Replacing shifter surround

[nuron]

This guide isn't as complicated and technical as Doctor J's or recently es250's climate control but I made it for fun and just in case someone needed it in the future.

Anyways, my shifter had a cracked 'slider' and a gouged and broken shift position indicator and since the surround is the last part to my interior LED conversion, I had to start off with something decent.

Start off by removing the long whole center piece splitting the front seats of the car. Four screws on the front on the edges, two screws on the front of the armrest and two screws deep in the actual armrest compartment. The hinge screws are there just for the hinges. Remove the emergency seat belt lever's button. Now, it's a maneuver-the-stick game--you'll have to do some adjusting of the shifter and e-brake after you lift up the center piece a little bit. The two front 'prongs' near the cup holder can do a little flexing but note: they have a chance of breaking.

Unplug the ECT connector near the armrest to have more maneuvering room--I ended up tilting the center piece to the driver's seat.


You'll be left with this:


Remove the four bolts on the corners and unplug this connector. I pried up the blue side 'lock' to pull out the plugs.


Get a set of precision flatheads (I bought some at the dollar store, so cheap ) and depin the blue and white wire--these lead to the O/D Off button on the shifter.

I marked where the white wire went so I could hook it up correctly when everything is done.

Depinned:


Routed like this:


I have the older style shifter so I removed the two bolts and pried off the cover for the O/D button and removed the screws holding the button in place.

Now pull on the blue loom sleeve carefully to remove it. The big shifter button that we press to change gears just comes off, as it is spring-loaded.

Now you have this:

My old surround is next to it.

Here's my new surround.

It's from a newer model so it has the shift lock button that I didn't have--it didn't matter, it works fine. The piece on the right is another one that I found, as the one on the left has a slight crack that I was afraid it would show up under the light like my messed up one did. However, closer inspection showed that the right piece's letters are a bit duller then the left. The whiter left would look nicer under LED light, I thought, and it was clearer overall. It's weird and cool to see the little changes throughout the years, such as the orange 'R.'

New LED bulb in:


Put the new surround in, route the blue loom down the tube, and put the shifter on. Note: when running the O/D wires back down the shifter, I taped the two end connectors up with electrical tape for easier routing. Make sure to test the O/D button and indicator light before putting everything back together.

I will post up a picture of the new lighted surround, I like it a lot .

Tidbit:


ES250 in the back--nice piece of thick plastic compared to the Camry's.

Any questions, please ask. I hope this is of use to someone. If I'm not at this forum in the future, email nvkoof@yahoo.com.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Very good, sir...very good. Now all you have to do is slap a 5-speed in there!