S40 (New) Electrics : Removing the cigarette lighter

[06S40]

Hi All,
Can anyone tell me how to remove either cigarette lighter (but preferably the back one) on my '06 S40?
Or how to remove the little panel inside the well in the armrest?

The reason for this is that I want to connect a trailing cigarette lighter socket to the back of it, which I will leave under the passenger's seat and plug the Tomtom charger into it, thereby getting it out of the way when changing gears.

Thanks

[Metblackrat]

The panel that the rear cigarette lighter sits in just prises off. The metal clips are quite stubborn but do come away without damage.

Use a wide blunt tool and prise the whole panel away (or if you have skinny fingers get underneath it and pull).

I have done something similar, wiring two trailing sockets, one either side for the kids DVD players.

[John Steed]

Metblackrat,

Could you expand on how to prise the rear cover off, please? I had a go at this the other day, but couldn't shift it at all and gave up as I didn't want to break anything. Where is it actually clipped? Is there a knack to getting it off?

Thanks!

[06S40]

Thanks Matblackrat, that worked perfectly, although it was VERY hard to pull off.

John Steed, I stuck a spatula in the gap at the side of the panel and sort of twisted it a bit until the bottom popped out, then same on the other side. Then pulled it off. The top of the panel has little tabs that go under the panel above so you have to pull away the bottom first then it will kind of rotate upwards. There are several (about 6) metal clips that hold it on and, full credit to Volvo, they are really solid. They are well inside the panel so you won't really reach them but just pull hard on the panel, they are held in by tension not by the more usual little plastic hooks, so they won't break easily. I was also a bit scared of breaking it but it worked fine. I have now got the trailing socket under the passenger's seat and the GPS charger is no longer in the way of the gears.

Thanks again, and let us know how you go John.

[Missing Lincs]

Youtube has loads of videos on how to dismantle various sections of the dash, door cards and just about everything else.

[ymc30]

Originally Posted by 06S40

thereby getting it out of the way when changing gears

I don't use tomtom but I have a brodit holder on my middle air vent for my phone
What I've done was that I hid the wire all the way inside the "waterfall" then when it came out under the gear shift leather I connected it to a 12V to 5V transformer fed by the back of the cigarette lighter.
It looks neat, no mess and it's 3A so it can keep up with charging my big screen phone