1996 740 IL - Right Rear Ashtray Replacement

[Chrisannagenna]

I was out on the BMW TIS website, but just wanted to get anyone's tips and experiences before beginning. My rear passenger side ashtray in the door is broken, so I picked up a good used one on E-Bay. Dumb question, does the door panel need to come off in order to replace it? It looks like it has 4 mounting holes as part of the mounting bracket, but it doesn't look like there is a way to remove the old one. The door panel seems to be pretty straight forward to remove, hopefully without breaking too many of the little plastic clips, although I think I still have one of those tools to help facilitate the removal without actually destroying them in the process. Any tips are appreciated.


Regards, Chris.

[tmaxx445]

Door panel one has to come off for sure. If you are careful usually you can get it off without damaging the clips but I usually replace them unless I know them to be less than 8 years old or so. Just keeps things tighter and rattle free I have found. They are pretty cheap.


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[psjr]

The ashtray screws into the door panel with some Philips screws.
So yes, you need to remove the door panel, but that's all there is to it.

[Aitch]

Did mine recently, door had to come off but it was easy.

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[Chrisannagenna]

Did mine recently, door had to come off but it was easy.

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Did you have to remove all of the clips to raise the door panel up and off, or does it slide downward once you remove the clips? Just wondering if I can remove enough of the clips to carefully bend the door panel out to get in there to access the mounting screws.

[Aitch]

By the time you've pulled it off the door, it is ready to come off anyway. Hard to get a screwdriver in there otherwise. Just have to unclip the electrical connectors.

If you have the small rear window screens installed, they have to come out too. But you have to do this either way, if you try to just pry the door panels out of the way from the bottom without removing the screen, you run the risk of breaking the plastic clips for it.

I debated shortcuts, but here it's best to do it the proper way, otherwise you'll risk breaking things and kick yourself afterwards. It's a 30 minute job, tops. Do it right

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[Chrisannagenna]

By the time you've pulled it off the door, it is ready to come off anyway. Hard to get a screwdriver in there otherwise. Just have to unclip the electrical connectors.

If you have the small rear window screens installed, they have to come out too. But you have to do this either way, if you try to just pry the door panels out of the way from the bottom without removing the screen, you run the risk of breaking the plastic clips for it.

I debated shortcuts, but here it's best to do it the proper way, otherwise you'll risk breaking things and kick yourself afterwards. It's a 30 minute job, tops. Do it right

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I don't have any rear screens, so it should be a pretty easy job. I printed out the procedure from the TIS.info website, and it seems pretty straight-forward, although there is no substitute for real world experience.

[chrisn7]

Models fitted with a rear quarter blind must have the blind cover removed first. There is a single screw hidden under this at the bottom that retains bracket, that in turn is rivetted to the door card to prevent flexing. The card should be removed by pulling the door shut handle sharply towards you to release 2 clips first, then pull the card out of the top edge clips, up and out from under the silver trim strip. If necessary recover the black plastic rings that form part of the clip arrangement, and replace these in the metal cut outs fixed to the card.

Now remove the trim strip, by prising it free from the barbed clips. This allows you to see that the turned over edge of the card goes into the correct part of the clip, before snapping the card back on over those 2 lower clips. Finally press the silver trim back, listening for the clicks as it snaps home