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, Sun, 8 Jun 2008 08:54:14
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Assuming you haven’t already figured it out, here we go. First off, don’t say you weren’t warned. Check the answers to your May 30th post. Anyway, I had to do this back in September on my wife’s ‘07 convertible when I installed the Parrot, so it’s been awhile, and my memory is not perfect. Bear with me if some of my details aren’t completely accurate.
You can obviously see how the front of the vent snaps onto the duct portion, since that’s how the whole thing fell apart. The problem is all the little pieces that go in between. You have two separate louver assemblies in there. Take a look at how the other vents in the car operate when you move the louvers. Each louver assembly consists of one (or maybe two) little cross shaped pieces which have slots in them and four (IIRC) flat egg crate looking pieces. The flat pieces stack on top of each other and make up the actual louver. If you got out of kindergarten, you’ll figure out how they stack. The stack of egg crate pieces fit onto one of the crosses which then fits onto the louver knob which comes through the front of the vent. Moving the knob makes the egg crate stack slide left or right or up and down in the slots on the cross shaped piece, and that’s how the louver works. You’ll see what I mean. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART is the thin piece of spring wire (there are two, one for each louver) that stands upright and fits into two sort of notches in the top and bottom of duct part of the vent BEHIND the louver assembly. This piece of wire creates the spring tension which makes the louver stay in position. Without it, the louvers just flop around loosely. When my vent fell apart in the car, I found these two piece of wire and idiotically assumed they were some sort of scrap material left in the vent when the car was built. About an hour after I realized that you needed to have them, and I couldn’t find them anymore, I improvised with paper clip wire which works just as well. About two weeks later I found the wires under some papers on my desk.
In order to assemble everything, you have to lay the front of the vent face down and assemble the louvers from behind. When everything is in place for both louvers, you have to snap the duct back on, making sure the spring wires don’t become dislodged. It may take a few tries, but after you’re done, you’re going to feel really good about yourself. Finally, I can assure you that the vent snaps back in the dash far more easily than it came out. Just hope you don't ever have to take it out again.
I agree with your analysis about the design. Interestingly, the ‘06 and up 9-5's use 4 screws which go through the front of the radio (hidden by little rubber caps) to mount the radio. Installing the Parrot in my ‘08 was child’s play compared to the 9-3.
If all else fails, a new vent is about $95.00 online. Good luck.
posted by 205.188.11...
, Sun, 8 Jun 2008 08:54:14, Sun, 8 Jun 2008 17:00:00
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