Best method to remove center A/C vent and wood surround?
 

So, I've got one heck of a rattle deep in my center dash A/C vent.

I want to remove it and see what is loose and rattling. But I'm not sure how to get it out without damaging it or the wood surround.

I did test removing one from an XJ6 in a wrecking yard, but found it was really in the dash tight and any prying behind the wood surround itself broke the wood surround off from the vent frame.

Once out I saw that the vent itself was held in by four (two top, two bottom) metal clips that hold the vent assembly in via friction.

So it would appear that one might need to find a way to hook the rear of the vent assembly through the front, then pull it out?

Does anyone have any lessons learned or a 'how to' on getting the vent assembly and wood surround off without damaging it?


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Needless to say, Jaguar has a "special tool" available for this task! It clamps onto the centre vane of vent and you pull the whole assembly out. I did mine by using 2 pairs of long nose pliers, grip the centre vane of each vent and tug firmly (may need to wiggle each side in turn to help ease it out) and the whole vent / wood trim assembly will come out as one unit. It is a tight fit. Be careful of the cable which is connected behind the hot/cold adjuster at the centre of the unit, it is only a short length. Refit by positioning carefully and pushing evenly each side.

Thanks for that key detail. Al, my 1997 XJ6 has the same rattle coming from the same place so I am curious to hear if you solve your rattle.

The technique you describe is what I figured, and seems pretty common. It's very similar to the technique I detailed on miata.net so many years ago to remove a first gen Miata's set of eyeball vents.

I'll give it a try and report what worked best.

I have a donor center vent I'll use to try to investigate what is rattling.

I suspect it is one or more of the 'broken' vent vanes and their connecting hardware inside the vent body. Hopefully they are repairable, but it seems like every XJ I see from this era has some lazy vent vanes in this center vent.

I see the same on the rear console vents, but was happy to see I could reconnect them and their armature inside with some careful prodding from a small screwdriver. They apparently just snap together inside if they come apart, so maybe the same will prove true of this center vent. We'll see.

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I'm pretty fortunate that none of the vanes has broken or become detached in mine. I guess they are designed to take some strain since pulling on them is the only way to release the unit from the retaining clips. I am still bemused at there being no other way to do this. At least you have a donor unit on standby!

Yeah, in looking at my spare part, I don't think pulling on the vanes themselves is likely a good idea, although it may work. The vanes seem pretty insubstantial. The spare unit I pulled from the salvage yard really held on and didn't want to come out, so one may have to really yank on it.

But it does appear that a tool that reaches through and hooks the upper and lower edge of vent assembly from the rear might work. I'll try to rig up a bent coat hanger and see how that works. As I mentioned above, a similar tool made from a hanger used on Miata vents worked like a charm.

Also, in looking at my spare vent assembly, it appears to be glued/welded together and won't easily come apart to get to the mechanism for the horizontal vanes. I'll have to see if it can be cut apart and reassembled, and is even worth the trouble.

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Thinking back on it (it was quite some time ago) the special tool may in fact hook onto the rear face of the vent and not the vanes, and if so I stand corrected. My method of gripping the centre vanes was picked up from someone else, and it worked for me, in fact I've had the unit out at 2-3 times using this method. Your hooking approach may be less risky however!

Gotch, no worries :D ...appreciate the advice.

FYI the part number for the vent assembly is GNA6770AALEG

It in theory is still available as a new replacement part, but I'd be surprised if many are still out there since just about every example I've seen has the horizontal vanes no longer moving in unison and that means lots of warrantee replacements were probably done over the years. And the darned part is about $200 :icon_really:

....and who's to say the replacement won't break in short order since it seems like these just have a design defect if most exhibit this problem over time.

I'll see what I can ascertain is the issue with these broken vanes, and if fixable, when I dissect my donor vent.

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Usually it comes out by itself LOL!
Both of my XJ's would have the center vet assembly fall right out on it's own.
Good luck!

Ha :D

Some missing friction clips maybe?? it's usually a very snug fit in there.

My vents are all working and in perfect condition. However, there is something rattling behind my central vents too and I am eager to remove it properly to see what is loose. Otherwise my XJ6 is more tight than my Lexus LS430 which is seven years newer!

I've noted that the plastic around the metal clips breaks easily when looking at my salvage unit. So it may be that a clip or the plastic is broken and is why yours slips out.

Well, mine pulled right out without any real effort.... seems that all the plastic around the bottom clips were completely broken. This is similar to the donor center vent, where several of its clips were broken too.

So it is no wonder mine was rattling and looked a little 'low' in relation to adjacent parts of the dash fascia.

Looking at other used vents, it seems like a lot of them have their clips broken off where the plastic failed.

So I may dissect my donor center vent to see how one might 'rebuild' it to make the clips hold up and also see why some of the vanes are lazy.

As a cross-reference, here is a thread where the method to remove the vent was discussed... which I apparently completely forgot about :icon_rolleyes:


https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...emoval-116154/


BTW, here is the TSB that shows the vent removal tool: