Center Console Disassembly - PLEASE HELP!
1/11/07, 10:57 AM
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Center Console Disassembly - PLEASE HELP!
Hi, I'm new here. This is what prompted me to sign up...
My girlfriend bought the GT 'vert in my avatar brand new in October. It's her baby. She called me today to tell me she spilled a full cup of yogurt
on her console and it got down into the crevices around the shifter quadrant. Tonight I'm gonna have to tear into it to get it cleaned out before her leather stinks of spoiled dairy.
If anyone here has torn one of these consoles apart, I'd really appreciate anything you could tell me about those lovely surprises designed into stuff like hidden fasteners or clips, or delicate parts to watch out for. It's got the 5-speed automatic.
If she had the 6-speed manual, she probably wouldn't have attempted eating yogurt while putting on mascara, E-mailing from her Blackberry, finding oldies on XM and.....ummm.....oh yeah, driving, too.
My girlfriend bought the GT 'vert in my avatar brand new in October. It's her baby. She called me today to tell me she spilled a full cup of yogurt
on her console and it got down into the crevices around the shifter quadrant. Tonight I'm gonna have to tear into it to get it cleaned out before her leather stinks of spoiled dairy.If anyone here has torn one of these consoles apart, I'd really appreciate anything you could tell me about those lovely surprises designed into stuff like hidden fasteners or clips, or delicate parts to watch out for. It's got the 5-speed automatic.
If she had the 6-speed manual, she probably wouldn't have attempted eating yogurt while putting on mascara, E-mailing from her Blackberry, finding oldies on XM and.....ummm.....oh yeah, driving, too.
1/11/07, 11:36 AM
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1/11/07, 11:58 AM
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It looks pretty straightforward.
1/12/07, 09:03 AM
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Thanks again to theedge67 for that .pdf!
The console came apart easily but, for anyone else disassembling theirs, the bezel is a little tricky and the manual does not adequately explain it.
The bezel has four tabs as shown in the exploded view in the .pdf. Those four tabs have teeth on them similar to a zip tie that go into slots on the side of the silver shifter trim housing. The tabs are shown in this diagram but it would be impossible to remove the center console and leave the bezel installed the way that diagram shows. The manual doesn't give any procedure for removing the bezel. As a result, I cracked the part though the crack is not visible when the bezel is installed and it did install acceptably with the crack.
To avoid cracking yours, cut a piece of thin plastic to a size of about .5" by 2.5" -- it doesn't have to be exact. I used the clear plastic from a Home Depot pack of washers. That was thin enough to slide between the bezel and the console. The console is made of soft ABS plastic and will mar easily if you use a metal tool. The plastic will help you pry/flex the edge of the bezel enough for you to slowly work your fingers under the the clear plastic, closer and closer until finally your finger is under the bezel. The trick is to work around the bezel evenly until you have enough room underneath the edge to get your fingers underneath on both sides at the same time. Start at the rear but only get it raised a little bit before moving to the front.
I found out the hard way that mine was looser on the passenger side and, because I didn't know exactly how it was attached (I expected something like a clip rather than a zip tie), the passenger side popped right up and cracked the bezel horizontally at the front of the driver side, right along the edge of the console opening. The bezel is made of a suprisingly flexible plastic but not THAT flexible! It takes a lot of force to back the zip tabs out of their slots so you really do have to muscle the piece hard but you should do fine as long as you apply that force to both sides at the same time so give all four tabs a straight pull. Also be aware that the tabs are angled slightly so the bezel will go slightly rearward as it comes up.
I hope this helps anyone else who has to remove their console. If anyone has a better bezel removal procedure to suggest, please post it.
The console came apart easily but, for anyone else disassembling theirs, the bezel is a little tricky and the manual does not adequately explain it.
The bezel has four tabs as shown in the exploded view in the .pdf. Those four tabs have teeth on them similar to a zip tie that go into slots on the side of the silver shifter trim housing. The tabs are shown in this diagram but it would be impossible to remove the center console and leave the bezel installed the way that diagram shows. The manual doesn't give any procedure for removing the bezel. As a result, I cracked the part though the crack is not visible when the bezel is installed and it did install acceptably with the crack.
To avoid cracking yours, cut a piece of thin plastic to a size of about .5" by 2.5" -- it doesn't have to be exact. I used the clear plastic from a Home Depot pack of washers. That was thin enough to slide between the bezel and the console. The console is made of soft ABS plastic and will mar easily if you use a metal tool. The plastic will help you pry/flex the edge of the bezel enough for you to slowly work your fingers under the the clear plastic, closer and closer until finally your finger is under the bezel. The trick is to work around the bezel evenly until you have enough room underneath the edge to get your fingers underneath on both sides at the same time. Start at the rear but only get it raised a little bit before moving to the front.
I found out the hard way that mine was looser on the passenger side and, because I didn't know exactly how it was attached (I expected something like a clip rather than a zip tie), the passenger side popped right up and cracked the bezel horizontally at the front of the driver side, right along the edge of the console opening. The bezel is made of a suprisingly flexible plastic but not THAT flexible! It takes a lot of force to back the zip tabs out of their slots so you really do have to muscle the piece hard but you should do fine as long as you apply that force to both sides at the same time so give all four tabs a straight pull. Also be aware that the tabs are angled slightly so the bezel will go slightly rearward as it comes up.
I hope this helps anyone else who has to remove their console. If anyone has a better bezel removal procedure to suggest, please post it.
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