Cigarette Lighter?

ok good so I don't have to take apart the dash then. I'll give this a try later thanks!

If all you need is access to something near the lighter you can remove the front of the console. It is really easy. Park the car on a flat surface, set the emergency brake, and move the shift lever (manual or automatic) as far away from the dash as it will go (else it tends to get in the way.) Aim the two center vents up, stick your fingers in below them, and pull down and forward. Very little force is needed, it will pop right out. Release the electrical connector to the emergency flasher (push in on a tab with a small screwdriver to unlock it). If that isn't enough space you can disassemble further from there. Reassembly is just everything in reverse, except you generally have to push the bezel on fairly firmly to get it to snap into place.
 
If all you need is access to something near the lighter you can remove the front of the console. It is really easy. Park the car on a flat surface, set the emergency brake, and move the shift lever (manual or automatic) as far away from the dash as it will go (else it tends to get in the way.) Aim the two center vents up, stick your fingers in below them, and pull down and forward. Very little force is needed, it will pop right out. Release the electrical connector to the emergency flasher (push in on a tab with a small screwdriver to unlock it). If that isn't enough space you can disassemble further from there. Reassembly is just everything in reverse, except you generally have to push the bezel on fairly firmly to get it to snap into place.

ok so I got the front bezel to start coming off, but it won't come all the way off. It's getting stuck on the bottom left corner - by the HVAC controls. If I keep yanking, I'm worried that I'll pull out some wires. Any ideas?
 
Also, it seems that the lighter and plastic piece are still together - the two pieces are what's falling out; not just the lighter itself...
 
ok so I got the front bezel to start coming off, but it won't come all the way off. It's getting stuck on the bottom left corner - by the HVAC controls. If I keep yanking, I'm worried that I'll pull out some wires. Any ideas?

Don't yank! Unhook the control cables on both sides. This is a lot easier to do than to describe...

Driver's side: Push the seat all the way back, crawl in under the steering wheel and look up at the center console. You will see a black cable with a round metal loop which goes around a post on a white plastic wheel. Squeeze the sides of the white plastic post and pull the loop off the post. About 6" in from that there is a sort of cable clamp, lift the cable out of it.

Passenger side: Remove the glove box (squeeze front part in, then when it drops down further pull it down and to the left). Push the seat back. Crawl in under the dash and look up and towards the firewall. There is a similar cable/loop and plastic wheel as on the Driver's side, and the cable is released the same way. It can be a bit hard to release the cable clamp as it is inside the console and hard to reach.

After that, and releasing the emergency flasher cable, the center console piece will come all the way off. Note carefully how those cables were routed as you pull the console out, because they need to go back in in exactly the same places for the cables to work properly. Reassembly is just everything above done in the reverse order.

Look in the HOWTO section for more info, in the thread about modifying the A/C to remove the automatic on function.
 
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