Nintendo Wii Outer Case Replacement

Before you start, get a small plastic tray with at least 15 small bins in it, and put the screws you take out in each step in the bins in order. It makes reassembly a LOT easier.

NOTE: You need a Y1 screwdriver. Be careful when buying the little red screwdrivers on Amazon that claim to fit the Wii - they don’t!! From personal experience.

surprisingly, this was the trickiest step for me. I almost completely mangled the wires when my tweezers slipped as I was attempting to remove the connector.

I ended up using needle nose pliars on this step.

Awesome detailed guide made this very easy, thank you author!

Can someone direct me to what I need to do? My tweezers slipped and I cut one of the wires on the connector. Where can I find a new Y plug for the wii?

I also broke my wire trying to use tweezers. I should have known better. I use (normally do) a spudger on one side and my fingernail on the other to gently pry these types of connectors out. I ended up buying a replacement faceplate on ebay.

This was the hardest part for me. I tried using my fingernails, two different tweezers, and needle nose pliers, but I ended up cutting both the wires. Anyway, I put some electric tape over the exposed wires and just reassembled the system. Funny thing is that the LED still works and I have not noticed any difference. I'm not sure what those wires did, but they seem to not be important.

I also broke off the flimsy wires at the connector. To NOT break the wires, alternate pressing on the right and left sides of the connector with a small flathead screwdriver. Be patient, it will eventually work itself free. There isn't enough to grab onto with the tweezers and you'll only succeed in having them slip off, grab the wires, and yank the wires out.

Good news is that if you do rip out the wires, no worries... I didn't reconnect them and the unit works just fine. I have no idea what those wires are even for. Power LED continues to work no problem.

I used two small flat head screw drivers, one on each side to pry out the connector. This created less pressure from me and reduced my chance of cutting the wires.

This guide is really marvellous - works a treat. But I would definitely recommend needle nose pliers for this step rather than tweezers. It's really easy if you use pliers and potentially damaging if not, and you get it wrong. I had one sniff at it with tweezers then immediate nipped out to the garage for my pliers!

Definitely a tricky step with that connector. I also cut broke the wire accidentally and was going to just give up trying to fix the Wii. However, as others stated the Wii works just fine, including the lights. I do wonder what those wire are for.

I also had a lot of trouble trying to get the connector off with tweezers. Ended up leaving it attached. It does not really get in the way of remaining steps.

Needlenose pliers did the trick for us!

Needlenose pliers did it for us!

You can save yourself some trouble at this point and skip the rest of the disassembly: See that green tab to the left of the sd card slot? THAT’S the wifi board (and that green tab, in hindsight, seems designed to make it accessible without taking apart the whole device, don’t you think?) A little careful spudging, and you’ve got it out, ready to replace! (There’s a guy who shows the process on youtube, if you want to review first)

had a little trouble with theses screws. they were just barely too deep for my 54pies bit driver kit to reach. I ended up inserting a small wad of paper into the shaft of my driver so the tri-wing bit stuck out far enough to engage the screw. (I used the tweezers to remove the paper when I was done) :)

Thank you rbelknap, this is excellent advice for those using the ifixit branded driver.

You could also use the 4mm nut driver in the iFixit kit to turn the tri-wing driver. This will give you a little more reach.

This step could use at least another picture from the backside so it's clearer what comes up and what stays down.

I used a spudger around the edges of the outer case to gently ease it upward since I could not lift it out with my fingers. Then it came right out.

hey marko that really helped me thanks\. als if you need help figuring which side is up, its the one with the nintendo engraving on it