Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and ekrampitzjr
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2021
- Messages
- 767
- Reaction score
- 1,067
- Points
- 93
- Location
- Virginia
- Vehicle Year
- 2011
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger
- Engine Type
- 4.0 V6
- Transmission
- Automatic
- 2WD / 4WD
- 2WD
Maybe this description of a quick repair will help some of you.
On most Rangers the radio bezel has two vents at the top. On my 2011 the vent deflector on the left (driver's) seemed to be broken, and the one on the right was a bit loose. Neither deflector would stay in position.
I found a replacement bezel with the deflectors intact on eBay. The original intent was to replace the whole bezel, so I matched the vintage and color (2WD, silver).
The replacement bezel had a few scratches in the silver paint, nothing I couldn't live with, but the original looked better. Looking over the replacement showed the vent deflector assembly is held in place from the back side of the bezel with 8 plastic clips. That led to a new plan, which was just to replace the deflector assembly and keep the original bezel.
I removed the two screws under the radio and popped out the original bezel. The next step was to disconnect the lighter on the driver's side and the passenger's airbag light on the passenger's side. It turned out that replacing the whole bezel was more involved than expected, because the radio is latched to the bezel and not to the dash structure behind the bezel. That made the decision to keep the original and swap the deflector assembly easy. That saved popping loose the radio.
The original deflector assembly popped right out after unlatching the upper 4 tabs, and the replacement assembly went in easily. Then I reconnected the electrical devices and fastened the bezel. A quick check showed everything worked.
Turned out the old deflector wasn't broken. Someone had popped loose the driver's deflector and it snapped right back into place, but it's as loose as the passsnger's. So I still have the original deflector assembly and the replacement bezel as spares. Reusing the old assembly will just require shimming the deflectors to make them stay in adjustment.
This was probably a lot of boring detail, but I hope it might help someone.
On most Rangers the radio bezel has two vents at the top. On my 2011 the vent deflector on the left (driver's) seemed to be broken, and the one on the right was a bit loose. Neither deflector would stay in position.
I found a replacement bezel with the deflectors intact on eBay. The original intent was to replace the whole bezel, so I matched the vintage and color (2WD, silver).
The replacement bezel had a few scratches in the silver paint, nothing I couldn't live with, but the original looked better. Looking over the replacement showed the vent deflector assembly is held in place from the back side of the bezel with 8 plastic clips. That led to a new plan, which was just to replace the deflector assembly and keep the original bezel.
I removed the two screws under the radio and popped out the original bezel. The next step was to disconnect the lighter on the driver's side and the passenger's airbag light on the passenger's side. It turned out that replacing the whole bezel was more involved than expected, because the radio is latched to the bezel and not to the dash structure behind the bezel. That made the decision to keep the original and swap the deflector assembly easy. That saved popping loose the radio.
The original deflector assembly popped right out after unlatching the upper 4 tabs, and the replacement assembly went in easily. Then I reconnected the electrical devices and fastened the bezel. A quick check showed everything worked.
Turned out the old deflector wasn't broken. Someone had popped loose the driver's deflector and it snapped right back into place, but it's as loose as the passsnger's. So I still have the original deflector assembly and the replacement bezel as spares. Reusing the old assembly will just require shimming the deflectors to make them stay in adjustment.
This was probably a lot of boring detail, but I hope it might help someone.
