How to remove ?
- Thread starter A2 Louis
- Start date
A2 Louis
Banned
Do they just pull out then ?
Catnip64
A2OC Donor
This is what Andrew posted previously on removing the side vent:
Drivers side air vent help
so I hit my knee on the driver's side air vent and busted it how do i get mine out without damaging the clips and is it possible to take the clips off the old one? because I think ive bought one with no clips. Or is there a way to put it on without clips or an alternative thanks :)
www.a2oc.net
Proghound
Admin Team
@Andrew, so you know, I am sending Louis the underneath bit for the vent slider, he already has the top button but it's not connected to anything.
I have a feeling I did a vane transplant when I had a similar issue back in my early days of A2 ownership. Louis won't have any spare vanes but I imagine that for access around the centre vane to hold the lower part in place, either it or those around it will still have to be disconnected, at least at one end.
Actually now I think about it, I do have a scrap vent. I can't remember which side it is, but if it's the same side or the vanes are the same from side to side, I can include a couple of them in the package.
I have a feeling I did a vane transplant when I had a similar issue back in my early days of A2 ownership. Louis won't have any spare vanes but I imagine that for access around the centre vane to hold the lower part in place, either it or those around it will still have to be disconnected, at least at one end.
Actually now I think about it, I do have a scrap vent. I can't remember which side it is, but if it's the same side or the vanes are the same from side to side, I can include a couple of them in the package.
(Wow, what a football game!!!!)
Thank you @Catnip64 for posting that, to repeat it a little the side vents are secured by 4 clips that have gorilla like strength and breaking a clip or two is inevitable....... ! and more to the point removal is something you only need to do do if replacing the the vent or repairing the thumbwheel mechanism. Secondly in your case it is pointless removing the vent as it will gain you nothing, you gain no extra access to internal parts, access is from the front.
It is not that clear from the front how the vent louvres work, so I suggest you read a rambling old post of mine here, to acquaint yourself with the innards.
Louis, you never exactly said what is wrong and are repairing, but @Proghound has shed some light (thanks), but I must admit it was some time ago and my memory of the part he has kindly supplied is hazy. Unfortunately, even though I have a spare vent and other bits they are not at hand to refresh my memory, all in storage while the flat roof of my garage is replaced by a proper pitched roof and a room upstairs! If you get desperate I can dig them out to study further to offer advice and give you any parts you may need.
Back to your repair. The horizontal louvres in the lower part of the vent are removalable for access. To start I would not remove them all just maybe the ones above and below the thumb slider so you can at least see a bit more, it would not surprise me if you can now see your missing bit and retrieve it. From memory if you remove them all you are in danger of displacing the "ladders" at each side that hold them together in line in situ, a pain I imagine to get back in. To remove a louvre brutally push up in the middle to bend it and it will disengage from the "ladder" at one end at least and pull out with pin nose pliers whose jaws are wrapped in soft cloth to prevent scratching. Might now be enough access to clip your new part in, otherwise remove the louvre with the thumb slider likewise and repair.
No point in me continuing to theorise, have a go and post some pictures if you need further help, at worst a whole new replacement vent is only £15ish from A2Steve et alia.
Andy
Thank you @Catnip64 for posting that, to repeat it a little the side vents are secured by 4 clips that have gorilla like strength and breaking a clip or two is inevitable....... ! and more to the point removal is something you only need to do do if replacing the the vent or repairing the thumbwheel mechanism. Secondly in your case it is pointless removing the vent as it will gain you nothing, you gain no extra access to internal parts, access is from the front.
It is not that clear from the front how the vent louvres work, so I suggest you read a rambling old post of mine here, to acquaint yourself with the innards.
Louis, you never exactly said what is wrong and are repairing, but @Proghound has shed some light (thanks), but I must admit it was some time ago and my memory of the part he has kindly supplied is hazy. Unfortunately, even though I have a spare vent and other bits they are not at hand to refresh my memory, all in storage while the flat roof of my garage is replaced by a proper pitched roof and a room upstairs! If you get desperate I can dig them out to study further to offer advice and give you any parts you may need.
Back to your repair. The horizontal louvres in the lower part of the vent are removalable for access. To start I would not remove them all just maybe the ones above and below the thumb slider so you can at least see a bit more, it would not surprise me if you can now see your missing bit and retrieve it. From memory if you remove them all you are in danger of displacing the "ladders" at each side that hold them together in line in situ, a pain I imagine to get back in. To remove a louvre brutally push up in the middle to bend it and it will disengage from the "ladder" at one end at least and pull out with pin nose pliers whose jaws are wrapped in soft cloth to prevent scratching. Might now be enough access to clip your new part in, otherwise remove the louvre with the thumb slider likewise and repair.
No point in me continuing to theorise, have a go and post some pictures if you need further help, at worst a whole new replacement vent is only £15ish from A2Steve et alia.
Andy
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Where can I get the vent from as mine seems to have jammed ....on the passenger side the blades will turn to the right but will not go to the left .... seems like resistance when trying to turn them to the side window ....
Hi,
Don't think I have ever seen the status 'Past Member' in the the avatar on the left! Half sounds like you are dead and communicating from the afterlife!
More seriously to answer your question, any of the main recyclers on here will probably have one, @A2Steve, @sciroccorrado, @Fallan, @Sarge, that will alert them to your need. Have you looked in theMarketplace on here?
Struggling to understand why it will move right and not left which makes me wonder if some foreign object has found its way in and jamming progress left, children love to poke things through gaps. Why not pop off some horizontal louvres as described above and inspect.
Andy
Edit. Just had a look for you and the most recent passenger vent I can see, I assume you need it in black, is from @mjsbrabus and it still seems available.
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2work
Well Known Member
Louis,
Add a picture to show exactly what you’re missing. I do have some of the horizontal vanes and thumb sliders.
You do not need to remove the whole vent so please do not try to. There could be unnecessary damage caused if you do so.
I’ll show you how to tackle this on Saturday when I drop in to do a scan.
Kind regards,
Tom
Add a picture to show exactly what you’re missing. I do have some of the horizontal vanes and thumb sliders.
You do not need to remove the whole vent so please do not try to. There could be unnecessary damage caused if you do so.
I’ll show you how to tackle this on Saturday when I drop in to do a scan.
Kind regards,
Tom
A2 Louis
Banned
dj_efk
A2OC Donor
Bumping an old thread as a new passenger side vent assembly is winging its way towards me courtesy of @A2Steve
Does anyone have a picture of the clips that I'll inevitably break when I come to remove the old vent, so that I can at least attempt to remove the vent without breakage?! A pic of them in situ would be even better. Do I use an ordinary household knife? to unclip them?
Does anyone have a picture of the clips that I'll inevitably break when I come to remove the old vent, so that I can at least attempt to remove the vent without breakage?! A pic of them in situ would be even better. Do I use an ordinary household knife? to unclip them?
Kleynie
A2OC Donor
You can get at it from behind if you don't want to break it, then squeeze the tabs, I have done this and didn't break any.
Proghound
Admin Team
I found that difficult on a dash that wasn't even in the car! With the dash in situ, to get at the clips that's a glovebox-off job, and probably best with passenger seat out, on your back in the footwell.
Another option may be to transplant as many vanes as necessary from the new vent to the old, in situ. This can be done very carefully with fingers, or you could use thin pliers wrapped in masking tape to avoid marking the vanes. You'll see there's a 'ladder' connecting them vertically. Starting and ending with the centre one with the sliding tab, you can bend each vane slightly and persuade it to come out of its locating holes, first at the opposite end to the ladder, then do the ladder end. Be very careful detaching it from the ladder, the lug that goes into the ladder is fragile. Refitting is the reverse of removal, as the saying goes
Good luck ?
Proghound
Admin Team
I've seen someone on FB I think do a mod to make them light up but no, they're not lit as standard.
You ask for pictures!! Left over from a 'How To' that never got finished.
The hole the vent lives in - both sides, the bottom left tab is the difficult one. From memory the key is slide the vent up so the clip behind the tab is above it allowing the vent to pull out.
Views of the vent sides and back in all its glory!
Rather than risk marking the dash I pulled from the back with a bucket handle!
Watched A2Steve remove one once, out in ten seconds with only one broken clip.
Maybe I should finish the 'How To'.
Andy
Edit. Forgot to say the real pain is removing the lower panels to retrieve the broken clips, but you have no need unless they start to rattle.
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