I've read enough post titles about broken dash cupholders that I wasn't incredibly surprised when a friend shoved mine closed recently, and.. it didn't close. Still stuck out by about an inch. Tried opening and re-closing, cleaning it
up, pushing harder, etc, and ended up just pulling it out of the dash to take a look.

Glancing over it really quick, I immediately noticed a screw sticking out at a weird angle. Assumed that this was the culprit, reseated it correctly, and continued examining.

Then I noticed an identical screw hole on the same side, but with no screw in it at all. Arg. Must have popped out and fell in the dash, right? Annoying, but it should be okay... until I found FOUR MORE empty screw holes, all where the plastic outside connects to the metal frame. There are six holes total on the outside of the cup holder assembly, and only one of them actually had a screw in it.

A few varieties of WTF?! came to mind. Did the previous owner scavenge most of the screws from it for some reason? Could my friend really have knocked five of them out, and wouldn't I have heard them fall inside the dash?
Do I have Z gremlins?


Visual evidence:


[Other side is basically the same, but with two empty holes.]


[Bottom.]


So, if you are having issues with yours, I suggest checking for missing screws.

And on a side note, if anyone knows where I can find some that are this small,
please advise. Home Depot couldn't even get close.

 

Home Depot has very tiny screws - at least my local ones do - but they don't hang out on the shelf. There is a section of specialized hardware next to the common sized screws where they have all sorts of stuff. I get my metric and grade 8 bolts out of these drawers of stuff.

Nice find and good luck on your screws.

 

you have Z Gremlins!!!
Try checking out sears. My local sears has a small section where they sell a pack of small screws, good luck.

 

that cup holder of mine stick out a little bit. If I push it all the way in, it will not come out whenver I push the thing. I have to fry it out a little in order to pull it out...any input while we are on this subject?

 

Best way to find out the problem is just pull it out of the dash and look. It's real easy, extend the cup holder all the way out, then push a pen/screwdriver/whatever along the groove on top about an inch or two into the dash and push down. There is a little tab you have to push down on and the whole thing will slide right out.

You may just have dried gunk from drinks on it, OR a gremlin infestation took your screws.