How do I remove the Cluster Finish Panel Assembly?

ChapmanF, I was not following your video. I was doing it 'blind'. My problems arose when I was re-inserting the panel, and it didn't go all the way in 'smoothly'. I figured it needed some gentle persuasion. I wasn't gentle enough. :-/

Turned out I had a wiring harness in the way. Honestly I wasn't too upset about it, as it cracked and had friction fit parts falling off just from removing it, and I was really really careful when I was doing that.

The new part came today. I was elated to find the directional vents are already installed as part of the assembly!

So... do you guys remove the steering wheel when you do this? Or did you leave it in place the entire time? I found it difficult to work around last time, but doable. I figure it'd be easier to do this job with it out of the way, but I (obviously) haven't got the SST for pulling the wheel. I do have an adjustable pully puller...

I'm not too worried about transferring the electronics. This won't be my first rodeo in that kind of operation.

 

I've never found it necessary to disturb the steering wheel ... once the finish panel is popped free I can just lift it up and out. (I think the last time I did, to make the video, I just undid the MFD mounting screws as soon as it was far enough out to see them, and left the MFD behind in the dash. Getting to the electrical connectors for the MFD might be more annoying, but I think easier if you just remove the under finish panel that goes beneath the steering column and over the shift lever.)

-Chap

 

Thank Chap. I'm about to head out and start on this now... wish me luck.

 

I'm pleased to report that with the pointers from chap (remove the under steering wheel, remove the cd player), some extreme patience, a spare set of hands from my wife during install, and successfully resisting the urge to 'gently persuade' things (I got hung up on the hazard lights connector) my Gen 1 Prius has a great looking, and fully functional dash again.



I'm disappointed that all the lights for the instrument clusters are LEDs, which seem to have burnt out in most of my panels. I thought about trying to see if I had the proper replacements in my junk / spare bin (don't ask) but decided I didn't want to try adding an extra hour and another trip out to my shop building in the rain to get my soldering iron and fix them. Oh well. The car is darn near 13 years old...

Thanks for the advice!

 

That's no LED, that's an eety-beety incandescent light bulb wearing a green rubber cap.

(Ok, those are the illumination bulbs in the center cluster, which I assume to be what you meant. I don't think they're soldered. If you mean the various turn signal/status indicators up in the combination meter, those are incandescents too. I know they aren't soldered, they're in little twist-out carriers.)

About the only LEDs I can think of are in the recirc, rear defog, and A/C buttons. Oh, and the red security blinker.

-Chap

 

By the way, there's a bunch of Gen 1 lighting information collected on the PriusChat wiki.

-Chap

 

Maybe I should have mentioned that both Bob Wilson and I have found the vent louvers to be a little too loose in the stock setup, so you point the vent where you want it and a bit of bumpy road later and it's blowing too low on you again.

My thin rubber strip fix has worked nicely for several months so far.

-Chap