My vehicle is a 1991 Townace Royal Lounge. Model Q-CR30G-PQZX. Engine 2C-T. Frame No. CR30-5090616. Colour 168. Trim HE12. Trans/Axle A45DF F252. Plant/Built K11.
Stripping out interior trim is the only way to properly check for rust and water leaks, and if you do find there has been a leak (eg damp carpet and/or surface rust) then sometimes you'll need to drive around in the rain with the trim out in order to find out where the water's getting in. If you are fitting something that requires wiring you will do a better job if you take out the appropriate trim. If you intend carrying out proper rust proofing you just won't be able to get to the nooks and crannies with the trim in place. Finally, if you do your own repairs/maintenance, seeing what is behind the panels and where the wires and cables run will prove to be invaluable at some stage.
Stripping all the lower interior trim (headlining etc is another chapter!) is pretty straightforward. The secret, as with most vehicles, is to look very carefully for all the screws and plastic clips and not to pull anything until you know how to pull it! It's a good idea to have a torch and small mirror handy so that you can lift edges and peer behind the panels to see exactly what's holding it. There are a number of different clips used on the Toyota and most of them snap away fairly easily - a good technique is to slide your hand flat behind the panel and then arch your palm or try to make a fist to spring the panel away. However, there are some plastic plugs that have 'legs' that spring out sideways when they're pressed in and because they spring out wider than the hole in the metal panel they cannot be pulled back through without breaking them. Unfortunately stripping interior trim is very often one of those jobs that by the time you've finished you know how to do it - but of course by then it's too late! Fortunately all the electrical connectors are unique so that you cannot plug the wrong ones back together - useful tips are to put masking tape around dubious wires, and label them in a way that will mean something to you later, and tie collections of wires together (sandwich bag ties are good) to keep them well ordered. If you leave cables hanging out of holes you're less likely to forget what they connect to.
Things that proved to be a little tricky ... The covers that form a square base underneath the middle seats - there were plastic studs to find and pull out and then the units pulled apart sideways into two halves. The child's footrest for the front passenger seat was a scraped knuckle job requiring the mirror to see some of the fittings and then working blind with a small spanner to undo a number of nuts and bolts - it was the most time consuming job of the lot. The rear air-con controls panel was a puzzle at first until a very fine bladed knife slid under the shiny cover plate popped it off to reveal four screws. At first I couldn't see why the panel (screws having been removed) would not come up away from the trim, but after feeling down in the hole and up under the trim panel I found the loom was clipped with one of those 'won't come out without breaking' plastic clips. So a pair of snips was slid up under the panel and the plug legs were clipped off 'blind' thereby releasing the loom - and the panel came way up to make life easy. Finally, the hot/cold box and the carpet trapped underneath! The box had to stay in because of the metal pipes through the floor (air con refrigerant pipes I guess?) and there was no way the carpet was going to slide up over it, so the carpet was cut on the passenger side and removed as a half-piece. The two box mounting bolts were removed on the driver side (away from the pipes) and the box lifted slightly to release the carpet (a bit of a tugging job) which was then slid away so the driver's side half could be removed.
Other things to watch out for ... The carpet has plastic strips stapled to some of its edges that wrap around the edges of the metal panels - many of mine were broken anyway but they are worth being careful with as they help to hold the carpet in place. You'll have to pull the rubber sealing strips off some doorframe sections to release panels but they pull away and push back on easily. To remove the central console housing the gear change etc you'll need to unscrew the knob off the "H-L4" lever. The central console between the front seats has four 'penny-sized' plugs (under the covers in the recesses) that need to be prized off to reveal the screws. Remember that the golden rule is to not pull anything until either you're sure that you have to, or you've exhausted all other options and you're prepared to take the consequences. Plastic and compressed board are very difficult (if not impossible!) to repair. Many of the fittings used can be obtained from good accessory shops so don't worry too much about the plastic clips breaking - far better for them to break than the panels.
When removed it's a lot easier to clean all the trim, and I recommend one of the good makes (eg Auto Glym) of interior shampoo/cleaner. The foam shampoo is good and I found that you can afford to apply it liberally to bad stains and scrub it lightly to good effect. However, I used plenty of kitchen towel to soak up the excess moisture so as not to let the panel stay very wet for long.
- John Corfield, 19 March 2002