Volvo 850 Dashboard Mount Repair

[rmmagow]

Does this repair pertain to a 98 V70 or did Volvo make some improvements?
Thanks

[vjaneczko]

My dash only has a broken mount on the far right near the pass airbag.

Usually the problem is that the mount will break into a few pieces, so you've got a lot of little bits causing the noise - that, plus the bracket that holds the metal nut into the plastic bracket causes some of the squeeze. If you pull the screws from the firewall, you'll see thet they're about 4 inches long in order to pass through the firewall. My guess is that if you tried to fill it with plastic weld, you'd use a ton of it and wouldn't have a great chance of success of reaching the full bracket.

Does this repair pertain to a 98 V70 or did Volvo make some improvements?

The differences between a '97 and '98 is mostly cosmetic but I'm not positive on this one, so I'm going to take an educated guess and say the mounting tabs would be the same.

[homerh]

I agree w/ vjaneczko that it is difficult to imagine how an effective repair could be made in the manner you are proposing. My repair was done on a 98 S70 (197K) and all the pics of the 850 instrument panels looked identical to mine. The car was driving really well and felt tight, but the rattles and creeks from the dash made it sound like a junker, which was driving me crazy. 90% of all cabin noise is gone now and it almost seems like I'm driving a new car again. Yes, it was a lot of work, but well worth the effort, IMHO.

[homerh]

From my Haynes manual it looks like taking just the top of the dash off would not be that difficult nor time consuming. My question is if that will allow me the access needed to inspect and repair the dashboard mounts. BTW, I have had very good success repairing other broken plastic components with JB Weld. Just keep in mind that it drys very slowly, but I believe that contributes to it's high strength.

Well, nobody seemed interested in answering my question so I'll do it myself in case someone else might be wondering the same thing. The answer is no, you cannot see the mounts just by taking the top panel off because they are covered by the piece of trim that butts right up to the windshield, and it is an integral part of the instrument panel that cannot be removed from it. Fortunately it was not difficult nor time consuming to remove the top panel and I found it easier to remove the instrument panel w/o the extra weight of the top panel, which I was able to do by myself. After inspecting the mounts, which I could do by just pulling the panel back a few inches, I opted for a replacement from a salvage yard because mine was cracked or broken in so many other places (TX sun is murder on the plastic parts). I was fortunate to find a good dash locally with all brackets intact, but added the reinforcements to the mounting brackets as described in this thread so I would not have to do it again anytime soon. The only difference from this thread is that I bought U brackets for hanging 1/2" conduit pipe (10 for less than $2) and hammered them into the shape I needed. This simplifies the task because no cutting is involved and the holes in the ears are already there. Start by drilling a small pilot hole in the dash for the first ear and then make the bends one at a time as you work your way around the mounting bracket, marking the exact location of each bend with a sharpie. The width and length of the conduit brackets was perfect for this purpose and were easy to shape with a small anvil, hammer and a sturdy pair of pliers. The hardest part was drilling the hole for the mounting bolt because the position is very critical. I suggest drilling the hole after flattening the front portion of the bracket and before bending into its final shape and be sure to very carefully measure the distance from the center of the front mounting hole you drilled in the dash to the center of the square nut in the mount, ideally with calipers (measure twice, drill once). When attaching the brackets, I put a couple pieces of rubber cut from a bicycle inner tube between the bracket ears and the dash and also a star lock washer on the other side to keep the screw from coming loose (self tapping #8 X 1/2" works great). Just be careful to not over tighten as the plastic is fairly thin, making it is easy to strip out the hole. I suggest holding the bracket in its final position with a clamp when putting in the second screw to assure the brace is wrapped tightly around the mount since it will not add much strength if it isn't. Last tip is to put a piece of pressure sensitive insulating foam tape on the inside of the firewall where the mounting bolts come through, poking a hole in it for the bolts to go through. The foam provides an additional measure of cushioning to keep the dash quiet and tight.

It was a long job to complete, but the results and money I saved over taking it to any shop was well worth the time and effort, plus I able to upgrade both the panel and center console to the S70 GLT SE style with the wood trim for only $180.

I wanted to add a couple additional comments and one correction to this post. Firstly, the correction is that I used U brackets for 3/4" pipe, not 1/2", which would be much too short and narrow. Second, I ran into an issue by not making the hole in the bracket big enough for the bolts that attach the panel to the firewall to be able to engage with the square nut in the mounts. I made my measurements very carefully, but was fooled because the panel was upside down when I reinforced the mounts with the brackets, not realizing that the nut will slide to the opposite end of its travel when you flip it right side up, resulting in the hole in the nut was partially covered by the bracket. This prevented the bolts from engaging with the nuts and required pulling the panel out again, removing all the brackets and drilling out an elongated opening in each one to allow access to the nut throughout its entire range of travel. When I reinstalled the panel, I discovered that you can actually see the bolts engaging with the nut if you peek through the very bottom of the windshield and this really helped with getting the bolts to engage with the nuts. I took care to tighten the four bolts evenly once they are all engaged with their nuts and definitely do not over tighten. Hand tight with a nut driver is all you want and I believe the 1/2" dense foam pads I placed on the inside of the firewall (cabin side), right where the bolts poke through will help to the panel from getting loose, although I suspect I may need to occasionally tighten the bolts over time. I also applied some 3M Squeak Reduction on the small ledge built into the inside of the firewall, just below where the bolts poke through. My assumption is that the mounts are actually resting on this ledge and the tape should help prevent any squeaks caused by the mounts moving against the firewall. Note: this stuff was very hard to find locally so I suggest you order it online before starting this project. Finally, I recommend tightening the firewall bolts before installing the remaining four screws that hold the panel in place, which will allow you to have more play in the panel when you are trying to engage the bolts with the nuts in the mounts.

[wheeler000]

hi greetings all,
this is my first reply so bare with me ...
I just got my 4th volvo, a 2000 S70 and I found this site while looking for door panels. anyway I've had the car for about 10 days now and have already put about 1000 dollars into it for stuff like tie rod ends and CV joints and the whole power steering setup but the reason I am writing now is to voice my concern over the broken dashboard mounts.mine don't seem to be as bad as some other peoples but I do think my far right passenger side mount is broken and it got me thinking, if peoples dashboards are no longer mounted to the car, and the airbag is mounted to the dashboard this is not just an annoying problem it's a safety concern so I called the National Transportation Safety people and the Volvo 800 number to complain and I found that very few people have made this complaint and I can't help but wonder why. this problem is far more costly and labor intensive than fixing the etm and people seem to have no problems at all complaining about that part. so I would ask that all of you with the rattling dashboard call Volvo and call the government and make a complaint. this is a 2500 dollar fix if you buy new parts, in other words if you do it right. I think volvo has the responsibility to fix every single 1 of them but they're not gonna do it if you don't make your voice heard.

thank you very much and have a good 1
happy motoring

[vjaneczko]

Welcome to the forum!

You pose an interesting topic. I’ve never thought about the dashboard/air bag situation as a safety issue – and I let my daughters sit in the front seat! The dash, while causing a squeak that will wake the dead, it is not going anywhere because of the other bolts that secure it in place – I believe the total number of bolts is 16 and the firewall is only 4 of them. If you were to sit in the passenger seat and give it a tug, I’ll guess it might move less than 3 or 4 millimeters. That amount of travel would be towards the passenger seat, which means that even if the airbag were deployed at the same time the dashboard had moved towards the passenger seat, it would have a negligible impact on the situation.

Keep in mind that the only way the dash would move towards the passenger is if the car were struck from the rear. The airbags are deployed with an impact speed greater than 20 or 25 mph (not sure of the speed). Would the airbags even be deployed from a rear impact? In this scenario, the initial impact of the passenger would be rearwards into the seatback, not forwards towards the dash as in a front impact. Since the seats are heavily designed to protect the passenger from a rear impact (the big reason for the shape of the headrest is due to the whiplash prevention design), the force delivered by the rear impact is greatly reduced by the seat. I’m wishing I knew physics terms better at this point in my comments…

Anyway, the passenger is forced into the seat from a rear impact. Once rearward travel stops, there would be a certain amount of forward travel but nothing even close to the forward travel from a front impact. I would imagine that in this situation, if the airbag had been deployed, that (1) the airbag would have begun to deflate, and (2) the forward momentum of the passenger would never get near the airbag – even at its most inflated state. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see 3 or 4 millimeters would not cause any impact (no pun intended) on the safety of the passenger.

[cn90]

Air bags only deploy when the car decelerates more than 7G force.
The sensors are made by TEMIC and this is their spec.
So hitting from behind, no airbag deployed.
Hitting from the front, the deceleration has to be more than 7G.

PS: I am not sure this has been mentioned yet, but the P.O. just wedged a piece of cardboard where the glass meets the dashboard, so far so good. I am not getting into this repair, no time, no interest. Not broken, no fixing!

Also there is another ghetto repair somewhere in forum where you simply insert the screws on the sides of the dashboard. Simple solution to an otherwise complex repair.

[cn90]

Below is the ghetto fix:

dash.JPG (43.63 KiB) Viewed 2545 times

[wheeler000]

yeah I suppose it wouldn't matter except for in some extreme circumstance. but it could make a heck of an argument to get Volvo to take responsibility for their poor design.

[wheeler000]

So, i took the cover to the windshield wiper motor off and put a ratchet on those 4 bolts and they all seem to be grabbing on to something, no play or anything like that, so I need a plan b to find out what is jumping around inside my dashboard. at least I got to replace the cabin filter and armor all the cover while it was out so that's good.