I'm sure everyone knows that the Cigarette Lighter/Adapter is held in place simply by a piece that screws on on the other side of the plastic panel...question is...which panels do I have to remove to get to that because the backpiece unscrewed itself and I dont know which panels to remove and how are they being held on? clips...screws...help please..thanks!

 

I had the dealer do it for free. They sounded like it was a PITA, said they had to remove the pannels behind both seats.

Are you still under warranty? Yes, I see, ap2 so dealer should do it for you.

 

Yep, get the dealer to fix it. You don't want to tackle this. To gain access to the back of the power socket, the rear interior has to be almost entirely dismantled.

 

Actually this is an easy one. It took me all of 10 minutes to complete. Here goes......

Access can be gained quite easily from either behind the passenger or driver's seat.

1. Flip the seat back up so you have some room back there.
2. Remove the two hooks (philips) that you see securing the small rear panel.
3. Remove that panel with a little tug, it'll unsnap.
4. You'll see another philips screw behind that panel that just keeps the trim pieces connected to one another....remove it.
5. Pull on the center console/storage area from the same location you just removed the screw from, it'll unsnap.
6. Now you'll have enough play to get your hand behind the A/C outlet.
7. Reverse the process and viola!!!

You really just need to tighten it by hand. I did this a couple years ago and it has not come back loose at all. I would be leary of removing the nut back there to maybe apply some lok-tite or similar because if you drop it....you screwed.

Really it took me longer to type this than to do the fix(I'm a slow typer and I went outside to verify my technique ).

Good luck,
Hockey

 

Hockey, you got small hands and arms? I tried reaching back there and I got my arms scratched up pretty bad and I've got small arms.

 

I had to do this last sunday when I put my alarm in. Hockey's got the directions right, but he's missing a few steps. if you want to remove the rear glove compartment console, instead of just bending it up and out of the way, you have to remove the rear deck. There are little 2-part plastic pins that hold the rear deck on. you have to push the center pin in to remove the whole pin. There are also a row of retaing clips that you can't see just underneath the far edge of the rear deck.

I could never get the deck out myself, so I pretty much did what hockey did. I just bent the center until i could fit my hand in. It was a royal PITA!

 

Hehehehe, I guess I do since I weigh all of 145 lbs.

It comes in handy when I'm working under the car and trying to maneuver around. I was always the little guy people had go thru the trunk to unlock the car door!!

 

Had that problem too. It was just easier to let my service dept. do it. If something broke while tugging..at least they knew how to fix it.

 

I was under the impression that the power socket could not be adapted for a cigar lighter. Does anyone know of where to get an adapter?

 

You are correct. I think some people call it that outta habit.

No ash tray and no cigarette lighter in this car (although they have the ashtray as an option - hmmmmm).