2005 Legacy Rear Gate strut loose.

[yewman]

The bottom bolt for the rear gate RH strut is loose, and needs re tightening.

I also like to grease the ball joints and upper mountings too.

An easy job on my old 1999 Legacy, but on this one there is a plastic panel

obscuring the bottom bolt.

The manual says remove the clips to take the panel off. These clips have a crosshead recess like a screw, but they are not screwed in .

Any idea how to get the clips off without destroying them. Even if we had a Subaru dealer nearby, they wouldn't keep clips.

A copy of the manual page shows the clips upper right

 

[gbhrps]

yewman,

 

Yes they usually unscrew, but if they don't just use a sharp knife or similar to pry the screw head up until you can grab it and pull it out.  Usually doing this will not destroy the plastic fastener at all, and you'll be able to reuse the entire plug again. This is a very common issue with these type of plugs.

[yewman]

I thought brute force might be the answer.

with all the technical improvements to cars over the years.plastic trim clips are still a nightmare.

Thanks

Yewman

[yewman]

I haven't had this Legacy for long and looking at the operators manual, this cover has to come off to replace the rear bulbs. It says unscrew the clips.

The clips on my car are a clever design which doesn't work. The middle part of the clip with the cross head slot is supposed to be turned a quarter turn counter clock wise and the part separates from the body, as shown in the photo, and then be grabbed and pulled out. There is no thread, just 4 steps behind the head.

What actually happens is the whole clip rotates. I broke the first clip, and have replaced it with a plastic wall plug and a small screw.

Seems stupid to me, a screwed clip is much easier.

[gbhrps]

yewman,

 

Work on enough modern cars and you will see as many different plastic fasteners as there are jelly beans. The fact regarding most of them is that the center portion must be pried up, to allow the barrel portion of the plug to decrease in diameter and allow it to be pulled from the parts its holding together. Whether the center section is pulled up or unscrewed, the result is the same.

 

If you don't like the plugs that hold the tail light shields in place, take an original to an auto parts store and get something else that has the same dimensions and barrel length that you do like.

 

If you want something really confusing, try the ones that cover the entire engine bay on my wife's Lexus. To remove them, you have to push down the center section and then the entire plug can be removed. That's the easy part.

 

To put them back in you have to push that center pin section back up, but it must be raised until it sits above the main barrel at a certain height. Only then can the plug be placed back into place. Then to lock it you have to push tha center section back down flush with the rest of the plug barrel. Push it too far ... and the plug simply remains under sized and pops out. It doesn't help that the entire plug is only a half inch in diameter either. It'd be so much easier to do with a different designed plug that made sense, and was larger.

 

The big thing with these type of fasteners is that they make putting the car together very fast. Getting them out without breaking them can be a pain.

[yewman]

In the UK, autoparts stores don't keep plastic fittings,they have oils, filters, wiper blades, and hundreds of different ear splitting audio systems..

Now I know how the plugs work, it won't be a problem.

As I said, a plastic wall plug , small screw and washer does the job on the one I broke..

If you are servicing the Lexus yourself, do you need to put the engine cover back? Unless it directs airflow  for cooling.