I need to remove the glove box in my Mk2 Focus to replace the heater resistor. I've removed the seven torx screws at the front but the box - although loose - seems reluctant to come out more than a couple of inches. It feels like it's held at the back, near where the turning knob is to allow cold air into the glove box - can anyone tell me what I need to do to get it to come out?

iirc I just pulled that wheel off and pushed the pipe through. Did you undo the two screws beside the lock catch ? And also undo the aux port input ?

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iirc I just pulled that wheel off and pushed the pipe through. Did you undo the two screws beside the lock catch ? And also undo the aux port input ?

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I got the screws by the lock catch. I haven't got the aux port off yet because I can't get the box far enough out to reach that one but I can see that isn't the problem - I've got slack on that cable and I can just feel that it's caught on the right hand side - I'm sure it's that air inlet wheel. I've been pulling at it but it feels like it's attached quite tightly, and I've broken quite a few things on my car before by applying more pressure than I dare without knowing if something is really supposed to come off. Are you sure the wheel just pulls off?

Pretty much yea, there's a pipe then behind the wheel that has 4/5 tabs holding it to the actual glove box, these can be tough to release, I actually broke mine but hasn't bothered me as I don't see it. The tricky thing is trying to get that wheel back on the pipe when you're finished. The wheel should come off with a good tug.

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EDIT:

Apologies buddy I forgot there are two wheels in the glove box. The one I'm talking about with the pipe behind it is on the side. I've taken a few pics for you:

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Don't mind the lead here that's just an extension for my aux port.

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ImageUploadedByFord OC1415025087.150352.jpgImageUploadedByFord OC1415025098.883324.jpgImageUploadedByFord OC1415025110.718469.jpg

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Thanks mate, that's really good of you to take the time to upload a few photos and definitely shows clearly what needs to be done. I'll give the wheel a yank when I finish work and try to unclip the hose without breaking it!

Thanks mate, that's really good of you to take the time to upload a few photos and definitely shows clearly what needs to be done. I'll give the wheel a yank when I finish work and try to unclip the hose without breaking it!

No problem at all. Let me know how you get on, I can take some more pics of you need them.

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Managed to get it out following your advice - broke one of those clips but hopefully three will be enough to hold it if I can ever get it back into place. The heater resistor is so unbelievably far back that I'm not sure if I'm even going to attempt to replace it myself now anyway because it's close to impossible just to touch it, much less undo and replace two screws holding it in. It's as if cars are designed these days to be difficult to maintain yourself without expensive servicing :o

Glad you got the box out at least. You pretty much nailed it regarding the maintenance of our cars. I always tend to try things myself before I decide to go to a mechanic. Although the list of things I'd try myself is very short lol

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Glad you got the box out at least. You pretty much nailed it regarding the maintenance of our cars. I always tend to try things myself before I decide to go to a mechanic. Although the list of things I'd try myself is very short lol

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I tell you, I'm about ready take to my car with a sledgehammer at the moment. Everything I try seems to go wrong - I tried to wire my car stereo to the handbrake switch and succeeded only in snapping the clasps for the piece of trim that goes around the handbrake. I tried to repair a snapped hinge on the lid of the arm rest with glue and succeeded only in gluing my fingers to each other. God only knows how you get that lid off to replace it or glue it in a clamp. I managed to fit a new stereo and reversing camera only after about 25 hours of effort, only to find I couldn't push it back into the hole no matter how carefully I arranged the wires, and when I finally pushed it back in with the wires removed, it got stuck there and now I can't get it out.

It really does seem that the go out of their way to make every job as difficult as possible - nothing is standardised, nothing is modular, nothing is documented in the owner's manual. Every screw, clasp or clip is different than every other on and it's never obvious how to remove anything without breaking it. AAARGH!!!!!!

Welcome to motoring lol

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