My center dash wood piece came loose a while back and upon removal I found all 4 of the clip slots in the plastic part with the vents had broken.
I find it amazing how much money Jaguar must have put into the wood part (cast aluminum base with wood veneer vacuum formed and bonded to it then stained and varnished) only to attach it to the cheesiest plastic part attached to the dash.
I found a good used part from a salvage place on ebay and was planning on installing it today only to run into trouble getting the wood panel over the glove box out (yes the genius who saved Jaguar $0.20 making the plastic part as cheap as he did made the obvious decision to have the foot print of that part extend under the wood pieces on either side, there goes those part savings...).
Removal of my old part wasn't an issue since the plastic on either side of the center dash piece had cracked, broken, and gone AWOL just like the areas around the attachment slots.
It looks as if the wood over the glove box should just pull off but I've been applying more force than I would expect would be necessary to that wood piece and it just doesn't feel like it wants to let go.
Rather than break another peice of brittle plastic I thought I'd ask if anyone here has removed that wood piece over the glovebox.
Any tricks?
Anything to be careful of?
Thanks.

 

If you set the passenger airbag off (deploy it) the wood veneer panel will 'pop-off' and solve your problem.
The panel just clips in place but it likely was never removed so it is stuck on there pretty good?

I use plastic interior trim tools for removing 'clipped-on' parts and panels.

Thin wood blades/sticks can also be used so as not to scratch interiors.

 

I was assuming (hoping) that the passenger side airbag popped something else when it went off.
Does that mean this piece is hinged so it doesn't fly off and decapitate a passenger while otherwise protecting their life?
Maybe I need to pry at the bottom, along that whole edge(?)
I was trying to get it to come loose by prying along the whole left edge (with just my fingers so no chance of scratches) with no luck so far...

 

Hope is a good thing but looks like it won't be enough here!
Upon reading the Jag workshop manual the right hand wood piece is referred to as the "airbag deployment cover".
It also looks to be held in place with 4 clips, similar to the ones used for the other wood trim pieces covering the dash.
I'm not sure why it's given me so much trouble so far but maybe it's just a little more stubborn than the other sets of clips.
I'd still like to ask that Jaguar engineer why the center dash panel extends under the wood trim on either side, seems like a bad decision to me.
Especially since the manual says to discard and replace all the clips after the wood trim is removed.
I think the clips will be ok to reuse this still seems much more involved than it needs to be...

 

The veneer panel is 'tethered' with 2 straps that allow it to swing out and UP to break the windscreen. (I guess to 'pre-break' the screen in anticipation of a body being thrown through?)

I used to have the remove the ENTIRE wood package when there were defects found in the veneer panels. (milky wood on some models)
Warranty would cover the cost and we even had some 'loaner veneer sets' to temporarily install in the customer car. (yea I got to do it TWICE on the same car!!)

The panel WILL pop free but you just have to 'hold-your-mouth-right' while you are prying?

 

Thanks Motorcarman, I went back at it but chickened out, that panel just doesn't seem to want to budge!
I went back to my shop and sawed off the offending plastic and now everything is in place and secured.
I'll be muttering under my breath for a few days though at the Jaguar engineer who got the job of designing that plastic piece that also houses the center vents.
I'm sure it's not the only place that Jaguar violated the design for assembly guidelines, just the most recent place I've run into.
I continue to be amazed at the places a cheap piece of plastic lets this beautiful machine down...

 

I have it on good authority that some accomplished Jaguar engineers had great difficulty adapting to the
new corporate culture introduced by the Ford purchase in 1999 and again in 2008 due to the Tata sale.
Long standing practices were discarded in favor of the "plastic" generations' penchant to "make it lighter",
and "make it cheaper". The X308 series, in my opinion, is the last generation that reflects the true elegance
and heritage of the JAGUAR badge even though some engineering choices made for this series are truly
questionable. You '99 XJR was just beginning to see the pangs of distress.

 

As a mechanical engineer who worked in product design for 4 decades I know plastic parts can be designed robustly and except for differences in material costs (yes material selection is part of the design and the good stuff always seems to cost more) designing plastic parts correctly doesn't add cost.
Designing for assembly saves money for the life of the car though.
It might only save Jaguar money the first time but everyone who touches the part down the road will thank them and you'd think Jaguar would at least want to take a chance that one of their dealer's service techs would be that person.
The plastic parts I had in my hands yesterday were a poor material choice and poorly designed which is a shame but not unusual for the Jaguar parts I've handled (yes some have Ford molded into them).
The wood veneer panels however are things of beauty, cast metal and relatively thick (real!) wood.
There wasn't much thought to saving money there, milky finishes that Motorcarman ran into notwithstanding...

 

Well, you being an engineer, are already aware that all the major components were actually designed and in pre-production phase,
at least three or four years prior to assembly. So the short term manufacture of parts were designed (in some cases, poorly) to
integrate with the previously designed (and set in stone) engineered base. It wasn't always about saving money, and material
availability within time constraints was an issue even then. In some cases the design engineers were forced to accept (due to
administrative commands and restrictions) material and assembly techniques they would have otherwise never considered.