Removing the central console from the Nissan Quest

Submitted by QuestDriver on Sun, 2005-09-25 00:19. 2004+ Nissan Quest

Oh joy of joys. This is a pain. It isn’t hard, but trim is always so large molded and clunky. Thanks in part to the cheap interior everything is readily accessible with a flat head and Phillips screwdriver.

Remove the shift knob
- Lower the external black plastic sleeve around the knob’s base.
- Some TSBs I read indicated this just pushes down and is spring loaded. Mine isn’t spring loaded and was difficult to push down. In fact I had to force it down using spark plug pliers. I used those because they have rubber grips and wouldn't scratch it up.
- Push out the release tab with a small screwdriver and pull up on the knob. You shouldn’t have to use too much pressure on the tab at all.
- You should now be holding your knob, put it somewhere.
Pop open the coffee table.
- There are four clips holding the console’s top to the base. You shouldn’t have to know where these are at.
- I was able to simply pull mine off.
- I can see that some people may need to work a screw driver around the lip to pry it off or get a good grip.
- The top will still be connected to about four cables, so don’t go trying to pull it off all the way to the ceiling
Remove the top two screws
- On either side of the top there is a single screw. Remove them both.
- Note the clips also holding the console in place, leave them for now.
Loosen the driver’s side dash
- There is a single screw on the right side of the driver’s dash. Because the console’s molding slips behind the dash, you will need to remove this screw.
Loosen the passenger’s side dash (glovebox)
- I removed nearly all the screws for the passenger side, but you should be able to get away with only doing those on the left-most side.
- There is one on the base, similar to the driver’s side (and two more to be ignored unless you run into trouble)
Remove the ash-tray like drawer from the central console.
- The middle drawer, under the CD player, has a panel on either side of it.
- Each panel may be removed by prying it out with a screwdriver and / or brute force.
- Behind those panels is a single screw, remove them from each side
- The entire drawer should now come out
- Note the space left behind the drawer for future reference when running cables
Remove the black base from the central console
- There is a clip on either side of the console. They really suck. Pull them out.
- You should now be able to remove the entire black panel, there are some more internal slips to the front, put you can tug it loose.
- There are two screws in the base in the front of the console. Remove them.
Unclip the central console from the rest of the dash.
- It’s showtime – all the screws should be removed by now. Double check your work.
- I did this top-down, in hindsight, it would have been easier going bottom-up, so here’s the bottom-up sequence. It is also easier to visually check out the image of the console molding in the auxiliary jack installation procedures – you can see all the clips in that picture.
- On the driver’s side there is a clip next the bottom of the dash. You can loosen this by pulling towards the driver’s side door.
- On the passenger side there are two clips. One way in the back, which has to be pulled towards the passenger door and the other roughly parallel with the driver’s side clip that needs to be pulled straight back
- The clips on the top are all easily visible and all just get pulled straight back.
- Work it loose from the dash on either side.
Unplug the DC outlets.
- On the passenger side there is a plug directly into the outlet.
- On the driver side there is a plug clipped to the console.
You should now have your console exposed, naked to the world.
After the job the shift knob, for what its worth, just snaps back into place with some force. You will want to make sure the sleeve is back up where it belongs though.