How to Remove Center Dash Face Plate 2000-04 Ford Focus

Hey friends, it's Len here at 1A Auto. Today we're working on our 2001 Ford Focus. This is the ZX3 hatchback model and we're going to be taking out the center dash face plate. It's going to be fairly simple. I can do it. You can do it too. If you need any parts, you can always check us out at 1aauto.com. Thanks.

Okay, so to do this, we're just going to need some basic tools. If you have an after market stereo like this one, you know you're going to have to figure out how to get it out. Generally speaking, if it's the original stereo, there'll be like two holes on this side, two holes on this side. You push in the little tools and then you should be able to slide your stereo out. This is after market, so what I like to do is just give it a little tug and then come along the side with my trim tool, just like that.

I'm going to do the same to the other side. Just go in and give a little twist. Give this a nice, easy wiggle. Here we are. I'm being gentle. Just come in here. We'll disconnect the antenna. Set that aside. Make sure you don't forget to connect that back in. Grab this stuff right here. There we are. Check your electrical connectors. Make sure there's no corrosion. This one looks good. Do the same to this one. There we are. Looks good. We'll set our radio/head unit aside.

Okay, so we have four screws, one here, here, and then the same on the other side. There and there. I'm going to use my seven millimeter. You can use a ratchet or whatever you've got. There's the first two bolts. They're both the exact same. All four bolts, exact same. We'll set these aside. Move ahead to the next step. We're going to continue with our plastic trim tool. Just come in under here. On the top. Just try to slide this out a little bit. Seems to be catching over here. I don't know what thing is. Who smokes cigarettes nowadays? Get that out of here.

Okay, so we've got all of our connectors in here. Coming down along, we've got the connector for the blower motor speed right here. We've got our selector to designate where the air is going to be coming out of, whether it's your vent, or your defrost or your floor. Well, wherever you want it to come out of obviously. And then this over here, this is the selector. Do the hot and cold or AC and heat, right here. So to get this to pull out a little further, I'm just going to disconnect the four way flasher switch. See if I can grab it.

It's right along the side. It's a little push connector. Okay, we'll set that aside. This gives us a little bit of room. On the backside of the selector switch here's a Phillips head screw. So I'm just going to use my quarter inch ratchet with a Phillips head bit because it's a little easier than, you know, trying to ... Maybe it's a little easier. Let's see. I'm trying to get the screwdriver back there. It's going to be pretty hard.

Here's our screw. Super short. We'll set this aside. Let's start disconnecting some of the wiring from the back here. I'm just going to grab them, give them a little tug. They pop right out. Take a peek at them. They look good. This right here. It's got a little push on it. Just go ahead and push right there. And this should separate. Here we go. This one, same thing. I'm just going to press on the little tab. Roll it down, lift it up. Here we go. It's right here. It's hard to see from this angle but I think I can pull it out like that. Take a peak. Looks good. This one right here. Let's see. Should be right here. Slide that out. Take a peak. It looks good. Cruising along. We've got one left here. I'm just going to press in the bottom. Slide that out. There's our center console facial unit.

All right, so now we're on the backside again. We've got all this wiring mess. Let's see if we can figure it out. This one right here, it's going to go right in there. Click. I heard it. We've this one. Go right up in here. Click, heard it. This one, nice and big. Right over there. We got this guy. See if I can bring it around. There it is. Goes right on those two prongs right there. And then lastly for this lower area, we've got this right here. I'm going to start with the lower area of it. Try to get it pressed in and then squeeze up to the top. That's in there.

Cool. All right. We've got these over here. The single wire goes to the bottom. Just press it in there. There's no click, really. Well, it sounded like there was a click but usually I never hear a click. I'm going to grab this one. Here we are. Oh I did hear a click, that's nice. I like it. I like it. Let me get this guy right up here. That goes in for the four way switch. Here we are. We got extra parts. Just kidding. I want to make sure that we get the stereo back in and up and running on this puppy. Can't drive without a stereo, everybody knows that. Get this in here. Just going to press it in. There we are. Very nice. We'll grab our four screws and we'll continue.

We've got our four screws, seven millimeter and I just have it on a nut driver but you can use whatever you've got. I'm just going to start it in. Just like always. I like to get all the bolts for whatever it is I'm working with started at the same time before I go ahead and tighten any of them down. Just in case I have to shift anything around. Here we are. All four are started. Snug these up. All four are tight. Let's move ahead to the next step.

Alright, so when you're underneath the dash, you're going to notice that maybe this right here doesn't line up with what you're dealing with underneath the box. So underneath the box. Okay. So when you're underneath the dash, you might notice that this inner area right there doesn't line up with what you're dealing with. If it doesn't, just reach your hand up, give it a little twist until it does line up with what you need it to. Okay? I'm going to turn it like this. I'm pretty sure I left off on feet. I'm going to come back through here. Here we are. Okay. Yeah, that was good. Now to do this, I'm just going to line it up and then press it in.

I mean there's no screws or anything to hold this. Here we are. All three of them clicked right in. Easy peasy. Come back up here. I'm going to listen. Yeah. I'll show you what it's doing down under there. Can you see right straight down at the end? What it's doing is it's changing where the air is going. It's pretty basic. I probably don't have to tell you that, but I do want to show you that it is functioning. Okay, so now we're going to connect in the stereo. Okay, so we've got our stereo unit. Let's connect it in. Here we are. Careful not to let it fall and smash or anything like that. These are fairly sensitive. Click that in. This connector right here was not connected to anything when we started, so I'm not worried about connecting it now. That only leaves us one thing. The antenna wire.

Just goes right into the back of your unit. Just press it in as far as it can go. Bonk, bonk. Here we are. Slide this right in here, nice and easy. If it feels like it's getting jammed up then, you know, pull it out, try again. Here we are. Very nice. All right. Lastly, this useless thing. Good for change or whatever you want it for. Let's see if I can get it in there. There's a little channel that runs right along here. Just need to get it in there. Very nice. Alright friends. There you are. Easy peasy. Thanks.

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