Good afternoon, guys. New member, just posted up in the Welcome forum. I'm going on Friday to look at a beautiful low-miles F-type V8 S convertible in Firesand Orange over Brogue/Ivory. The interior trim pieces on it looks surprisingly rough for it's miles, though, as though someone used abrasive cleaners that stripped the finish on certain parts. I'd want to replace the steering wheel upper trim (part T2R18060, for clarity, the part that surrounds the steering wheel audio controls and wraps over the steering column), as well as the start button. Possibly others, but it's hard to tell from pictures. Has anyone replaced these trim pieces that can comment on difficulty? Does the steering wheel have to come off to get the upper trim off? Wondering if this is a job for a decently confident home mechanic with the proper tools, or if it's best left to a Jaguar body shop.

 

There are tons of threads on this forum on this topic. Bottom line - try cleaning the trim pieces (carefully). There are a variety of cleaners people have used...everything from fragrance free lotions to guitar string lubricants. If that fails, or you don't have the patience, each piece of trim can be purchased and replaced. I did the steering wheel trim myself without much trouble.

Please search the forum for these threads. They're very informative!

 

I replaced that trim on mine. You don't remove the steering wheel, but you do need to remove the airbag.

1) Set the wheel at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock to release the airbag retaining spring wire from each side (see the picture, use a small screwdriver or allen key to grip the wire and force it towards the centre to slide it off the hook). Do not sit directly in front of the airbag when removing it if you like having teeth in case you short a damaged wire.
2) Disconnect the battery (ideally) or at minimum ensure ignition is off and vehicle is in park for 2 minutes.
3) Lift out the airbag, unplug it, and store it somewhere it can't jump up and hit someone like under the passenger seat or under the car.
4) The trim piece you are replacing just pulls forward with a bit of force. Those round legs are the clips. The switch packs will come with it. Remove the connectors and then swap the switch packs over.
5) Refit is just the reverse. When you push the airbag in do it enough to activate the horn and those wire springs will snap back over the hooks.

The start button just pushed out from behind. Pull off the trim under the AC dials with a trim bar tool then just pull the gear selector trim up and you can easily push the button out.

 

Sorry, Stmpy, my search-fu is pretty weak this week. I've been searching for all manner of trim-related questions, and everything that comes up is for models other than the F-type.

This is fantastic, thanks so much! Would you happen to know if the trim surrounding the seat controls is replaceable? I looked at the parts fische and it's hard for me to figure out, but near as I can tell it looks like it's a part of the door panel itself, which would likely make the F-type I'm looking at a no-go unless they can drop at least $2k off the price for the part and my time...and then I'm wondering if it might be a sign of larger neglect anyway.

 

Does anyone know the part number for the silver steering wheel trim, upper and lower? for 2014-2016. I'm not sure if it has every changed.

 

Dave,

Those look like Workshop Manual illustrations .......?

I'm surprised the procedure doesn't stress DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY before doing any work on the airbag. On other Jaguar models it's essential to do this and give sufficient time for the capacitors to discharge or seriously risk setting off an accidental deployment. Is the sequence different in the F-Type Workshop Manual?

Graham

 

Graham, the procedure is always to disconnect the battery when working on or disconnecting any part of the SRS system.

However, you need to turn the wheel both ways 90 degrees and you cannot do that with the battery disconnected. You need to complete the clip release steps with the ignition on so the steering lock does not engage. The 2 minutes after turning the car off is for the capacitors to discharge after the ignition off signal to the restraints module. The SRS connectors are designed to break circuit in a controlled way so unless they are damaged you are not going to set of the igniter with everything off. The much more important instruction is to make sure you are never in front of an unrestrained airbag. The film Bad Neighbours is a good example of why.

For the upper finisher for all models in gunmetal grey get part T2R19453 as that is the one without the earlier soft touch coating that goes sticky.

The lower finisher (on the centre spoke) varies depending on the wheel shape and car level.

The seat controls trim - which part do you mean?

The actual switch assembly is its own part (the parallelogram part with the various controls on). Typically £188 each side, but there are about a dozen variants for different seat levels.

The bezel trim that surrounds the switch assembly and the door handle is replaceable. Typically £23 each side.

If you confirm which part you mean, and the trim level of the car (or a photo) I can get the part no.

When you see the vehicle you can determine if the defects are due to the sticky paint or neglect and act accordingly. The paint wouldn't concern me too much if the price reflected it as the parts can be stripped/cleaned if not too bad or replaced mostly without too much difficulty. It sounds like someone has already tried to clean them (poorly). If it is an earlier F-Type you will need to strip all the door panels off anyway to fix the rattles* so can swap out the trims at the same time.

* The door harnesses rattled against the panels in the earlier cars, with the fix being to wrap some tesa cloth tape around them to dampen it.

 

@lpf4 Since you are looking in Florida be aware that the southern heat turns those 'soft-touch' pieces to 'mush' on the early cars.

As stated, there are multiple Topics here about either cleaning the sticky pieces (removing the soft coating), or replacing them. Since you have not yet purchased the car, I'd hold out for a price reduction based on the cost of REPLACING all the potentially gooey bits (it's not a question of IF, but WHEN) and I seem to recall the cost of the bits is more than $3000...plus labor. I'm sure someone better than me can find the Topics.

Here's one:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...uttons-187008/

 

I really appreciate all this help! It's this part, the black surround around the controls and door handle. The finish looks rippled at the front, like the paint or coating is just pulling up. Hopefully I can get better pictures tomorrow. The drivers' side twin to this looks perfectly fine.




Thanks for that link, I'll do some reading. I had almost dismissed this one because of the trim damage, but I'm thinking I could use it as leverage now instead...lots to think about. Thanks!

 

From the photo you have the jet black variant which would be T2R20629 for the 'non sticky' type. £23 retail (UK).

 

Fantastic! From looking at the parts fische I was thinking I'd be out $1350 for the whole door panel, which was mind-boggling to me. $35us is much more reasonable.

 

Hey I am a new member here. I am fighting with my air bag to remove it to replace sticky steering wheel buttons and I even bought the special too! I read that it was easier to disengage the wire with the tool if you push on the air bag like you were trying to beep the horn. Anybody try that??? I have read the forum comments but any other ideas?

 

As you have the tool, you should just be able to wedge the blade in behind the wire and twist it 90 degrees to release it. If you are finding it is slipping off, try using a mirror to check you are getting it into the right place. If it does twist and move the wire but not quite enough you should be able to slide the last little bit by hand.

It is worth pointing out here that although the workshop manual has the same steps for the launch and current model year cars, photos of the actual airbag modules themselves on eBay show two different styles with different attachment methods! See the attached photo. My airbag (2015MY), and the diagrams above, are style A with the hooks in the steering wheel body and the wire in the airbag bracket at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. Style B seems to have the hooks on the airbag which suggests the wire is in the wheel. (I'm not sure if the difference is because one has a bracket attached and the other doesn't? I may just be looking at the photo wrongly.)