some loc-tite handy before you start so you can lock them
down again after you're done.  Guess what I didn't have on hand here?

i)
You don't have to completely remove the set screws to get the switch
out.  You can just back them out about 3/16" and still get the
switch out.

j)
The instructions tell you to disconnect the Bowden cable for the
shift lock.  I think this must only apply to the automatic transmission
models. I didn't see any such cable.

k)
Don't bother disconnecting the connector from the
ignition switch before removing the switch.  You can remove the
switch this way, by removing the connector first, but you don't
have to, and re-assembling the connector and switch was impossible
if the switch was mounted in the bracket first.
I ended up removing the switch, pulling the connector out, mating them,
and reinserting the whole thing into the bracket.

l)
Don't forget to re-connect the flasher relay, and the two
connectors on the instrument panel, before you put the
instrument panel back into place.

m)
Don't forget to re-connect the negative battery cable before
you put the back seat into place.


When I put it all back together, it really did work much
better than it did before.  The return spring is really strong.
Much stronger than the white car's ignition switch.
Therefore, there's a really good chance that the white
car will need this fix sooner or later.

Franco