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How to - remove front grille, help please


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I need to get behind the front grille of my wife's 2010 WRX-s. The 4 black poppers at the top are no problem but it's obviously held at the base somehow. For obvious reasons I really don't want to damage anything so any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated! 

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If it's anything like the rest of the subaru range there will be at least two more at the bottom possibly hiding behind the light cluster, scooby Pete's your best bet but if he's not around I'd have a look on YouTube or similar

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they changed the way the fit the grills on later cars.

 

on my 08 the grill is screwed into the bumper from underneath.

 

2 options to remove:

 

remove all the poppers on the grill, remove under tray and reach up to get at the fiddley screws to remove grill.

 

 

Easier way is too remove the whole bumper sounds drastic, but modern bumpers are designed to be removed by one person so it pretty easy.

 

There are a few more poppers same as the grill on the top.

4 pop out screws on each wheel arch as well as a funny one at the top ( push the middle bit in and the fixing pops out)

 

4 poppers under the front lip hold the under tray on.

 

 

when all poppers are off, I think its 14 in total. grab the tailing edge of the front bumper and pop it out along the shut line.

 

Salsa king has posted a good idiots guide. Hope it helps.

 

http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/topic/8194-fitting-hella-tones-2008-on-idiots-guide/?hl=%2Bhella+%2Bhorns#entry48682

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Pete, thanks for the advice - all want to do is to get to the outside temp sensor.It's u/s and I have a replacement. if I can get the car on a ramp I will try to do the job without removing the whole bumper.   

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Hi there, did you get your temp sensor sorted ?

Just letting you know I changed mine on my WRX-s the other day. I did it buy squeezing my hands through the lower grill. It was a frustrating fiddle, with a certain amount of skin loss, but definitely do-able.

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No, tried and failed! Yes, I managed to squeeze my hand through the lower grille but I couldn't detach the sensor from the bracket. The new one looks like it's just a push fit but despite my best efforts the one in situ wouldn't budge. Any tips?

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I know exactly what you mean, mine was a right s**t to get out. In the end it just came down to pretty much breaking it off, I came to the conclusion that seeing it was broken anyway it wouldn't matter, so it was a combination of pulling and twisting until it let go. 

I'm sure that if the bumper was off, and you could get at it properly it would come off easy, but that seems like a right hassle !

Just be careful of the wires obviously, as they aren't overly long, and a word of warning, mine was as hard to detach the wiring connecter as it was to release the sensor, mainly due to access, but with a bit of patience you can do it !

I think it took me about an hour and a half all told. ( an hour and twenty nine getting it off, one minute to put the new one on !! )

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Thanks for the reply - it's nice to know that someone swore and cursed as much as I have but still got a result in the end! Looking at the new part it looks like its a sprung plastic clip which should probably be pushed out from the rear of the bracket. However, unless you've got fingers like an orangutan it's impossible without removing the entire bumper. So, I'll have another go and sod the damage to the old part. Watch this space......    

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  • 3 weeks later...

Job finally done - very nearly had to summon the Fire Brigade to extract my hand from the grille and much swearing as I tried to work out how the old sensor uncoupled from the socket. However, she is happy now her display is accurate again and that's a bonus! 

 

On a different topic has anyone used Mocom Racing for a remap? My Legacy BP5 would, on paper, benefit in the region of 30bhp and about 50nm of tourque. There must be a downside to this other than just the cost of the job? Does mpg suffer badly, is reliability affected, or must other mods eg exhaust system be changed to make it worthwhile? Mocom seem to be Subaru specialists and are not a huge distance from so if anyone can give me some feedback it would be appreciated.  

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Whoop glad you've finally managed it without loosing any fingers, not heard of the company you mention, what year is your legacy ?

I'm actually getting better mpg as it wasnt set up for UK fuel, normally the case was they tend to come out of the factory with a generic map, so now I'm set to run vpower and am getting alot better results, more hp and an extra 50ft lbs of torque to boot.

The engine is no were near stressed and it probably runs better than it ever has

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