Gear Shift Trim Panel

[patesrwe]

Hi All. I did a silly thing and pressed the headlight washer button on my rx330 a bit too hard and it pushed through into the console. Now I need to pull off the trim where the button goes to put it back right. I have no idea how to do this and am worried about damaging the trim piece. Ca anyone tell me how to remove the trim piece? I'm talking about the wood where the seat heater control, head light washer button and the power outlight are. Thanks a lot!

Roney in Virgina

[cduluk]

Very easy to do, all you need is a flat-head screwdriver :)

First, sit in the driver's seat. Pull the center console (between the front seats) in the back-most position to give you some elbow room. Put the car in ACCESSORY, put your foot on the brake, and move the shifter to L (or B on the rx400h) so it's out of your way. But make sure to keep your foot on the brake the entire time so the car doesn't roll away on you :P

With the flathead screwdriver, insert it under the wood sifter surround piece, press in an inch or two, and pry upwards. It's held on with 4 clips (two on each side) so all you need to do is pry. Just make sure not to crack the wood or anything...

Then lift the piece off.

To remove the wood switch panel, (held in by two clips, one left and one right) reach your fingers underneath at the left side first, and pry outwards.

As soon as you've got it out, do the same on the right side.

At this point, the panel is free.

You can pull the panel outwards and gain access to the back of the switches! I did a little custom work on mine (adding radar and laser switches next to the headlight washer) so just ignore it...

And to re-install, just push the switch panel back into place (listen for the clicks as the clips connect), and do the same for the shifter surround piece.

Good luck! :)

[patesrwe]

Very easy to do, all you need is a flat-head screwdriver :)

First, sit in the driver's seat. Pull the center console (between the front seats) in the back-most position to give you some elbow room. Put the car in ACCESSORY, put your foot on the brake, and move the shifter to L (or B on the rx400h) so it's out of your way. But make sure to keep your foot on the brake the entire time so the car doesn't roll away on you :P

With the flathead screwdriver, insert it under the wood sifter surround piece, press in an inch or two, and pry upwards. It's held on with 4 clips (two on each side) so all you need to do is pry. Just make sure not to crack the wood or anything...

Then lift the piece off.

To remove the wood switch panel, (held in by two clips, one left and one right) reach your fingers underneath at the left side first, and pry outwards.

As soon as you've got it out, do the same on the right side.

At this point, the panel is free.

You can pull the panel outwards and gain access to the back of the switches! I did a little custom work on mine (adding radar and laser switches next to the headlight washer) so just ignore it...

And to re-install, just push the switch panel back into place (listen for the clicks as the clips connect), and do the same for the shifter surround piece.

Good luck! :)

This is awesome that you happend to have these pictures! Thanks a lot. I'll post how it works out!

[patesrwe]

Very easy to do, all you need is a flat-head screwdriver :)

First, sit in the driver's seat. Pull the center console (between the front seats) in the back-most position to give you some elbow room. Put the car in ACCESSORY, put your foot on the brake, and move the shifter to L (or B on the rx400h) so it's out of your way. But make sure to keep your foot on the brake the entire time so the car doesn't roll away on you :P

With the flathead screwdriver, insert it under the wood sifter surround piece, press in an inch or two, and pry upwards. It's held on with 4 clips (two on each side) so all you need to do is pry. Just make sure not to crack the wood or anything...

Then lift the piece off.

To remove the wood switch panel, (held in by two clips, one left and one right) reach your fingers underneath at the left side first, and pry outwards.

As soon as you've got it out, do the same on the right side.

At this point, the panel is free.

You can pull the panel outwards and gain access to the back of the switches! I did a little custom work on mine (adding radar and laser switches next to the headlight washer) so just ignore it...

And to re-install, just push the switch panel back into place (listen for the clicks as the clips connect), and do the same for the shifter surround piece.

Good luck! :)

Cduluk - this was a fantastik help. I did this is about 15 minutes, thanks to you, and it only took that long because I was extra cautious.

For any other readers - I discovered that the headlight washer button just snaps in to a retaining piece from the rear. Mine had just pushed out. Maybe it was never seated right - don't know. But it was no problem to snap it back in. Problem solved.