Eek! Alarm stuck on, Coupe trim removal help please!! SORTED

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 10:36 pm

Hi all,

Half way home from London hit a mass of surface water on the A1 and about a mile down the road the alarm horn went off continuously!

Traced the problem to wet getting into the central locking control and pump but not until I'd completed the last 25 miles of the trip home being deafened by the alarm.

I just couldn't get to grips with it at the side of the road in the pouring rain so took the grin and bear it approach. Once home I disconnected the battery and attacked the interior trim looking for the cause.

Just got to face putting her all back together again now and can't work out how to remove the trim either side of the parcel shelf that contains the tweeters and which the seat belt runs through.

Need to get it off to make a neat job of refitting the boot liner etc.

Anybody able to help? Undone the screw that also holds the rear 'door' liner in place, but she's still firmly anchored. Looks like the previous owner also failed, cracking one of them in the process!

Any help much appreciated, several topic searches have turned up nowt of any use.

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 4:46 am

Can't understand how water could gain access to the CL pump?, but here you go for rear card removal.

1/ drop the drivers side rear seat down,
2/ remove the rear seat catch, you'll need a17mm swan neck spanner and an allen key, Tip; Mark the position of the 17mm bolt in relation to the thread. They are a pain to adjust exactly right.
3/ remove the two screws located behind the side bolster (which will pull out of the way once the rear seat catch is removed) The bottom of the bolster has a hook,
4/ Remove the horizontal piece of trim that houses the tweeter, there's a screw hidden where the seat belt comes through, bit of a pain to get to and you'll need a short stubby philips screwdriver. The actual tweeter trim is clipped into place and can be a bit stiff.
5/ Remove the two screws at the front of the side panel (one located at the top on the door post, and one located at the bottom behind a round screw cover.
6/ push the panel up towards the roof of the car to remove it (DON'T pull it off as you will snap the clips behind)
7/ Don't forget to unclip the two connectors for the speaker once it's so far out.. there's not a lot of length on that wiring,
8/ you will see the central locking pump wrapped in foam with a cling film type material.

Reverse that lot for refitting.

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 11:08 am

Thanks for the swift reply, water is getting in through a rusted screw in the wheel arch. No sign of foam padding or clingfilm either, so I'm guessing this aint the first time the unit's been out.

Deffo the problem though, circuit board was all gnarly and covered in a film of water when I took the unit apart, plus there's two little foam pads that are presumably designed to cushion the PCB from the cover of the unit, both of which now double as bath sponges!

Gentle warm with a hair drier and even gentler scrub with an old toothbrush (what a great tool they make!) to remove all the snot round the soldered pins, and all is good.

Thanks for the run through on the trim removal, familiar with that bit as when I bought the car both liners and most of the rest of the interior trim was in the boot!

It's the hard plastic trim above the card that I can't suss, the bit that houses the tweeters and has the seat belt running through it.

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 11:25 am

Number 4 above Wink

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 3:12 pm

Ooops! Made a right prat of myself there, didn't I?Thanks Jason for pointing out the bleeding obvious, next time I might just try reading the reply properly first.

Off to read up on CO emmissions now, son's 2.6 Coupe has just failed its MOT this morning. Ah, the joys of ownership, not to mention parenthood.

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 7:35 pm

Cheers Jason,

Would never have found that screw unaided. I think the side panel has only been going in and out due to the crack in the trim housing the tweeter.

Another job ticked off!