Button reorganization

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jelloslug

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
260
Location
SC
I have never liked the order the buttons to the left of the steering wheel. I decided to see if the harness would allow them to be swapped around. Here is the result:

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It was just as easy as I expected.


Tools.JPG


Here are the tools needed: A small flat screwdriver, a larger flat screwdriver, a stubby Phillips, and a rag (not shown)


door%20removal.JPG


Put you larger screwdriver covered in the rag in the slot on the fuse panel door and pop it open.


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To remove the fuse panel cover you may need to pull the weather strip down.

Screw.JPG


Remove the screw just under the hood release.


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Now pull the panel that contains the buttons off the dash on the button side only.


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Then remove the two screws that hold the 4 button retainer to the lower dash panel.


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Pull the bracket out of the dash and now you can unhook the plugs.


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The buttons are held in the retainer with snap clips on the top and bottom and slide out of the button side of the retainer. Pry upward just enough to let the button clear. Put some pressure on the connector end when you get the first one unsnapped so you can get the one on the other side out without it popping back in.



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The buttons slide out of the front of the retainer.

The buttons will fit in any order you wish and you could even move some to the bottom row.
 
That's great news! I'm either going to swap the wheel heater button with the timer off button, or move the latter to the lower row and keep the button space obscured by the steering wheel blank. How much risk is there of breaking a snap clip when moving them? Could you post a photo of the panel removed?
 
LeftieBiker said:
That's great news! I'm either going to swap the wheel heater button with the timer off button, or move the latter to the lower row and keep the button space obscured by the steering wheel blank. How much risk is there of breaking a snap clip when moving them? Could you post a photo of the panel removed?
Well I have already put it back together but it very obvious how it is assembled. The snap clips are very strong and it's very easy to pop the switches out. I forgot to mention that you will need a stubby Phillips screwdriver to get the two screws that hold the button retainer to the lower panel unless you completely remove the lower panel.
 
Brilliant!

Having the steering wheel heater light where it is visible is how it should have been to start with.
 
Yogi62 said:
Brilliant!

Having the steering wheel heater light where it is visible is how it should have been to start with.
Yea, Nissan rearranged them on the '14s
 
Someone post photos of the insides of the panels, please. My car is leased and I don't want to screw it up. Also, it's frigid here and I don't want to be pondering panels in the cold.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Someone post photos of the insides of the panels, please. My car is leased and I don't want to screw it up. Also, it's frigid here and I don't want to be pondering panels in the cold.
I will see if I can pop it back apart and take some pics this evening. It's literally a 5 minute job to get the buttons out.
 
Den said:
Great!

Can it be done same way for MY2012?
I don't see why not. I know the buttons are slightly different on the 11' & 12' models but it should be similar.
 
jelloslug said:
Yogi62 said:
Brilliant!

Having the steering wheel heater light where it is visible is how it should have been to start with.
Yea, Nissan rearranged them on the '14s

Which is worrisome. If the heater worked appropriately, there would be little need for an indicator light. You could operate the switch by feel, and know whether or not it was on. But since the heater inexplicably goes into dormancy for extended periods (or just turn itself off altogether), the light is there to answer the question: "Is this thing on"?

So my concern is that Nissan decided to rearrange the switches because they don't intend to fix their stupid wheel heat design.
 
I took advantage of a warmup to near-freezing temps for a few hours this morning to do the button swap. It didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped, although I did get it done, and didn't break anything... A warning for those in cold climates: the plastic clips Nissan uses to retain the button assemblies in the holder have two big problems: cold makes them very hard to release (although happily they don't get very brittle), and by using them top *and* bottom, Nissan guarantees a difficult time for one person with no experience with them, at least in the cold. I ended up having to insert little nails as shims, to hold the bottom clips open while opening the top clips, and it was still a major PITA. There is a learning curve involved, because the second button only took a fraction as long as the first, but I was still too wary to rearrange all four buttons, which had been my plan. I was going to swap the charge port lock button and charge hatch release buttons as well, but ended up just doing the wheel heater and timer override button swap.

Oh, and getting the right lower side of the dash to open was so difficult in the cold that I almost gave up on it, fearing it would break or crack. It required a lot of pulling on the area under the hood release, where the screw has to be removed, to get it open. It's amazing how many Just Plain Stupid things Nissan did with the Leaf's final design.
 
Well, at least you got it to work. Warmer temps would have helped as the lower panel would have been much more flexible. I'm sure it would be easier to just remove the entire lower panel but it looks to me like you need to remove the forward part of the center console to get it off and when I did mine I was already cold and did not feel like taking even more stuff apart.
 
I would have balked at removing the whole panel as well. I agree that warm weather is the time to do this job, and I'll probably finish swapping the buttons in Spring or Summer*. I also want to add a fog light button, if I can find actual fog lights (yellow/amber, not that useless white) that will fit and aren't horrifically expensive.

*Now I have to get around to refurbishing that snow blower...
 
LeftieBiker said:
I would have balked at removing the whole panel as well. I agree that warm weather is the time to do this job, and I'll probably finish swapping the buttons in Spring or Summer*. I also want to add a fog light button, if I can find actual fog lights (yellow/amber, not that useless white) that will fit and aren't horrifically expensive.

*Now I have to get around to refurbishing that snow blower...
Look at other Nissans, something like a Cube, Versa, or Sentra that might have a dealer installed fog light kit. Lots of those kits come with a dash button rather than a replacement main headlight switch.
 
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