Cupholder Cup Holder

[bokemp]

i have diligently searched the postings, but have found no solution. some of the answers offered were goop is stuck in the gears, get a q-tip and clean it. wrong, for me any way. so i removed the cupholder/ashtray assembly as proposed in earlier posts. i will repeat: pull the trim piece below the stereo and above the cupholder towards you--it should pull straight out. it took me a while, but be patient and wiggle it. once removed you will see two screws that hold in the top of the assembly. next, carefully pry the fake wood thing on the console where the gear shift is located--the whole thing will come off. take your time, your car is over 10 years old dammit, alot of gunk has been spilled on this thing. i would pry it up from the emergency brake side first using a short screwdriver. it has been suggested to put tape on the screwdriver to lessen potential damage. oh yeah, unscrew the shift handle. the whole thing lifts off. now you can see the other 2 screws. remove the assembly.

Step 2: why is the cup holder not popping out? in my case, it was because there is a copper coil that had disengaged. you will have to separate the cupholder from the ashtray--6 screws not too hard to see. it should snap apart with some jiggling. next notice 2 flaps that do keep the cup holder from flying all the way out, and unscrew each side. the actual springy bottom of the cup holder will also stop the deal from flying out, so hold it up, and remove, may have to jiggle!!

sorry for the novel, but here is the good part--i was excited anyway--

the cupholder and ashtray operate on separate spring mechanisms. the ashtray is torqued on springs easily visible on the assembly. the cup holder uses an ingenious "S system" (my name for the lack of a better term, plus i'm dumb). notice a band of copper and two cylinders. this band of copper supplies the energy for the cupholder to pop out. in my case, the band was undone.

sorry, but you will have to figure it out from here! not because i am mean, because i just tried a bunch of **** until it worked! Remember for the cupholder, the energy for it to pop out is supplied when you push it in, coil the copper. the copper wants to coil one way, but i let it coil how it wanted on the rear cylinder, but went opposite on the cylinder with the tab. my cupholder, which hasn't worked in 6 years is on fire, it goes in and out on a daily basis.

i hope you can understand me. i also suppose that this copper band, or maybe it is brass or something, could be broken. hopefully you can find the pieces, take them to a spring/metal guy and wa-la!!!!! no need to pay a lot of money for this sum bytch!

[dcrupp74]

well...I am glad you got your's fixed.

Some of us have not been as lucky.

I have a 97 ES 300 my cup holder, in the rear, seems to have a life of its own. Every couple years it signs the emancepation papers, provided by the car judge and leaves me. Oh it leaves a few pieces here and there, but never as it was. Sometimes it leaves its twin (the other side) but sure enough the twin signs it's emanicpation papers too, and leaves. The peices left behind are not enough to put humpdy dumpty back together again. So I go to the BIG MEAN DEALERSHIP, They say for me to get my cup holder back I have to pay 150 in alomony and 1 hour court costs.

Problem is I did this before, and he just.....*sniffle* left me again....

So I puzzle, do I Smoke Crack :snoooorrrtttt: and pay the dealership

to bring back my beloved??

Or do I leave his spot open, incase he is ever to return on his own....

[SKperformance]

Wow this is your first post and a very good one. it deserves to b in the workshop tutorials.I'll move it over

[dmah]

First, thanks for all the imput. It was a great help.

All the steps listed are great. When it comes to the copper spring, here is what needs to be done. I too, worked an hour to get this thing correct.

Once you have the cup holder out of the frame, their are two silver springs. Use needle nose pliers to remove one side from the copper spring housing.

Remove the two screws holding the copper spring housing in place.

The copper spring is a coil that wraps around a cylinder. It is held in place only by tension. The end has a "T" shape that fits into the gear roller. The trick is to get that to stay in place and go the correct direction.

The copper springs needs to wrap aroung the gear roller in the reverse manner from which it rests on its cylinder. So as the cup hlder is pushed back into place the copper spring will tighten around the gear roller. This is done in a "S" motion.

As you roll the gear the copper spring comes from under the cylinder then over the top of the gear roller.

The next trick is to get the copper spring "T" to stay in the gear roller slot. Once you place the "T" into the slot and snap both cylinders back into the housing, roll the gear about a 1/4" to place tension on the copper spring. Then, from the top, stick a small flat head screw driver into the gear teeth to hold the gear from releasing the tension.

With the cup holder FULLY EXTENDED, place the housing back on cup holder track and replace the screws. Now when you push the cup holder back into a closed position the copper spring will provide the tension to pop back out like it did when new.

Of course you still can not use the lighter/power outlet at the same time, but that is another Lexus Engineering marvel.

[bokemp]

Hi, I haven't been back in a while, but glad I was able to be of some assistance. The cup holder is still working! I never use it anyway, but the audacity that spring had to disengage itself really teed me off. I refuse to let inanimate objects defeat me. I don't like animate objects to defeat me either, but that is another subject.

[crazyhorse425]

So I go to the BIG MEAN DEALERSHIP, They say for me to get my cup holder back I have to pay 150 in alomony and 1 hour court costs.

←

Just 150?? i went to the one in Appleton, WI, they quoted me for $610 Total to replace the damn cupholder/ash tray.....freaking a lot more expensive than the timing belt and spark plug combined....

DAMN ROBBERY~!!

[Lori Ryan Kleinschmidt]

Hey, I saw your post on the cupholder and my 16 year old brat of a son was angry at me and slammed a drink down on the holder and now it leans forward and will not close and of course the ashtray and will not open. My husband says it is broke and I'll probably need a new one, however, can't find one anywhere, except Lexus for approximately $500 - YIKES. Any suggestions on its repair or locating one at a more reasonable price. :cries: :whistles:

[lemonhead]

Didn't this topic used to have pictures or was that another one? (for those of us who need visuals)

[Coach Fletch]

Thanks so much for this info. I was able to follow your post and the one above and successfully saved myself $500+.

:-)

First, thanks for all the imput. It was a great help.

All the steps listed are great. When it comes to the copper spring, here is what needs to be done. I too, worked an hour to get this thing correct.

Once you have the cup holder out of the frame, their are two silver springs. Use needle nose pliers to remove one side from the copper spring housing.

Remove the two screws holding the copper spring housing in place.

The copper spring is a coil that wraps around a cylinder. It is held in place only by tension. The end has a "T" shape that fits into the gear roller. The trick is to get that to stay in place and go the correct direction.

The copper springs needs to wrap around the gear roller in the reverse manner from which it rests on its cylinder. So as the cup holder is pushed back into place the copper spring will tighten around the gear roller. This is done in a "S" motion.

As you roll the gear the copper spring comes from under the cylinder then over the top of the gear roller.

The next trick is to get the copper spring "T" to stay in the gear roller slot. Once you place the "T" into the slot and snap both cylinders back into the housing, roll the gear about a 1/4" to place tension on the copper spring. Then, from the top, stick a small flat head screw driver into the gear teeth to hold the gear from releasing the tension.

With the cup holder FULLY EXTENDED, place the housing back on cup holder track and replace the screws. Now when you push the cup holder back into a closed position the copper spring will provide the tension to pop back out like it did when new.

Of course you still can not use the lighter/power outlet at the same time, but that is another Lexus Engineering marvel.