[2003 Ford Focus]

We already have one Focus SE in our 'fleet' and acquired a 2003 ZTW 2.0 liter Z-Tec. Nice clean, loaded car I must say.

I decided yesterday to remove the cowl to get at the cavity where the cabin filter would sit, but the blessed cowl is putting up a fight that the SE did not.

I got the right side loose except for where it connects to the driver's side cowl in the center. Decided to take the wiper arms off and take the whole thing out as an assembly, but couldn't get the arms off the wiper arm assembly. Removed the nuts, but the arms would not budge.

I've figured out a way to get the arms to release (they are mounted on a splined, tapered shaft I think) But I still have to wrestle the cowl cover off.

Geez, no wonder the SE cowl was so easy to take off, a tech probably had a fit with it and wrenched it off and back on during some warranty repair. If you took your time trying to finesse the damned thing off you would never make flat rate! Grrrr!

Any help or suggestions in how to get the cowl off would really, really be appreciated.

 

[freemind]

I used a small pulley puller. I also put a small amount of anti-seize on the "nubs" when putting the wiper arms back on.

 

[2003 Ford Focus]

Thanks for that. Will clean the inside of the arm and the splines on the shaft before applying anti-seize.