Interior removal -- lessons learned.
05-14-2005, 09:25 PM
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Interior removal -- lessons learned. I had to remove my carpet to get the soaking wet padding removed and thus eliminate the "wet gym sock" odor. Just wanted to share a few of the details I ran into taking out and putting the interior back together.
-- center console is held in place by five screws: two in the storage compartment, one between the shifter and cupholder under the ashtray, and two on the sides up under the dash center console.
-- three electrical connections to the center console: the funny one is the little light that goes to the ash tray.
-- it is much easier to take the console in and out if you first take the middle of it off: there are two 7mm screws in the storage compartment UNDER the change holder which lifts up and out.
-- the seat belt guide brackets for the rear seat have VERY long torx screws holding them on and the screws have blue loctite on them, so it is almost impossible to take them out with a screwdriver.
-- the driver side rear most side panel (at the back of the hatch area) is not too hard to put back on if you take the rear most snap retainer out of the fender and put it in the panel so you can just press it down after the other two snap retainers are engaged.
-- I still don't know how to get the clothes hanger hooks off the B-pillar panels! They don't have to come off to get the carpet out. These panels are held in place by clothes hanger hook fasteners and two squares of velcro: one under the arm rest and one above it near the speaker grill.
-- power seats are a lot heavier than non-powered ones!
-- padding on the back of the carpet is glued in place. Makes it a royal PITA to remove; although where it has been wet comes up fairly easy
-- removing the padding remnants from the rubber carpet backing can be done with reasonable success using a "pull scraper" that has a U-shaped blade.
-- removing the power seat is much easier if you run it all the forward to get the back nuts and all the way back to get the front nuts.
It looks like water got under the carpet by coming in at the rear hatch sides. Perhaps the car was parked on a hill with its rear up. That will cause the water to pool in the drain channels and get inside the car. I have not had the car in the rain since I bought it (about six months ago) so the padding has been wet for a long while. It did not dry out even though I left the windows down all the time. The rubber backing on the carpet is great for vibration and sound dampening, but it sure won't let wet padding dry out.
Hope this is some help for others!
-- center console is held in place by five screws: two in the storage compartment, one between the shifter and cupholder under the ashtray, and two on the sides up under the dash center console.
-- three electrical connections to the center console: the funny one is the little light that goes to the ash tray.
-- it is much easier to take the console in and out if you first take the middle of it off: there are two 7mm screws in the storage compartment UNDER the change holder which lifts up and out.
-- the seat belt guide brackets for the rear seat have VERY long torx screws holding them on and the screws have blue loctite on them, so it is almost impossible to take them out with a screwdriver.
-- the driver side rear most side panel (at the back of the hatch area) is not too hard to put back on if you take the rear most snap retainer out of the fender and put it in the panel so you can just press it down after the other two snap retainers are engaged.
-- I still don't know how to get the clothes hanger hooks off the B-pillar panels! They don't have to come off to get the carpet out. These panels are held in place by clothes hanger hook fasteners and two squares of velcro: one under the arm rest and one above it near the speaker grill.
-- power seats are a lot heavier than non-powered ones!
-- padding on the back of the carpet is glued in place. Makes it a royal PITA to remove; although where it has been wet comes up fairly easy
-- removing the padding remnants from the rubber carpet backing can be done with reasonable success using a "pull scraper" that has a U-shaped blade.
-- removing the power seat is much easier if you run it all the forward to get the back nuts and all the way back to get the front nuts.
It looks like water got under the carpet by coming in at the rear hatch sides. Perhaps the car was parked on a hill with its rear up. That will cause the water to pool in the drain channels and get inside the car. I have not had the car in the rain since I bought it (about six months ago) so the padding has been wet for a long while. It did not dry out even though I left the windows down all the time. The rubber backing on the carpet is great for vibration and sound dampening, but it sure won't let wet padding dry out.
Hope this is some help for others!
Last edited by More power!; 05-15-2005 at 08:27 AM.
05-15-2005, 07:15 AM
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Originally Posted by More power!
-- I still don't know how to get the clothes hanger hooks off the B-pillar panels! They don't have to come off to get the carpet out. These panels are held in place by clothes hanger hook fasteners and two squares of velcro: one under the arm rest and one above it near the speaker grill.
-Mike
05-15-2005, 12:58 PM
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Staging Lane
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Crash 02:
That seemed to be the way to do it, but I pried that plug out about 1/8" and it and the hanger were not going to budge past that. There is a small slot under the plug that looks like it was made for a screwdriver blade, but after prying it still didn't come off.
That seemed to be the way to do it, but I pried that plug out about 1/8" and it and the hanger were not going to budge past that. There is a small slot under the plug that looks like it was made for a screwdriver blade, but after prying it still didn't come off.
