how i spent my day with my xj
 

the title should read "What your speaker wiring loom looks like when you think you have short somewhere (but its really in the head unit)" or "aftermath of a nuclear blast inside an XJ"....after a day rewiring and pulling nearly every trim panel off the expected short circuit was actually in the radio itself (the RR speaker was working on every channel)...at least i got some stuff done like installing my chrome door handles and properly securing the noisy door lock solenoids (loose rivets)...and while i was chilling i stuck a couple of my new custom made "Jeep" stickers on the hood and hatch...great way to spend the day in a hot humid garage...id do it again in a heartbeat

Glad you go tit sorted. In one of the photos you have the steering clumn shroud removed, I am in the need of doing that myself to get the dash apart. I had a quick look the other day & it seems that it is held on with 3 torx bit headed screws. 2 are deep inside the trim & therefore out of sight, are they the same size torx bit as the visible one? If so I need to buy a torx bit screw driver to fit as I only have the little ones that fit into a Snap-on ratchet screwdriver.

yep...T20 from Supa Cheap...one of my most used Jeep tools...think it was $10....you will also need to remove the multifunction switch (wipers and high beams on the right side and T20 as well) to get the instrument bezel off...tilt the wheel all the way down with the mf switch hanging loose and pull the bezel (bottom end then top end)...dont forget to reinstall the tilt wheel lever to lower the wheel enough to get the bezel off...access to radio and instrument cluster is only 2 minutes away!

Hey Roger, I had to do all of this when I installed your old radio, but I still had to flex the instument bezel, to the point I was worried it was going to snap, to get it out. Is that normal or did I miss something?

BTW Bugadifino, I had exactly the same problem with the deep set torx screws, so I just cut a groove in the back of my torx bit and wedged it onto the end of a flat head screw driver. Worked a treat and still works in the original torx adaptor.

it does require a little bit of flexing but never anything close to snapping it (unless you're doing it wrong)...thru trial and error pulling mine out about 30 times now ive found this method safest and the only damage is a small scratch just to the right of the steering column which the shroud hides anyway...see the link below for the full write up i did

http://www.aussiejeepimages.com/gall...bezel+removal/

cheers, Rodge 8-)

Excellent thanks for that. That is what I was doing, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a way of removing it without any duress on it at all.

if you get stuck taking the steering column shrouds off. use a smallish flathead screwdriver and jam it in the screws. it works well and ive done it quite a few times on these