On the steering wheel side, start by removing the handle, weather strip and A-pillar cover, pretty much the same way done for the glove box side. Then, move to the bottom of the steering wheel. Remove the fuse box cover. The bottom part is held by 2 screws of the fuel door latch, two screws of the bonnet latch and one external screw. Then pull the bottom part gently and it will come out.
20221120_115428.jpg
20221120_115942.jpg
20221120_115951.jpg
20221120_120345.jpg
Now, onto the vents. This part is interesting because you really want to remove the vents, but there is a sequence of other parts that need to be removed or pulled out of the way in sequence for that to happen. The instrument cluster trim blocks the vents. The steering wheel blocks the instrument cluster trim and the steering wheel tilt down mechanism doesn't provide enough tilt to remove the instrument cluster trim, so you have to undo the steering column bolts... The steering wheel bottom cover blocks the steering column bolts, so it needs to be removed. So here it goes in the reverse order, to end up removing the vents...
Lets start... the steering wheel needs to be pushed down and it requires unbolting two nuts around the red arrow area. On the video, the guy undo then nuts with the bottom cover on. I found out that it made my socket/extension contact the nut sideways and due to the bolt being extremely tightened, the socket would slip out of it. So I opted to remove the bottom cover. The bottom cover only has two screws, on the red squares area and then some gentle movements.
20221120_122805.jpg
20221120_122815.jpg
20221120_151215.jpg
Now, undo the two cluster trim bolts, slightly tilt the steering wheel down and remove the trim. I found it easier to also remove the steering wheel column top cover to avoid scratching it. And surprise, surprise, the bolts were already missing. As a matter of fact, I found 7 bolts missing throughout the process. Remember, I am re-upholstering this, so someone far less careful and obsessive then me has already taken this apart and as it seems has stuck 7 bolts up his arse. This is why I'd rather do all disassembly-reassembly of trims myself, even when I am hiring someone to do the main part of the thing, like installing a stereo for example.
20221120_121312.jpg
20221120_121319.jpg
Anyway, cluster trim off, lets move to the vents themselves. Remove the bottom dash bolt and then for the lower vent it is just a matter of wiggling and maybe depressing the metal tabs with your hand under the dash and around the vent, just like with the glove box side. You see, the steering wheel side lower vent has not bolts like the other side, and what holds it in place other then the tabs is this indentation that stays under the cluster trim, so this is the reason for removing the trim. You may have to disconnect the plugs for switches you may have there. Top vent came out too easy. The picture shows a tab on the top vent that can be accessed with a pick from the front of it to help remove in case wiggling doesn't do the trick.
20221120_120832.jpg 20221120_121646.jpg 20221120_121651.jpg
20221120_121659.jpg 20221120_122326.jpg 20221120_122331.jpg
20221120_121847.jpg 20221120_121852.jpg
Reply With Quote