Hi guys & gals,
Just a short one for you today on how to remove the trim around the gearstick and the heater control unit.
You may wish to do this to modify or decorate the trim, or to access areas hidden behind.
Only a few tools are needed for this, and it takes around 10 minutes to remove both parts. This was done on a car with a manual gearstick and an electric parking brake. If the process is any different for an automatic/manual parking brake, let me know.
Tools
T20/25 Torx driver
Flat bladed screwdriver/Plastic trim prying tool
Removing the heater controls
To begin with, you need to remove the heater control unit. Once this has been taken out, you can then remove the trim around the gearstick.
To remove it, you begin by pulling the bottom of the unit towards the rear of the car. You can feel a lip on the bottom edge to pull against. The unit is secured with 7 clips as circled in the below picture:
Once the bottom has been popped out, you need to pull the bottom edge out more to release the side clips, and finally pull the top towards the rear of the car to free up those final 2 clips:
With the unit out, there are several electrical connectors to remove.
Ensure the ignition is turned off before proceeding!
Most have tabs you need to push in to release them, some have a red tab that needs to be pulled out slightly to then enable a push tab to move to release the connector. You must ensure the ignition is switched off before doing this, else you may activate the airbag light on the dash which will then need to be cleared.
While this unit is disconnected, don't switch on the ignition until it has been replaced as this could trigger the airbag light, an issue I encountered myself.
Removing the gearstick trim
Once the heater control unit has been removed, you will see 2 torx screws that were previously hidden by the control unit. Remove them:
Once removed, the electrical connector can be disconnected and then the panel slides out towards the rear of the car:
Now you need to pry up the rear of the gearstick trim using the pry tool or a screwdriver. If using a screwdriver, be careful not to damage any surrounding plastic trim. Slide the tool/screwdriver in-between the glossy black plastic and the textured plastic, then pry the glossy plastic part upwards. Again, this part is held in with clips that just pop out:
Before pulling the trim up too far, you need to disconnect the electrical for the electric parking brake (if fitted). Again this is a simple push tab style connector:
With the connector disconnected, pull the trim up to reveal these black clips on the gearstick surround:
These just push in towards the gearstick. They are on every side for the gearstick surround trim. Once un-clipped, the trim pushes up and pops out of the main centre trim part. You then need turn it and feed it through the hole in the centre trim to allow removal of the surround. This will make more sense when you have the trim piece in hand.
With the gearstick surround removed, you now need to pull the trim towards the rear of the car to release 2 more clips near where you removed the torx screws earlier.
If your car has USB ports installed under the heater control unit, you now need to disconnect these connectors behind the centre trim part:
The green connector prys out, although it is stiff so you need to be firm. The other connector is a push tab style clip.
To reinstall the parts, it is the reversal of removal. To get the clips back in, a slight tap will make them pop back into place correctly.
When re-installing the heater control unit, insert the top clips first, and the the side and bottom clips. Once in, give the edges of the unit a tap to ensure they all click into place properly.
Job complete!
Any questions or suggestions, feel free to message me or post below.
Kind Regards,
Lozzy
Just a short one for you today on how to remove the trim around the gearstick and the heater control unit.
You may wish to do this to modify or decorate the trim, or to access areas hidden behind.
Only a few tools are needed for this, and it takes around 10 minutes to remove both parts. This was done on a car with a manual gearstick and an electric parking brake. If the process is any different for an automatic/manual parking brake, let me know.
Tools
T20/25 Torx driver
Flat bladed screwdriver/Plastic trim prying tool
Removing the heater controls
To begin with, you need to remove the heater control unit. Once this has been taken out, you can then remove the trim around the gearstick.
To remove it, you begin by pulling the bottom of the unit towards the rear of the car. You can feel a lip on the bottom edge to pull against. The unit is secured with 7 clips as circled in the below picture:
Once the bottom has been popped out, you need to pull the bottom edge out more to release the side clips, and finally pull the top towards the rear of the car to free up those final 2 clips:
With the unit out, there are several electrical connectors to remove.
Ensure the ignition is turned off before proceeding!
Most have tabs you need to push in to release them, some have a red tab that needs to be pulled out slightly to then enable a push tab to move to release the connector. You must ensure the ignition is switched off before doing this, else you may activate the airbag light on the dash which will then need to be cleared.
While this unit is disconnected, don't switch on the ignition until it has been replaced as this could trigger the airbag light, an issue I encountered myself.
Removing the gearstick trim
Once the heater control unit has been removed, you will see 2 torx screws that were previously hidden by the control unit. Remove them:
Once removed, the electrical connector can be disconnected and then the panel slides out towards the rear of the car:
Now you need to pry up the rear of the gearstick trim using the pry tool or a screwdriver. If using a screwdriver, be careful not to damage any surrounding plastic trim. Slide the tool/screwdriver in-between the glossy black plastic and the textured plastic, then pry the glossy plastic part upwards. Again, this part is held in with clips that just pop out:
Before pulling the trim up too far, you need to disconnect the electrical for the electric parking brake (if fitted). Again this is a simple push tab style connector:
With the connector disconnected, pull the trim up to reveal these black clips on the gearstick surround:
These just push in towards the gearstick. They are on every side for the gearstick surround trim. Once un-clipped, the trim pushes up and pops out of the main centre trim part. You then need turn it and feed it through the hole in the centre trim to allow removal of the surround. This will make more sense when you have the trim piece in hand.
With the gearstick surround removed, you now need to pull the trim towards the rear of the car to release 2 more clips near where you removed the torx screws earlier.
If your car has USB ports installed under the heater control unit, you now need to disconnect these connectors behind the centre trim part:
The green connector prys out, although it is stiff so you need to be firm. The other connector is a push tab style clip.
To reinstall the parts, it is the reversal of removal. To get the clips back in, a slight tap will make them pop back into place correctly.
When re-installing the heater control unit, insert the top clips first, and the the side and bottom clips. Once in, give the edges of the unit a tap to ensure they all click into place properly.
Job complete!
Any questions or suggestions, feel free to message me or post below.
Kind Regards,
Lozzy
Last edited:
