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Upper glove box

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by bstephens, Jan 17, 2013.

  1. bstephens

    bstephens Junior Member

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    The lid on my "upper" glove box will not stay up. Anybody know how to fix this? I cannot figure how to get to the mechanism.
     
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    This is probably because the end of spring that holds up the upper lid has broken away from the lid. Do you notice a upwards swelling in the black plastic dashboard immediately behind the lid? If you see this, that is evidence that the end of the spring is pushing up on the dashboard.

    The fix is to remove the upper glove box lid and figure out how to re-secure the spring. When I did this on my 2004,, I drilled a small hole in the plastic to anchor the spring. Good luck.
     
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  3. PriusNP

    PriusNP Junior Member

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    What size drill bit did you use?

    It worked. Thanks took like 15 minutes.

    Remove the cap 2 of them inside glove box under that cap will be two screws. Pull out glove box. Access spring and locate a place to drill nearby to anchor and assemble it back good as new
     
  4. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    The wine bottle holder
     
  5. tdelker

    tdelker Junior Member

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    I have this issue. I don't quite see how to follow these directions:

    Remove the cap 2 of them inside glove box under that cap will be two screws. Pull out glove box. Access spring and locate a place to drill nearby to anchor and assemble it back good as new
    What is the 'cap'? How do I remove the lid?
    Tom
     
  6. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    1. Take everything out of the upper glove box.

    2. Look at the rear wall, and you will see a couple of circular plastic caps which hide the retaining screws. Pry out the caps for access to the screws.
     
  7. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    I just fixed mine yesterday. Took probably an hour. I used a very small tapered round file mounted in a variable speed drill to place a hole slightly lower down on the side of the box and at the same radius of the spring. Carefully worked the end of the spring into the hole and its good as new. A little more springy with slightly more tension. Now I will wait for the summer heat to return and make the dash mat sink back down.
     
  8. tdelker

    tdelker Junior Member

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    Thank you! I'll give it a try this weekend.
     
  9. anthonylokrn

    anthonylokrn Member

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    Nice! I thought mine was broken but I guess it's a simple fix. I'll give it a try tomorrow.
     
  10. bstephens

    bstephens Junior Member

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    Again Patrick Wong saves the day for me. It seems like any problem my car develops Patrick has already experienced, and knows how to fix it. Thanks Patrick!
     
  11. anthonylokrn

    anthonylokrn Member

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    Well I fixed mine fairly easily. I couldn't find a good spot to drill the small holes to insert the ends of the spring into. The original slot had broken off on both springs, so I just held it in place with a plier and melted the plastic back together to close it up, then used some epoxy to reinforce it.

    Surprised they didn't use more material there since it is so highly stressed.
     
  12. gandG

    gandG New Member

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    Does anyone know how to quiet the rattles that occur inside that glove box ? (Not rattles from contents, but rattles from parts inside the box assembly, maybe between the outer shell and inside layer, or from the hinges themselves.)
     
  13. 94hawk213

    94hawk213 Junior Member

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    I'm planning on fixing my upper glove box as soon as I can get a drill. Patrick, what size drill did you use? Thank you for contributing. Your posts are always helpful.
     
  14. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Probably 1/16" or 3/32". Once you have exposed the spring, you can see what will be needed - a hole slightly larger than the diameter of the spring wire.
     
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  15. 94hawk213

    94hawk213 Junior Member

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    Thanks, Patrick!
     
  16. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    That little plastic shelf in the upper box might be a noisemaker. Seems to me mine was making noise because it was not properly fitted. In most other plastic to plastic contact points in the vehicle there is a type of tape used to isolate the contact surfaces, sort of a felt grid material sticky on one side. Might be able to find some of that at your local parts store. There are many threads about dashboard rattles, some with fixes, that point to sources of noise behind the glove box. You may have to experiment. Remove all that can be removed from the glove boxes (upper and lower) and leave the covers open to see if the noise is still detectable. I remember hearing specific noises in my 2008 based on differing road surfaces. I took the Car Talk guys suggestion and kept the music turned up until parked.
     
  17. Dion Kraft

    Dion Kraft Member

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    I just fixed my upper glove box spring now. I see on mine the dash above the broken out spring was ...ahh..spring up so to say.
    The only deal with mine is that I did drill a hole and forced the spring in but the other side I had some meat still so I put the spring back into the original slot and used a soldering gun to melt over the plastic to capture it in. Reminds me of the days I repaired my tail lite lens..lol!
    But I see now that there is no upward pressure on the dash it has flatten out some...I guess I have to put the heat gun to it but you have to be carfull...maybe I will let the southern UTAH sun work on it instead for the time being.

    I'm waiting for my Porche throttle linkage so I can fix the HID level link broken on my rear suspension...
     
  18. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    That would be best. By Sept 2016 the dash will probably be pretty flat.
     
  19. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    After I repaired my spring on my 2008 it took about a year in the Arizona sun to settle back to the original contour.
     
  20. Dion Kraft

    Dion Kraft Member

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    Yeah it gets pretty HOT here in St. George so I will take your advice on this. Just having the spring not pushing UP is an improvement already...Best to you for the Holidays..