Centre Console Removal

[Winter]

As part of my leaking aircon system, I want to expose as much of the under-dash unit as possible to see if I can spot the leak while the system is running.

I know how to remove the passenger side glove compartment but I want to remove the centre console i.e. the bit that houses the radio and heater controls. I don't think I need to remove the driver's side with the steering wheel attachments to see the aircon unit; the centre and passenger bits should suffice.

Am I correct in this assumption and could someone please give me a step-by-step set of destructions to remove the centre?

Many thanks.

I removed the floor-mounted sound proofing last night: the sponge part was saturated. No wonder the lower parts of the carpets were so wet. I think the carpets will dry out and should restore with a good shampoo. As for the sound proofing, I think that will have to be replaced on each side. The plastic top layer was hiding the bulk of the problem.

[andyblackman777]

Ed,

Mines leaking again now too. I changed the smaller hose from the evaporater to the dryer and that cured it but now its making a whooshing sound and not cooling the air so i guess its leaking again grr

Do you need to remove the center consol, i'm not sure if any aircon fluid/gas pipes go throught there the smaller hose goes up over the left wheelarch don't know where the other hose goes.

cheers Andy

[Winter]

Ed,

Mines leaking again now too. I changed the smaller hose from the evaporater to the dryer and that cured it but now its making a whooshing sound and not cooling the air so i guess its leaking again grr

Do you need to remove the center consol, i'm not sure if any aircon fluid/gas pipes go throught there the smaller hose goes up over the left wheelarch don't know where the other hose goes.

cheers Andy

Hi Andy

It's the condensate that's leaking not the actual airccon piping, apologies for the confusion. I think it's coming from the aircon/heater housing that is, of course, under the central console.

A couple of years or so ago I did have problems with the circuitry. There was a leak from one of the unions and the whole of the front of the car's aircon pipework had to be replaced, including the condensers.

Each union was seized such that everyone broke. As another union had to be undone to replace the pipe at which a union had already broken, it was like a domino effect. I understand that this is not unusual.

I contacted Lotus because the incompatability of alloys surprised me; I would have thought they would have cracked that one long ago. Sadly, the "cracking" was in the unions not the engineering! The response was, well this is a bespoke system and it is designed for a unique application. In other words, tough.

[andyblackman777]

Ed,

Ah yes could be leaking from any where then. Lets hope the car wasn't built around the heater box!! if you know what i mean

Andy