Upper Glove Compartment Broken?

Perhaps the satellite wire migrated and is binding with the operation of the door?

 

Tennisbird,

Two significant springs raise the door up. I'm not sure how, but it sounds like the springs have come unclipped.

I'm pretty sure it's not the XM cable. I can't see how this could interfere with the springs as they're self contained in the compartment.

It is something that you can fix yourself if you don't have an issue pulling the compartment off. It's not that hard.

Look at the photos below to see what holds the compartment in place. The first photo is looking inside the compartment, the second photo is of the balck platic cap inside the compartment that covers the screwholes and the third photo is looking at the back of the compartment to see what holds it in place. In the third photo the roundish piece of plastic on top it the glove compartment cover (If this helps in orientating).

Here's the steps:

1) Pop the black covers off that hide the screws that are inside the compartment. They're circled in red in the first photo. The second photo shows the backside of them and what holds them in place. I used this jeweler's screwdriver and wedged it to pop the covers off. I did slight damage to the cover when I did this. The cover doesn't even snap in place. It's only lightly held in there. You may be able to just put some double sided tape on them and grab the tape and pull them out (Think Scotch brand heavy duty mounting tape found at the hardware store or Staples). Or, you can take a knife and catch the edge of the cover and pry it out.

2) After removing the screws, pull on the hinges. Pull straight back towards you. There's two pink snaps, one of which is shown circled in yellow in the third photo. You'll feel these give.

3) There's still one thing holding the compartment in place: There's a black claw that needs to be popped loose. It's also circled in yellow on the third photo. To pop this loose, close the compartment door and insert a thin screwdriver between the compartment and the main, big dash piece that covers the rest of the dash up to the front window. Tape up the screwdriver with electrical tape so that you don't mar the dash. To know where to pry, use the third photo to get a general location of this claw. Also, Toyota gives you a reference point on the inside of the compartment. This is the third area circled in red up in the first photo.

One you take the compartment off, you'll be holding the whole thing in your hands: The back plate, the cover, the hinges and the springs.

It'll be easy to troubleshoot from here.

The springs anchor in little horizontal slots that are shown in blue on the third photo.

If you need to, you can pop the cover off by knocking out the little roll pins that serve as the hinges. They come out easy. The only slightly hard part is working with the springs to get them in their proper locations when you put the pins back in.

It's really pretty easy to pop the compartment off. Don't worry if this sounds like a lot of work. I've just been verbose so that you don't have any surprises and all that you need to know is here.

Let us know how you make out and what the problem was and if it's something we should all be made aware off.

Finally, in the last photo, ignore the red and black wires. You won't have these. I installed a light in this compartment (which was the reason why I took it off). I just haven't had the time to write up how to install a light yet.

Cheers,

-bob

 

Hi Jason,

I put some step by step instructions in the Knowledge Base with a couple of photos on how to pull the glove compartment off but here's the concise version: Open up the glove compartment and the plastic molding that the cover's hinge arms go down into, pull on those. Pull straight back. If you're sitting in the seat, pull straight towards you. They will pop free.

Then, wrap some black electrical tape around a flat headed screwdriver so that it doesn't scratch the dash. You'll insert it between the glove compartment cover and the big, black plastic part of the dash that extends up to the windshield. As for where, look inside the glove compartment with a flashlight. On the very back edge of the cover, you'll see a little triangle. This indicates were you want to pry. It's circled in red in the photo. Use this triangle as the guide, and lower the cover without closing it completely. Drop the screwdriver vertically about 1-1/2" to 2", into the slot between the cover and the big dash piece . Then, you can either just twist the screwdriver or bring the handle towards you and the claw will pop free. There's no moving parts on the claw. It's a matter of just using some force to free it from the dash. If you pull on both hinges while looking down between the cover and the big dash piece, you'll see a vertical piece of plastic just below the edge of the big dash piece. As you pull on the hinges, you'll see this plastic piece move. That's the part of the dash that the claw is attached to. That piece stays behind and won't come out with the glove compartment. Stick the screwdriver down in front of that plastic piece and pry.

If the hinges won't stay popped out, pop one of them , hold it so it doesn't pop back into place and and then free the claw with the screwdriver.

Hope this helps,


To put the spring back in, I think you'll need to take the cover off of the glove compartment once you have it free of the dash. Check out the notes I made in the Knowledge Base on how to do this. In the Knowledge Base, look under 'adding lights to the upper glove compartment' under Appearance Modifications.
-bob

 

How do I see the photos that Bob referred to in his reply? I just joined the forum, so I guess that I am missing something basic -- how to view photos. I have the same problem with my 2005 Prius; the top glove box lid goes up only half way. I think that your reply would enable me to fix my Prius' problem if I could see the photos.

Kirk

 

He hosted the photos on an external site, and that site decided to pull the pictures after 5 years it would seem. So nobody can see the pictures until he reuploads them to another server.

 

I found this thread as I have the same problem. In light of the pictures being lost I decided to take my own during my removal process so others can have an easier time.

See my album or the pictures below:

1: Locate these caps (this shows the LHS one)


2: Take off the cap


3: Take out screw


3.5: Wide shot with both caps and screws removed


4: Pull towards you (when sitting in passenger seat) and assembly will come clean off.


5: Shot of glove compartment with covering off


6: Wide shot of the glove compartment cover


7: Zoomed in view of the problem. That metal piece should be under that broken piece just below it. I will upload another picture when I fix it.

 

So I had the piece that broke off actually. I tried gluing it with some serious glue but it failed as soon as it was under the spring pressure.

So I went with duct tape:


its not a perfect fix but it works so far.

 

Not sure how visible that is when together, but you do know duct tape comes in black too. Black duct tape is like The Force... it has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.