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!
