AC Vent Trim Piece
 

My friend's kid was sitting in the back and she kicked the plastic trim piece in the rear middle AC vent, which you use to manually change the direction of the air blowing out. The trim piece luckily just popped out and is not broken, but I am having a tough time putting it back. It is in two pieces. One piece goes inside the vent while the other pops in from the front. The problem is you need to apply equal pressure from the back as well as front so that the inside piece fits into the outside one.

Anyone faced the same issue (I would think it will be fairly common because of so many of these pieces with atleast one on each vent) and fixed it?

Thanks

I had the same issue and took it to the dealer. According to the paperwork, a technician had to undo the center console side strips to partially remove the carpet in order to gain access to the vent. But, in my case, the tech left a small tear and a scratch on the side strips (leather or vinyl) which the dealer had to fix. Go figure.

Same thing happened to me (although the vent tab wasn't kicked.) Dealer said it would cost $700 to replace/repair mostly because of the labor involved taking the rear console out, but it was covered by warranty. They also made small gashes on BOTH sides of the console (driver and passenger sides) near the bottom while they were working on it.

Now I have a similar issue on the center dash air vent tab- it goes in Friday for a fix.

Happened to my X5 as well when I bought it from the dealer. Will go in for the fix as well as part of the warranty.

700 bucks to install that trim piece :wow: I am sure a bent screw driver or metal piece can do the job. I might just try it before I take it to the dealer for them to put gashes on the rear console.

Here you guys go. Hope this helps and maybe saves you 700 bucks!

Thanks for the guide, I will give it a shot if I cannot fit in the trim piece by other means.

I have no talent for this sort of thing- mine is in the shop today getting the front one fixed (under warranty). Of course- I hope I don't get any more gashes anywhere. I pointed them out to the SA, we'll see if anything happens.

Update- picked car up yesterday afternoon- no charge for the front center vent repair (covered by warranty), and they are setting up an appointment with their leather guy to fix the two gashes on the sides of the rear console from the previous rear vent repair. Very pleased with how this worked out.

Fixed the trim piece myself, without opening up the rear console or leaving any scratches/gashes.

- I put the back portion of the trim which goes inside the vent first. You have to be careful that the "V" in the back slides into the vertical slat in one of the vertical plastic air deflector blades.
- I then cut two small pieces of steel wire (similar type as used for hanging pictures/mirrors) and wrapped them around the back trim piece, under then over the horizontal air deflector blade.
- Now gently pulling on the wires I pressed the top trim piece in till it snapped and locked onto the rear piece. One has to be careful and pull on the wires only when pressing down the top piece so that minimal stress is put on the horizontal air deflector blade.

Phew, that saved a trip to the $ealer and potential scratches to the rear console.

Thanks King its helpful.

Where can we find such PDFs for the rest of the vents (front, sides)?

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am trying to fix the adjustment tab that popped off my passenger side vent (it did not break, just popped apart). I have both the front tab piece and the hinged "fork" that engages the backside of the tab, but there also is a small metal clip that I can't figure out where to relocate.

The attached photo shows the two plastic parts as well as the metal clip. It looks like the clip may slide underneath the black hinge bar to limit the swing of the tab (the curve in the clip is about the same radius as the bar), but there's no obvious placement to me.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Fixed mine just yesterday...
 

I did this just yesterday on our new-to-us 2008 E70. So, the wire-pull trick didn't really work for me. I wrestled with it for an embarrassingly long time before I got a bit more creative. I used a small steel hook instead. I tried a few of my precision hooks, but they were a bit too sharp pointed and I didn't want to destroy the fork. Oddly enough, the cheaper Harbor Freight orange-handled hook works perfect for this procedure, since they're fairly dull on the point. I think it costs a dollar or two in an assorted set.

Anyway. Onto placement... sitting in your back seat that little notch on the plastic fork will be on the right, at least, it was for the right-side (passenger-side) vent. I assume the opposite is probably true for the left, all things being bilateral?? So, take a good look inside and review the other one for reference.

Now, gently insert the plastic fork, capturing that vertical rod inside. You can use the hook (from under the center slat) to help position the fork along the centerline of the horizontal slat while you slide the trim piece over the top. Finding either the right or left-most side of the fork, you'll want to be pulling it toward you, keeping pressure on it from inside the housing.

Once you have the trim piece over the top (silver tip up), eyeball the position of the fork, you will want to align it to your trim piece left-to-right as best you can. Keep that pressure on it by pulling on your hook, and just push the trim piece onto it until you hear and feel a snap. Then move to the other side of your fork and do the same.

If you're not the most steady-handed, this method can be tricky and frustrating. To prevent scratches you can cover the shank of the metal hook with electrical tape. Your back and neck may be a little sore, especially if you do this with child-seats installed like I did. :thumbup:

Dan

2008 E70 3.0 Alpine White
1996 E36 M3

Thanks Dan, that's excellent guidance.
I ended up pulling out the entire vent and just fixing it on the bench. It was a little finicky, but anyone with a bit of patience can do it.

It's basically a matter of popping off the trim piece under the vent (flat trim tool or a butter knife works well) and removing the one screw that holds the vent in place. Then use a pair of small hooks to engage two holes in the bottom of the vent (just below the lowest vent slat) and slide the unit up and out.

Once out, you can either try to work on it like that, or take it apart further. There's a black plastic ring around the perimeter of the vent that you can pop off by working your way around the vent releasing the locking tabs. Then the vent slats easily pop out and you can quickly reattach the vent tab and reassemble the whole thing. Slide the unit back in, and replace the screw and trim piece.
Although expensive to just fix a tab, you could purchase a new vent assembly for about $35 and replace as described above in about 5 minutes.

Finally, that little metal piece in my photo above actually drops down into the tab so the little metal hump faces out. The hump acts as a "bearing" of sorts to ride against the front edge of the vent slat once the tab is reassembled back onto the slat.

Same thing happened to me few months back, daughter kicked L side tab off - do you actually need the little metal clip - I placed it somewhere and I'm afraid it's MIA now. Thanks for the detailed fixes guys, will try it soon.

I don't think it's essential but probably makes the tab sit more firmly and ride more smoothly. You could try it, and if it's not up to par, just replace the vent.

Alternatively, just go straight to plan B. A new vent is about $40 and will take about 5 minutes to install. $40 is a lot for a broken tab, but it makes the repair work a lot faster and much less finicky.