Centre console removal: how to ‚unhook‘ thermostat wire without damaging it?

[Topocalm]

Got stuck removing the Centre console on the temperature switch wire. I read around (for example here Console Removal? I'm stuck...) and wiggled a little bit but afraid to break it.

How do I disconnect the temperature wire from the switch (light grey in the picture ) Should it just pull out laterally of does it need to be unlatched somehow?).



Other issue: The funky screw in the front of the switches: one I was able to remove, the other one is corroded... is there a tool for it I can buy?

[Tea Tray]

The sensor is actually a tiny tube. It is fragile and does not want to be bent sharply or kinked. To remove the other end you must pull it from the brass tube it live in on the AC evaporator in the smugglers box. You might tape a small pull string to it so it can be replaced with minimum stress.

[Tea Tray]

The tube does not come off the thermostat assembly. Cutting it will ruin the capillary tube.

[Topocalm]

.. that means there is no other way to remove the centre console but to unfasten the thermostat wire in the smugglers box and pull the switch including the full wire?

I am thinking of opening up the console 'box' in the back sufficiently to get the switch through - removing the full wire sounds like a recipe for issues...

[Trakrat]

Originally Posted by Topocalm

.. that means there is no other way to remove the centre console but to unfasten the thermostat wire in the smugglers box and pull the switch including the full wire?

I am thinking of opening up the console 'box' in the back sufficiently to get the switch through - removing the full wire sounds like a recipe for issues...

I just pulled mine out from the smugglers box. Wasn't really attached to anything in there.. just a long wire was down inside the box.
Just pulled it out... then fished it through the firewall. But like others said, you can't bend it.

[Arne2]

On mine, I can pull the tube and switch out through the front of the console. Pull the knob and lock ring off the switch, remove the screws that hold the switch plate to the console and fish (carefully) the switch out the front opening in the console. Carefully support the witch while the console is removed to prevent damage to the tube.