Help. Has as anyone removed the nearside B post trim?

[Borris]

After Halford's said they couldn't do it , I'm about to have a stab at hard wiring my new front and rear dash cam. I have researched the job and it doesn't seem that difficult providing I can remove the appropriate trim panels. I have a photo (kindly provided by @Loz) of which fuse to piggy back from behind the Comfort dash wine cooler. If I have sufficient cable (6m came with the kit) I intend to route the cable to the rear camera along the N/S at floor level. I have found a thread that tells me how to remove the N/S footwell trim but to do that it is apparently necessary to remove the adjacent B post trim. Has anyone done this? Is it easy and if so how is it done? I do own a set of plastic trim removal tools but lack the confidence to.start heaving away on the trim. I don't want to break anything. The object of the exercise is to feed the cable along with the power cable, down the A post, behind the trim and then underneath the carpet to the base of the B pillar then onto to the rear window.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

The rest of the job looks fairly easy with the cable being tucked underneath the nearside trim and then via the tool compartment (Beach) and up inside the rear pillar. Someone has posted some great snaps of the rear trim removal over the rear window. The only other piece of trim is the A post which I don't think is a problem.

Many thanks.

 

[Louis II]

Assuming an SE & Beach are the same the top 1/2 of the trim is fairly easy to get off without any tools.
Start from the edge nearest the the drivers door by pulling back the rubber seal and then freeing that side. Once you get started its quite obvious. It can then be pushed towards the back of the van to unhook the edge near the sliding door. I have never removed the lower part but I'm pretty sure once you have the top half off you will be able to see behind the lower to establish how it is held in place as there is quite a big void.

 

[Hotel California]

@Borris , see here a few picture of me removing upper B-pilar trim on my driverside.
So you see whats behind.
Been a while so can't remember well how it went but if i can , you will do fine....

Replacing bendy rooflight to a 12V socket

As the bendy rooflight on my 2012 T5 is due to break at some point and the fact there's no 12V socket within reach when you lie in the pop-top to charge a phone at night within hands reach , i had the idea to take away the bendy light and put a cigaretlighter/12V socket in place. The bendy...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Borris]

Assuming an SE & Beach are the same the top 1/2 of the trim is fairly easy to get off without any tools.
Start from the edge nearest the the drivers door by pulling back the rubber seal and then freeing that side. Once you get started its quite obvious. It can then be pushed towards the back of the van to unhook the edge near the sliding door. I have never removed the lower part but I'm pretty sure once you have the top half off you will be able to see behind the lower to establish how it is held in place as there is quite a big void.

Thanks Louis ll, that's very helpful.

 

[Borris]

@Borris , see here a few picture of me removing upper B-pilar trim on my driverside.
So you see whats behind.
Been a while so can't remember well how it went but if i can , you will do fine....

Replacing bendy rooflight to a 12V socket

As the bendy rooflight on my 2012 T5 is due to break at some point and the fact there's no 12V socket within reach when you lie in the pop-top to charge a phone at night within hands reach , i had the idea to take away the bendy light and put a cigaretlighter/12V socket in place. The bendy...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Thanks Wim,
Yours photos are very helpful. I'm going to have to pluck up courage and have a go.

Many thanks

 

[MartG]

Don't know about the rear section, but for the A pillar, I found that you can feed the cable in by flexing the edge near the door side and working it along. Same for the roof trim, it's quite thin and flexible, feeding the wire between screen and trim to the rear view mirror..
I took my earth connection behind the removable panel at the end of the dash, which is visible when you open the n/s door - it just prises off, carefully, to reval a nice bolt to use, and with this panel off, gives good access to run the cables towards the centre fuse box.

 

[Borris]

Don't know about the rear section, but for the A pillar, I found that you can feed the cable in by flexing the edge near the door side and working it along. Same for the roof trim, it's quite thin and flexible.
I took my earth connection behind the removable panel at the end of the dash, which is visible when you open the n/s door - it just prises off, carefully, to reval a nice bolt to use, and with this panel off, gives good access to run the cables towards the centre fuse box.

Thanks very much MartG,
Youv've just given me another piece of the jigsaw.
Superb.

 

[westfalia]

This may be some help also, have a look at post#14
i know its the other side but they must both fit on in the
same way.

Sliding door blind

The blind on the sliding door catches on the lower section, which does not line up properly. I think I have read that this is a known problem and that VW have a "fix" for it. Can anyone help, please? It's going in to SMG on the 6th August for several warranty issues. Many thanks.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Borris]

This may be some help also, have a look at post#14
i know its the other side but they must both fit on in the
same way.

Sliding door blind

The blind on the sliding door catches on the lower section, which does not line up properly. I think I have read that this is a known problem and that VW have a "fix" for it. Can anyone help, please? It's going in to SMG on the 6th August for several warranty issues. Many thanks.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Thanks. Those photos are very helpful indeed. Hopefully it should straight forward now.

 

[ArunAlec]

I found the trickiest thing was aligning the seat belt slider.

 

[AlanC]

The nearside B pillar trim on my Cali was easy to remove when I fitted my Dashcam.

If you gently prise the trim out from behind the rubber door trim, it comes away quite easily. However, there is a word of warning regarding getting it back. The seatbelt trim is a fiddle to get back in place. It can be done so not to worry but can be a frustrating PITA.

Feeding the cable along the trim over the kitchen is easier if you pull off the rubber conduit on the tailgate and feed a stiff cable through the hole, across the top of the wardrobe and into the body channel. Pop out the lights and you should see it and be able to attach the co-ax cable and draw it along to the back of the van.

I gave up trying to pull off the trim on the tailgate, I was worried about cracking that. I just tucked the cable under the edge of the trim as best as I could.

It all turned out easier than I had anticipated, except for the seat belt slider.

Good luck

Alan

 

[EddieEagle]

Just to clarify the seat belt slider fitment inside of the upper trim.
I took mine off to line up the runner for the offside screen sliding door side with advice from VW Guru.

Mr Guru provided some very helpful photos of which this one hopefully will facilitate the correct placement of the sticky out bits on the seat belt slider......if you go down that route
HTH

 

[Borris]

The nearside B pillar trim on my Cali was easy to remove when I fitted my Dashcam.

If you gently prise the trim out from behind the rubber door trim, it comes away quite easily. However, there is a word of warning regarding getting it back. The seatbelt trim is a fiddle to get back in place. It can be done so not to worry but can be a frustrating PITA.

Feeding the cable along the trim over the kitchen is easier if you pull off the rubber conduit on the tailgate and feed a stiff cable through the hole, across the top of the wardrobe and into the body channel. Pop out the lights and you should see it and be able to attach the co-ax cable and draw it along to the back of the van.

I gave up trying to pull off the trim on the tailgate, I was worried about cracking that. I just tucked the cable under the edge of the trim as best as I could.

It all turned out easier than I had anticipated, except for the seat belt slider.

Good luck

Alan

Thanks Alan,
I'm slowly plucking up the courage to tackle this job. I was going to route the cable along the floor behind the trim but I quite like your method. I have a Beach so there's no wardrobe to get over. I assume that the LED lights pop out quite easily? I suppose their removal should feature in the hand book as they would have to be removed to change a bulb.
Thanks again. I'll give your route a go.
Best wishes
Paul

 

[AlanC]

Thanks Alan,
I'm slowly plucking up the courage to tackle this job. I was going to route the cable along the floor behind the trim but I quite like your method. I have a Beach so there's no wardrobe to get over. I assume that the LED lights pop out quite easily? I suppose their removal should feature in the hand book as they would have to be removed to change a bulb.
Thanks again. I'll give your route a go.
Best wishes
Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes, the LED lights just need a gentle lever with a small flat-bladed screwdriver. There is a lever point at one end and they pop out easily. The Beech without the wardrobe will be easier than the SE or Ocean.

The cable conduit by the tailgate hinge is easy to pull out of the body and equally easy to squeeze back.

Getting the coax down that is the most difficult part, particularly with the molded plug on the end of the cable. The conduit is already full of cables but can be done with persistence and some silicone grease or a silicone spray and a draw wire strongly attached to the co-ax. Add a wrap of insulation tape around this plug to ease the way.

Don't rush or pull too hard, manipulating the rubber tube and the cables inside to get the plug to pass by was the best way I found. Once that is done, the rest is easy.

To get the cable out of the rubber conduit I cut a small notch in the tailgate end where it locks into the hole and brought the cable back out of that and up onto the surface of the window pillar. Though that was preferable to cutting a hole on the tube and thereby letting the water have access to the inside of the tailgate.

As I have said, I chickened out of pulling off the tailgate trim as I was worried about breaking it, so I just tucked the co-ax cable under the edge of the trim. Not Ideal, but seems to have worked OK.

BTW, if you have a bike rack the camera will probably have to go on the bottom edge of the rear screen. To the right (viewed from outside, offside) of the wiper motor cover, I found to be the best place.

Good luck

Alan

 

[Borris]

Hi Paul,

Yes, the LED lights just need a gentle lever with a small flat-bladed screwdriver. There is a lever point at one end and they pop out easily. The Beech without the wardrobe will be easier than the SE or Ocean.

The cable conduit by the tailgate hinge is easy to pull out of the body and equally easy to squeeze back.

Getting the coax down that is the most difficult part, particularly with the molded plug on the end of the cable. The conduit is already full of cables but can be done with persistence and some silicone grease or a silicone spray and a draw wire strongly attached to the co-ax. Add a wrap of insulation tape around this plug to ease the way.

Don't rush or pull too hard, manipulating the rubber tube and the cables inside to get the plug to pass by was the best way I found. Once that is done, the rest is easy.

To get the cable out of the rubber conduit I cut a small notch in the tailgate end where it locks into the hole and brought the cable back out of that and up onto the surface of the window pillar. Though that was preferable to cutting a hole on the tube and thereby letting the water have access to the inside of the tailgate.

As I have said, I chickened out of pulling off the tailgate trim as I was worried about breaking it, so I just tucked the co-ax cable under the edge of the trim. Not Ideal, but seems to have worked OK.

BTW, if you have a bike rack the camera will probably have to go on the bottom edge of the rear screen. To the right (viewed from outside, offside) of the wiper motor cover, I found to be the best place.

Good luck

Alan

Thanks again Alan.
You have been very helpful.

I am not sure that I will be mounting the camera on the tailgate so I may not need to send the cable through the rubber cable connector sleave. As the rear camera may interfer with the rear blind it may have to be mounted on the trim above the opening when the tailgate is open. I haven't looked yet so don't know for certain. We don't have a bike rack so no issue there.

Best wishes
Paul

 

[AlanC]

Thanks again Alan.
You have been very helpful.

I am not sure that I will be mounting the camera on the tailgate so I may not need to send the cable through the rubber cable connector sleave. As the rear camera may interfer with the rear blind it may have to be mounted on the trim above the opening when the tailgate is open. I haven't looked yet so don't know for certain. We don't have a bike rack so no issue there.

Best wishes
Paul

That will be much easier as getting the cable through the rubber sleeve was a real pain.
In case you do need to do this though, I spotted in the Screwfix catalogue a bottle of cable lubricant. This is probably a much better option than silicone spray.


Alan

 

[Borris]

That will be much easier as getting the cable through the rubber sleeve was a real pain.
In case you do need to do this though, I spotted in the Screwfix catalogue a bottle of cable lubricant. This is probably a much better option than silicone spray.


Alan

Thanks Alan, I'll let you know how it goes.

It's been interesting finding out from others like your good self, how to route each section of the wiring. I think the only section that still bothers me at this, the planning phase, is that tricky upper B post trim with the seat belt adjuster issue. Still, it has to be done.

 

[Borris]

Thanks Alan, I'll let you know how it goes.

It's been interesting finding out from others like your good self, how to route each section of the wiring. I think the only section that still bothers me at this, the planning phase, is that tricky upper B post trim with the seat belt adjuster issue. Still, it has to be done.

Hi Alan,
Just had a quick look at the tail gate and fitting the Nextbase rear camera to the rear window won't interfere with the operation of the rear blind. So I intend to follow your advice and take the cable through the rubber umbilical tube and inside the window trim panel. Unfortunately the weather today in our part of the world is uber grotty so it looks as if it's a weekend job at the earliest. I'm going to pop into screwfix and pick up some silicon lube and some cable pull rods first though.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Borris]

Moderators can you please take a look at the above recent posts 19 and 20?

 

[Azteccamper]

Moderators can you please take a look at the above recent posts 19 and 20?

They’re everywhere Borris !!

 

[Borris]

They’re everywhere Borris !!

They are the first I've seen on this forum. Are you saying that there have been others like this?

 

[Azteccamper]

They are the first I've seen on this forum. Are you saying that there have been others like this?

Whoever it is they are replying to every recent post

 

[Azteccamper]

Whoever it is they are replying to every recent post

 

[Borris]

Whoever it is they are replying to every recent post

Thanks Azteccamper,
I wasn't aware.

 

[Perfectos]

Use the report button ASAP to help the Mods if you see inappropriate stuff like that