AeonTheTerrible

Hey guys, as the world has been opening up more and more, I've been driving more and more folks around in the car. It's getting to the point of exhaustion of asking passengers to not touch their side vent. It appeared that the roller and the inner flaps had "sunk" into the dash, thus the output and direction of the air could not be easily adjusted. I've seen a few threads here and there with some advice on how to go about repairing this, (as opposed to replacement) with some contradictory advice, and no reference photos. I decided today to take a stab at this, and documented my experience:



Your first step will be to use a flathead screwdriver to carefully pry out the panel on the far right between the dashboard and the door. You will see a T20 screw which will need to be unscrewed, then the vent will be able to be lifted out.


When I was attempting to remove the wire for the backlighting on the roller, I inadvertently ended up snapping those fans out of their socket in the process. Quick to put them back, but having smaller hands helps in order to get them all lined up in the correct holes. There is a black bracket that can be faintly seen behind the flaps that has some arms that will need to be clipped into the little bar towards the bottom of the flaps.


The bottom of the vent features two large-ish clips that may be broken on your specific vehicle. The other end may be in the inner portion with the aforementioned vertical flaps. Carefully remove them and set them in with superglue, allow them to dry for an hour or so. Repeat procedure for the smaller clips on the top of the vent, if necessary/possible (the top clips are so small, it is easy for them to just get lost from being in there so long. I wasn't able to find mine but I've found they aren't 100% necessary)


Once you are done drying, reattach the newly glued clips back to the receiving end on the inner portion of the vent. As you can see, there are some still broken off pieces strewn somewhere, but the key is to attach it securely enough that everyday usage will not further damage the vent. No clue as to why these plastic vents are so touchy/easy to break. End result is it works as usual, maybe a little more delicate, but normal use should be fine. Attached is an 'after' video displaying usage of the vent. Once I closed up, I realised the roller was still a little stiff, and will probably go in next time I do a detail and try and oil that, but for now, I'm glad to have a working vent control. Feel free to ask any questions, and I hope this works for you if you've got a similar problem. Your vents may be broken in different places, but the general procedure still should work, and try and reattach everything you can.

ps2cho

I did this to my passenger vent 3+ years ago and its still holding up well - its a no brainer rather than finding a used one.

Pauliefein

I would suggest that they don't actually fall in. My passenger side was pushed in by my wife, and then when I loaned her the car, she returned it with the drivers side pushed in. Hard to understand why anyone would mistake a wheel for a button.