HKGS300

I want to remove the ceiling and clean it thoroughly.
Is this difficult and how can I do it?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

You mean the headliner?

HKGS300

Yes, how to remove the headliner?

TerryTCL

to remove the headliner....


you need to remove the front, center, and rear pillar covers...

the fronts are just clipped on...
if you can fit your finger in the top of the cover, just pull and pop it out.
if not, use a medium sized flathead screwdriver, wrap the end of the screwdriver
with some elctrical tape or duct tape to prevent any marring or damage to the
covers or headliner. just insert the screwdriver between the headliner and the
front pillar cover, and pull down the screwdriver. the push clips should release
and let you put your hand in to pull the rest off.

the rears are the same too...
might be easier if you remove part of the door seal liner...
then pull the covers off... just make sure to not pull too hard
and bend the cover. you can also use the screwdriver to help you out in the rear too.
if i remember correctly, there are 6-7 push clips. when you remove the cover,
some of these push clips might remain stuck on the car... you need to remove them
and reinsert them back into the cover for installation later.

the center is a bit more tricky...
you need to pop out the bottom... the cover
that's below the part that has the seatbelt up.down
and swivel. the plastic peices that cover the gap between
the carpet and door sill need to be removed or at least moved
away so that the lower cover can be poped out. the front door and rear
door plactic peices snap into the center cover. the center cover
is held up by 6-7 push clips again. make sure to check that
all of them are still on the cover, if not, remove them from the
car and reinstall them back onto the cover.
once the lower cover is removed, you can see there are two screws
holding on the top cover. remove these two screws, and pop the top cover out.
again, i think there's 2-3 push clips holding the top on. just make sure they all come
out and put them back onto the top cover. you don't have to remove the seatbelt, but
you'll need to keep the to cover on your passenger and driver seat. that's of course
if you decide to remove the seatbelts and remove the covers all together.
to remove the front seat belts, raise the front seats, pop off the square cover on the side
of the seat. you'll see a 14mm bolt holding the lower seatbelt bracket.
remove the bolt and remove the lower seatbelt bracket. slide off the
top cover.

The rear passenger courtesy lights need to be removed next.
If you release the clothes hanger, you'll see that there is a phillips
screw inside... remove the screw. this is the only screw holding the
courtesy lights on... you can just pull and the assembly will come out
like opening a door. (light side is hinged into the top of the car)

The OH ***** handles need to be removed next.
Remove the covers to each side. to do this, use a small flathead...
push in the bottom, top, and then the side... you'll see that this will lift
up the cover. then just pull with your fingers... it'll pop off.
removing the covers will reveal a 10mm bolt with a phillips screw center.
you can either use a screwdriver or a 10mm socket wrench.
it's up to you. there's one on each side of the handles... once removed
it can just be pulled off the ceiling.

next, you need to remove the visors and visor clip. to remove the visors,
extend the visor out so that you can see the mounting cover. you have to pop
off the cover and you'll see that there are two phillips screws holding the visor
to the ceiling. unscrew and then disconnect the electrical connection.
the visors can be removed now. for the visor clip, there's a phillips hidden
in the clip. you'll see a grey phillips screw... just remove the screw and wiggle
the clip until you can pull it off the ceiling. both sides are the same.


lastly, the ceiling center console needs to be removed.
to do this, remove the homelink panel using a flathead...
you'll see two phillips screws. remove those.
then using the flathead screwdriver, pop off the clear lense
assembly to the center courtesy lights. you'll see another
two screws in there. remove those and the disconnect the
electrical connections. the console can be removed now.

once everything is cleared from the roof lining, you need to pull
off the door seal... just grab one of the corners, and pull down.
just enough so that you free the roof liner.

the roof liner itself is held up using interlocking velcro like
tabs... you need to stick your hand into each opening (each door side)
and just use your hand as a wedge to free the headliner.

the rear is held up using three push clips... when the front is free,
you can just push the headliner towards the back of the car.
this should free the back of the headliner. you should have at least
one other person helping you out to prevent any folding of the headliner.

move either the passenger or driver seat all the way forward,
remove the headliner through one of the rear doors.

enjoy!

the hard part is reversing everything to put the headliner back in
and lining everything up.

TerryTCL

my fingers hurt

HKGS300

Thank you so much,

However, now I am scared.............

I hope the actual work is less than typing this excellent DIY

ChrisFL

remove the ceiling, woohoo, Convertible Baby!!