Crikey! Reminds me of an old pug 306 I had with a leaking heater matrix, I did twice,!

Kirmanual seems to suggest an easier way of doing lower half of dash?

Kia Rio: Shift Lever Removal - Manual Transaxle Components - Manual Transaxle System - Kia Rio UB 2012-2025 Service Manual

 

12 hrs?
not on your nelly, ill be cutting my own port in the tunnel before we go there.
managed it with two hours labour and another two hours heated discussion on as to how...went like this, remove all the trim from the in car end, including the y duct,
remove the ecu for the airbags, carefullings carefullings, wait ten minutes after you have switched the car off and dont turn the car on after this as then you waste another ten minutes having to code the damn thing when you are done.
so now youve got a nice flat path to the nuts that secure the plate you can see in the pics, you can see both of them from the respective sides of the car, now you need a rather specific tool, namely an angled 12mm ratchet spanner, nice and thin and fine toothed, youve no room to work with it so a fixed angle one would have to be very specifically angled and you are going to need at least 35" degrees, i reckon a crows foot might get em too but i never tried, whole set of em there, only the 12mm missing...danggit.

i even did the first one with the ecu still in place, though the drivers side (RHD.uk car) was trickier and very difficult without first making sure the spanner ratchet was stiff and held an angle, but once the nuts had been broken...
(i just used an engineers screwdriver (long stiff thin pokey stick) to seat and hold the ratchet spanner as i cracked the nuts loose, laying the spanner flat on the tunnel and for the left side i iused another long spanner to push the ratchet spanner using the crescent end as a way not to slip off the ratchet doing the ratcheting and to not leave a huge divot in my palm, pulling on the other side was easy enough ,,,,,

,,,,i then used the same screwdriver - i find the phillips easier for such tasks despite what you might think at first - to flick the nut round on the stud and off they come, i think you can even get your fingers to em when they are near the top of the threads, next after obviously removing the gearbox end cables...
and with the car up on a ramp, one man in the cabin, one man underneath you can feed the cables out and back in , the plate will scrape under the heater box but nothing needs to be bent or damaged to get it out , getting it back in?
thats the tricky bit, in hind sight?
i would trim off the top off the plate before putting it in , maybe the bottom too, its only really there to create the seal to the cabin and with access to underneath the car a bead of silicone would take up any gap if you got carried away with the grinder,,,, not not polyurethane, think of the next guy...
in fact if i ever do this again?
thats definitely how it will go..

a good half hour was what it took just to get the rubber seal over the bolts and another ten to get the plate back in, but it can be done.

as for who designed it?
well... i cannot recommend kia as a manufacturer, cos the only reason they did that, was to make 12 hours service calls for a common service part, that fails along side the clutch often and conveniently just outside the 7 years guarantee i suspect, lucky them bringing it to us...2 hour bill instead of a 12hour bill

but it can be done with two men.. in about an hour if you really went for it and had done it twenty times already.

 

My local mechanic is not a big kia specialist but he did a great job fixing it and I really didn't pay much. In fact, for a professional like you, there is another easier way, but it was really hard to find any information on how to replace this cable transmission. Fortunately, I have it behind me and I do not wish anyone such a problem in the Kia Rio.

 

Hi guys can you help how to change gear selector cable on a kia rio 2013 model without taking out the dash

 

Hi, they can be done with the dash in and I know this 1st hand. Abit of a tricky one but looking at about 1.5 to 2 hours. Centre console out and some shift hand placement for the 2 12 mm nuts and the back and it can be done. Hope this helps.

 

Any machanic around pinetown can help me put gear selector cable kia rio seden I bought the cable now needs to puts its on

Please

 

I've had the gear cable snap on my car 😞
I have however, successfully managed to remove the 2 nuts holding the plate on without removing the dash. But now, I'm struggling to feed the old cables through the hole! Tempted to cut either side at bottom of hole, and bend it down so I can get the cables through...

Any other tips??

EDIT: I managed to get the old cables out and new ones in by trimming away some of the access point...

I've managed to secure one of the nuts back on, but still the other to do. Flexi ratchet spanner is on the way to help with this.

 

Well, it's been a success! Ratchet spanner didn't really help, so back to perseverance and a few swear words, and all is good! So glad I didn't have to take out the whole dashboard! 😁

 

Well, it's been a success! Ratchet spanner didn't really help, so back to perseverance and a few swear words, and all is good! So glad I didn't have to take out the whole dashboard! 😁

Just did mine. Either a child designed this or clever design so that we have to take it to Kia. Nahhh...rip out the carpet near to where the two nuts are, swear like mad doing the job and wallah, 3 hours later, done.

 

Do u what size of spanner you use? Someone mentioned 12.. i know it’s no easy.. but i believe remove everything is harder as well as and time consumer..

 

Yes, its a 12mm size you need.
I was kind of preparing myself that I'd need to remove the dash, but luckily, there was no need

 

Hi, just come across this thread as my gear selector cable has snapped on my 2015 Kia Rio. Struggling to find a garage that will take on the job - all saying a lot of work as entire dash needs to come out because the car has aircon. Is this really right?

 

Iam in for this job to now, and i have cind of giving up with dash in, someone wrote that you can see the nuts from the sides, o noo you cant, i can do the nut on the left side but on the right side is the fricking heaterbox disign differnt so its covering the the nut completley its impossible to do it, i can se the underside of the right nut from the left side.

Oh its a lefthand drive kia rio 2012.

 

To replace the Gear cables, the short version. Remove the entire dash to get at 2 12mm nuts holding the cables in the car.

 

I feel like I have tried everything suggested within these comments in terms of only removing the bottom half of the dash I have managed to get everything except the 2 bolts for the gear cables out I managed to get a 12mm flexi ratchet around the bolt but with the lack of space it simply wont move I think my flexi ratchet is too large to fit into the plate and the side wall of the plate on the right which isnt letting it sit all the way into the bolt

 

You could try and find a smaller/slimmer/lower profile flexi ratchet and see if this will move the nut

 

I have been having trouble finding anything slimmer. Do you know of any brands which might work? I think its mostly the metal housing of the flexi rachet which is the issue.

 

I have a very long 3/4drive extension (600mm) and use a swivel joint with a shallow 12mm socket , a long shallow cranked 12mm snap on spanner to break the initial bite, a short (60mm) bent Mac 12mm ratchet combispanner coupled with years of experience working blind using finger tips with only touch to guide me. Oh and if you remove the three bolts holding the heater box to the bulkhead then remove the bolts holding the dash frame to both A posts and the surprise bolt behind the wiper rack under the scuttle that should allow you an extra 20 mm or so access (without draining heater coolant and Aircon gas). Can definitely get it under 90 mins with the correct incentive😁

 

Sorry to be so cluless, do you know where the bolts are that hold the heater box to the bulkhead and the bolts holding the dash frame to the A posts are by chance? Thanks for the help already!

 

Is there another heater box bolt in passenger footwell? Once all removed should only be able to pull one side of the other as don't forget that the Aircon refrigerant pipes and the heater coolant pipes are still connected in the centre so won't move lots, just a bit that's all. All that was to give you a very small amount of extra access to those two, cable grommet plate, retaining nuts.
Just thought possibly if you haven't removed already, the air duct to the floor vents between the gear lever and the heater box . This will hold back any rearward movement. But other than that it's just lever and wedge anyway you can to hold the access you need.

 

Thanks for this. I have tried to locate another heater box bolt within the passenger footwell but couldnt seem to find anything. My car doesnt have AC installed so happy to have one less complexity. It would probably be worth removing the coolant pipes if I was planning on doing a coolant change anyways. I have added some pics to try and locate the passanger footwell bolt. As far as I could see there wanst one. Unsure if this is helpful but the car is right hand drive.

Behind passanger footwell towards left hand door

Behind passanger footwell towards centre console

Behind wiper motor

Above and left of the clutch

Centre colsole bolt

passanger footwell

Right hand door dash mount bolts. 2 are not pictured but removed

Left side dash bolts 1 bolt cant be seen in the pic

 

Oh that's what I call pictorial evidence. Apologies, if I'd have known that you didn't have AC definitely just pull the heater pipes off makes life a lot easier. Wouldnt be worth it if you had AC unless you had access to refrigerant machine.
Anyhow ,The steering column is bolted to the frame but you don't want to take the frame right out so the sliding section of the column will allow you to move. The way I'm advising you to do is the way I do it the heater box is still attached to the frame all I do with the help of a colleague is take the weight of the dash move it as much as I can to the rear of the vehicle, usually around 3 or 5cm towards the rear of the car. The crash pad ,which is the cushioned section of the dashboard, has a line of locating tabs just below the windscreen, they will come away from these locators when you do this. Tip for refitting, just make sure the crash pad is high enough for them to go back into the locator tab receivers on reinstallation. The body loom will be attached to the junction box on the far driver side of the frame so don't try to remove frame completely just move it to the rear slightly. If you're doing it on your own without help you may find it's easier to release the steering column from the frame ) this will remove an awful lot of weight from the frame, especially as I'm guessing it's your first time. I don't do this myself, but if I were to then it's 2 12 mil bolts vertically on the extending mechanism part of the column, then a large 14 millimeter hex bolt horizontally at the rear above the bulky section of the column. To see this disconnect your car battery remove the junction box completely and the brake switch. You have to bear in mind I do this sort of thing day in day out and have a natural feel for what will give and what won't. Apologise if you are struggling even for a pro this is a finicky job but once you've done a few it's just a process and a matter of selecting the right tools and taking the correct precautions to avoid damage to any of the components.
Really sounds like you're right into it I applaud your spirit.

 

A bit of good news. I tried lifting the dash with the Right hand door dash and left imaged above and it feels like it was actually loose and movable. Only issue is moving it from one side pushes the other side back to the windshield if you are doing it solo. I will see if I can get a friend around to lift both sides out simultaneously.

 

Don't forget those locator spikes on the metal dash frame. They have a ridge on them, you have to lift the frame vertically up and down whilst pulling directly to the rear of the car to get past this ridge as it has to be center in the hole to come out. Sometimes takes a bit of jiggling about then it suddenly gives. Especially if you've taken the heater pipes off and the steering column. It's not so much using force but correctly applying the force.

 

The spikes are located on the near side and offside of the metal dash frame and go into the vehicle a posts.

 

Just confirming these are the posts?

 

No they are in the photo that's part of post number 33. I have liked this photo to make it clearer which photo talking about.

 

Hi guys,
currently have the same issues... car broke down while driving on highway, got it towed to a deposit because it was mid August and my usual workshop was on holiday ( still is till 26th ).

The guy who towed my car also offers repair / maintenance on cars and offered to have a look and eventually fix the problem himself.
I've been told that the whole dash needs to come off but since he's short staffed in this period, he won't do anything.

I see that someone has managed to fix it the "easy way" in this discussion, I'll try to show them this information when they get their hands on my car next week and hope for the best...

 

Sorry for the picture sizes, this is just to show that it can be done, with a 12mm flexible ratchet spanner it would have been a breeze. I ended up butchering a decent halfords one to get the required angle.
As for the carpet and padding, well just buy a sound deadening pad and stick it in there. I've left mine and you wouldn't know.
As another person's said, it can be done quite quickly.
Really long nosed pliers to get the nuts back on, I've got very big, fat fingers !

 

Hello, everyone.
Same thing happened to me, the gear selector cable snapped on my 64 plate 1.25 Rio. Tried to do it myself but had no luck with the access. Took it to my mechanic friend he managed to do it without removing the dashboard. If someone is interested, he is Midlands based and can repair it for you as well.

Just send me a message.