thanks again Brian - I have rang BMW again, and they are still saying the part is non existant in the UK, and cant find it even in America. They are not very helpful over here.

I was thinking, as the 54 pin i have is a) dead, b) redundant.

Could I not chop the thing off, and solder a 25w D plug on the end of the appropriate cables in the order given in that link? If I did need to put it back, I could just re-crimp?

If so, I could have a go at this tonight as a last ditch attempt!!

Sam

You can also buy the 54-pin plug and wires from an Audi dealer. Here are their part numbers:
54 Pin connector £1.47 ($3) Audi Dealer - Audi p/n 4e0-972-144.
Pins for connector £0.97 ($0.5) ea (x10 = £9.70 ($5.00)) Audi Dealer - Audi p/n 000-979-010.

Your 54-pin plug is truly a mystery to me. It was hanging loose before you began this, so you could theorize that it is not needed. So "harvesting" that plug for your conversion is viable. However, I have history of bad things when I deleted something I did not recognize. Therefore, I would reserve the chopping of the 54-pin plug as a last-ditch solution.

See my other post for sources of the 54-pin plug parts. I would buy those, and then just splice them into your existing DB 25 plug. That way, you have it wired in parallel, and you do not need to worry about finding the male DB25 plug. I would not cut the old plug out of the car, though, because you never know, you might actually need that some day.

cheers Brian.

Have now spoken to Audi - plug is available in 3-5 days, however the cables are not, and they are on backorder with Audi and could be 4 weeks!

Get the pins from BMW then. The part number is 61.13-0 006 663.

You can get the pins from farnell for much cheaper (pence each). They are about £1.20 each at BMW. I will get the part nunber when I get home. To check US BMW part numbers google for "get BMW Parts"

ok, made up the adaptor as per Brian's link. Plugged it in, nothing.

Double checked everything, plugged it in, nothing.

Disconnected battery, left for an hour, reconnected, nothing. All I have now is a load of lights on the cluster - Exclamation mark, DSC warning etc. :-(

Have now removed the TCU, adaptor etc, lights still on.

I would see if you can get a local dealer to order that adapter part for you.

As far as the cluster warning lights, that is very strange. I can not think of anything in the telephone wiring that could cause that. It seems like your battery is low or something.