the one under the dash, is there a proper way to open the cover? when i had an alarm install, the install guy must have broken the taps on the top cus they super-glued it back. the superglue was fine as it held on just fine. the second time i opened it to mess with the alarm, the taps broke again. the dealer has agree to replace it for me, but i don't want to keep breaking the new one too. is there a way to properly open the damn thing? i just pull it out and thats how it got broken i think.

 

are you talking the cover that is directly below the outside power mirror controls? if so.. that is so freaking hard to take off.. mine was rattling, so i took it off, haven't put it back yet (need foam tape, too lazy to go to the dealer).. lol

i think you have to pull it straight out, make sure your hand is not on an angle.. my .02

 

Pull

Really hard

just kidding...if you reach your hand into the little slot there there is an easily accessible clip on the top right. Unhook that one first. The next one is the clip on the bottom right: it should be a little easier to get at after the top right is unhooked. The clips on the left hand side are really hard to get at unless youve got 10 inch long fingers, so....pull....really...hard.

 

oh i didn't know there were clips that needs unhooking first. i'll look into that. thanks

 

I've pulled it off like 3 times. I'm pretty sure there are no clips that you can unhook - maybe you can help bend them the right way but I doubt it. After the second removal it started rattling, so I put a little piece of foam tape in there to shut it up. Worked like a charm and now I'm just hoping I don't have to take it off again any time soon. This is pretty dumb - people have to access this from time to time - why make it so hard to take off? It really feels like you're going to break it when you pull it off.

 

hey gary.. where did you put the foam? mine began to rattle.. haven't figure out where to stick the foam..

 

Well you just want to hold the door in place, so when you look at the cover, there are two little teeth that end up fitting into two little slots toward the top. I put the little piece of tape between the teeth on the cover itself. There is some rigid "lines" of plastic sticking out on this part, so I cut a little slit on the tape so that it would fit over this and not have to stick right to the top of it. Worked good.

 

ohh okay yeah i know the teeth you're talking about.. i will try that thanks!! (i have left the cover out for now, since hey it was quiet again..)

 

Yeah... call us hyper-critical or whatever, but this car is my baby and a labor of love. If I could track down every rattle this thing has ever had, I would. As is, except on Seattle freeways (which are horrible from over-use and studded tires) the car is pretty smooth and quiet now. No rattles up front anyway. Who knows what's going on in the trunk.

 

I got it off by pulling carefully yet firmly. Once I got one (bottom) corner off I could feel there is indeed a clip. But its more of a pressure clip - for your convience here is a photo of the back - this should help your planning. I believe you can reach under the dash and get to those clips - they are only on the bottom . The top is like a hinge. So yank from the bottom.

 

I thought this was the fuse panel under the dash:

 

Yeah, either one is pretty easy to get off, once you figure it out...

 

The fuse panel is hard to put back on if you don't have the low profile mini-fuses though, lol. I had to replace a fuse and could only find the regular mini-fuses (works, but sticks out too far), so I haven't put the cover back on.

 

I found it easier to just crawl under and get to the actual fuse cover. That way the dash cover never gets loosened from taking it off and putting it on….

So does anyone know how to get the cover back on that goes on the BACK of the fuse-box? I had some warranty work for electrical problems and for some reason they took the cover off the back. They left it off (still hanging there from the wire bundle) and I could not get it back on. Probably the reason it wasn’t done in the first place (although they failed to put everything else back together correctly). I’m going to fiddle with it some more, but I’m guessing it’s broken… freakin lazy/retarded maintenance techs. I know its just warranty work, but do it right the first time (not after 3 separate visits each time I noticed something messed up).

 

Yeah that second photo is the actual fuse panel. The panel I photoed gives you access to the relays and the accessory switch button panel right above it - if you are installing a switch.