Removing AC Side Vents

[GOB]

Well, since my side vents were blowing a ton of what appears to be dry rotted foam :eek: , I decided to remove them and clean them out (as well as repair the left side which had the "up and down" piece missing). Everyone told me "just remove the two bolts on the side. Well, I now know A LOT more.... Here are some random tips for those interested and for future reference

Start with the passenger side as it gives you easier access to remove and re install before tackling the driver side. There are 3 THREE! bolts to remove (I learned by breaking...). You must first remove (with a small screw driver or nail) the round cover (think headlight switch cover for RHD cars). There you will find the third screw at what I would call 7' o clock. Remove the two side screws (I had a tough time due to the fact that I did not have a box wrench for the torx bit). To remove, "gently" tap with your fist the top part near the dash and just pull out. The vent itself has a black plastic tube that goes into another tube attached to the dash. To re install, its the same thing, except that you need to be careful when re insterting the vent because more likely than not, the open/close lever will catch on the side of the dash and un pop itself. Trick is to grab the black plastic side from the dash and pull sideways (towards the door) to make room for the lever to go in. I also found it useful to have the vent in the 3/4 position towards the top to make it easier to see if it caught or not.

The driver side is the same with one exception: headlight switch. To remove this, pull on it as if you are turning on the fog lamps. Do this while having your back on the floor so you can see a bronze colored "pin". Push on this pin with a small pointy "thing" and the knob will fall into your hands. There is a torx screw in the area left behind the headlight knob. I would venture to say around 4 o'clock. You better have a long torx bit otherwise it will be hard to get to. After that, remove the two side screws and reapeat as above. The headlight knob just pops back into place with some forward pressure.

Another thing I learned was to make sure that the plastic pink threads are lined up where they should be, BEFORE inserting the vents again.

I know this might seem trivial and perhaps its written down somewhere (I searched with no results), but its the small details that can make something easy and trivial, versus breaking a bunch of plastic and having stuff not fit right after re installing :o Ask me how I know! :lol:

I hope its of use to someone eventually.