When I bought my LS (about 2 weeks ago), the salesman said the cup holder lid does not always latch into the closed position. In fact, even when it did, it would not sit even with the surrounding centre console trim:


Since then, it has stopped latching closed altogether, so I took the centre console out following the good instructions below, and removed the cup holder module.

The latching mechanism looks very simple; there's a hinged latch with a metal pin:


There's a groove on the lid hinge, which the pin fits into:


Here's is my impression of how it's supposed to work. The red lines mark the walls of the groove. The first green arrow shows the path of the pin (1) as the lid is closed, pushed down below the centre console surface a bit, then released to stay in the closed position (2). The second arrow shows the path as the lid is pushed down, then released to rise up, guiding the pin out of the groove.


In my case, unfortunately, the pin does not reach the closed position (2) even when the lid is pressed as far down as it can. I can just about nudge the latch arm to move the pin into the closed position manually while the cup holder is out of the car, but then the lid is uneven with the surface, and cannot be released by pushing it down as it is already as far down as it can go.

I'm flummoxed; nothing seems broken, but I can't see how this could've ever worked like this. The latch seems about 2mm too short. Any ideas?

 

You were right! They're indeed not aligned it seems, the side with the latch is one tooth lower than the other one. How can I adjust it, however? The triangular plate connecting the lid to the cup holder frame does not appear to come off easily.



My goal, I think, is to move the gear marked with red up a notch.

 

Fantastic, thanks! Disassembling plastic stuff like this always seems to take more force than I'm comfortable with using. I got the lid re-aligned, and now it closes properly and looks better too:

 

Nice helpful thread guys , thanks!

 

Unfortunately I already reinstalled the centre console. I did not go by the teeth however, but rather found the correct position through trial and error, and comparing the lid to the centre console surface.