Technical HELP Jammed Radio Head Unit

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Technical HELP Jammed Radio Head Unit

Sharmajm

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My son has just bought a lovely 57 plate Bravo T-jet 150. Stunning little car and his pride and joy.

We wanted to fit an AUX input to the radio so that he could plug in his Ipod and we follow the instructions on this site including making the removal keys.

Unfortunately either us or some previous owner has pushed in the removal keys the wrong way and push out the lock lever, meaning that the radio will only slide out a inch before jamming.

Reading other forums we need to break this clip in order to remove the radio, but no one gives any clues about how to do this.

View attachment 138868

Some thoughts.
  • Some say to break the tab by hammer. In this case with what tool and throuhg which hole? around the side or through the key hole on front?
  • Has anyone removed the plastic from of the radio to give better access?

Any help gratefully received:bang:
 
I had this issue on my Bravo and after many tries I ended up buying a new plastic frame from a scrapyard and with a hammer and a screwdriver I`ve broke the airflow grilles and managed to target the clips and break them.

Replaced the plastic frame and fitted back the head unit - all good now :)
 
Actually I also fought with this problem earlier today when I tried to upgrade the HU in my car. The clip on the left side of the radio was broken so that when you pushed in the removal key it wouldn't face any resistance at all and it only hit plastic. There is a tiny notch in the clip that holds the radio in place and that notch had fallen clean off when some previous owner had tried removing the radio and as a result the radio wouldn't move at all. I've read that for some people the clip is bent so that the radio comes out one inch but in my case it did not come out at all.

We finally managed to remove the HU by first removing the plastic trim directly below the unit, above the heater controls. The trim is kept in place by clips and is fairly easy to remove. Once the trim was removed we managed to push the clip in with a long and thin flat head screwdriver from below the unit. It was extremely fiddly and difficult and I'm not sure if it's even possible to do on the right side (the left side was broken in my case and I have a left hand drive car if it matters). The key is to find the correct angle and point of attack and press the clip towards the HU while pulling it out at the same time. In my case the problems with switching the radio didn't stop there, however, but I'll tell more about that in this thread: https://www.fiatforum.com/bravo/348467-aftermarket-radio-replacements-gps-dvd-bluetooth.html
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I am beginning to think about the option to replace the head unit for an upgraded one. This still means I can need to get the old unit out but I can be a bit more destructive.

One idea I have to drill through the face plate and drill out the casting holding clip. Does anyone know what this is made of? i.e metal or plastic

Obviously I would still like to sort this out without damage so all ideas still very welcome.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I am beginning to think about the option to replace the head unit for an upgraded one. This still means I can need to get the old unit out but I can be a bit more destructive.

One idea I have to drill through the face plate and drill out the casting holding clip. Does anyone know what this is made of? i.e metal or plastic

Obviously I would still like to sort this out without damage so all ideas still very welcome.

Is your unit coming out one inch or so or is it not moving at all? And is it stuck on both sides or only on one? I can post a video that might help you, the trick is to get some kind of flat tool between the unit and the housing so that you can push the clip towards the radio. The clips are fastened to the sides of the HU and they don't need much force to get out of the way. If you are going to replace the HU with some 2-DIN player with faceplate adapter then could you take a few pictures of the retaining clips? I would be very interested in buying them if they aren't damaged beyond repair.
 
Here is a video which shows you how the clip mechanism is supposed to work when it's not damaged and it also shows you the correct way to insert the removal key: [ame]http://youtu.be/9dn5Nyq8W4I[/ame]

This second video shows the HU housing after the unit has been removed: [ame]http://youtu.be/seycdnJhCbA[/ame]

If you take a close look on the left side you can see some scraping marks; those were caused when we used the screwdriver from below to push on the clip. The video also shows that you must go in from below because there is a ledge straight above the hole where the clip is sitting.
 
I am the proud owner of a Fiat bravo 2008 1.9 m-jet but currently having the same problem.
Both clips (the left and right one) are broken and catching. I already tried the screwdriver things but that didn't work. I was personally thinking about just using brute force until the catching clips simply break.

Any help would be very much appreciated!
 
i'm having the same issue with mine, due to me being a complete F***wit and putting in the removal keys the wrong way..... and it is now sticking after an inch or so......i tried taking off the plastic piece below however it will not budge and my fingers are in agony from trying to yank and pull at it for an hour....all the videos on youtube show the plastic piece coming off very easily and i'm like wtf, oh and also the videos are all in spanish with 240p quality so i cannot understand or see wtf to do lol.
 
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