07 S550: fix dash vent louvers

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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

07 S550: fix dash vent louvers

Post by kevm14 »

Adam drove back from lunch yesterday and in the passenger seat I noticed that one of the vertical louvers in the center right vent was detached and not moving with the direction adjustment (left/right).

We fiddled with it for a while with all the right tools (keys mainly) but no dice.

So today I endeavored to fix it which meant I wanted to remove the vent to work on it. This turned into a bit of a circus though removal of the center dash piece is actually not that difficult.

To remove the wood trim piece that includes the center vents and HVAC controls, start by pulling both side access covers. Remove 1 screw per side which secures the trim. Then pry up the vent in front of the nav screen and remove 1 more screw. That's it. The rest is just carefully prying the retainer clips off working from the outside in. This took some care because it was like 40F today and not the best conditions to work with plastic (or for finger dexterity). But I got it off. Then disconnect the myriad plugs from the back of the HVAC module and clock stuff and that's it.

But that wasn't it. I thought I wanted to remove the vent so I started to remove the vent screws but realized two of them were blocked by the HVAC module. So I removed that. Then I removed the vents. But that didn't help much. Turns out what I should have done was just gently release the clips that hold the vent fascia on the front and that gets direct access to all of the louver stuff. Oh well.

Once in there I was able to just lift out the horizontal louvers and stuff and it promptly all fell apart into the individual components. They must assemble this on a jig because OMG. But that was a problem for later. I worked on the vertical louvers and eventually got them all reattached to the thing that makes them all move together and pivot properly.

Then I must have spent 25 minutes just trying to reassemble the horizontal louvers. It was hilarious and frustrating at the same time. Somehow I got it back together, installed the vents, installed the HVAC module and snapped the vent fascia back on.

Then just reinstall the whole trim panel which took a few tries because I didn't want to break anything. But I got it and everything works now. When I plugged the clock in the first thing it did was reset itself to 12:00. Then after a few minutes it set itself to the correct time somehow. So fancy (it uses GPS and the actual time is held in COMAND).

The only thing I can think of that could have happened was someone stuck one of those AWFUL phone holders into the vents, jamming it in until it held. I can't see any other reason for the vertical louver to just become detached from the rack thing at the back that makes them move together. So other than some scratched up horizontal louvers from trying surgery before removing, it's all functional again.
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