XC70 centre air vent louvres - balls

[1981George]

Hello,
Very frustrating two of the louvres from my central air vent came off when I took the phone cradle off today.
Is it possible to reassemble them? If so how?
There are some little plastic stubs on the left hand side that the louvres rotate around. They've both bent but still in place.





Any advice greatly received. I think I can get a replacement vent from ebay for about £30 but I'd like to try getting this one working if possible.

Links to images as they didn't embed as I had expected.

https://ibb.co/8rN1vyr
https://ibb.co/m0WwXkr

[oragex]

The whole unit is very very difficult to remove from the dahs, and has good chances do get damaged in the process - I'd almost say it's a non replaceable item. There are many stuck securing clips between the vent unit and the dash hole. My bet would be to drive to a breakers nearby and to demolish the vent on a car to see how it's attached - perhaps you'll try to put your louvres back without removing the vent. Carefully because these vents are very tricky and the knob is attached to a fragile mechanism behind

[reggit]

Had these out a few times. As said above there are multiple clips holding the panel in place, 8 I think. I found that by using several thin tools, knives are ideal, they can slide between the trim and dash and release the clips.
It’s very fiddly for sure, but certainly doable if you have the patience.

[1981George]

Thanks for the responses. I've found one on ebay for about £22 including postage. Once that comes I'll have a look at swapping them over.

There was another thread on here that gave some advice on removing the vent. It said to push the tabs towards the middle of the air vent, and then use wooden kebab skewars to hold each tab in place whilst you move onto the next one. Doing all 4 on the bottom and all 4 on the top.

Based on what I can see on the photos on ebay and my own vent that looks doable. I'll try it and take some photos and will post them if it works.

Does anyone know how to remove the hazard light button from the vent? I think the loom connector unclips to free the vent. But I can't see how the button is connected to the vent in any of the photos online.

[reggit]

Fairly sure the hazard switch is on a clip. It unplugs from behind - you’ll need to take centre speaker out, or nav display if that’s in your car.

Wooden kebab skewers was one of my tricks I seem to remember, snapped a couple though!

[barrybritcher]

I;ve done the same thing on other cars, electrical tape up some needle nose pliers, fish the slat out and then pull it back into place

[1981George]

I managed to buy a replacement vent from ebay and swapped it over using the kebab skewer approach.

I took a few photos which might be of help to someone else.
There are eight tabs that hold the vent in place, they can be lifted to the open position with a small flat head screw driver and then held open with the skewers.

https://ibb.co/k462zwQ - unit out with skewers in place

https://ibb.co/TMHFg80 - first skewer - cut too short

https://ibb.co/BLncgJz - mid way through with six skewers in place. At first I struggled to access the top four tabs by using the screwdriver coming through the louvres as the tab was flush and I couldn't get purchase.
I gently pulled the vent out a few mm, then I could get the small flat head screwdriver between the dashboard and the vent and push the tabs downwards and get the skewer in.

Once all the tabs were free I slid the unit forward, there was a small amount of resistance but after a wiggle it came away fairly easily. I forgot to take a photo but on the hazard light button there was a small green electrical connector that un-clipped easily.

https://ibb.co/ngxTWmN - the hazard light itself slides through from the front of the unit and once through clips into position.


I've got all the bit from the old air vent and it looks to clip together fairly easily. I might try to dismantle it and rebuild the old one so I've got a spare if this happens again.