Squeaking from dashboard C70

[scot850]

The mounts are part of the ventilation ducts. My buddy asked why his heating was not what it used to be. I showed him when I removed the dash to repair it that there were 3 x 1" holes in the air ducting where the mounts used to be!

He says he has noted a huge improvement now it has been repaired. Surprising?

Neil.

[CoupeC70]

@erikv11

I've already done that. I was able to turn two bolts a little further, but it didn't help at all.
But in my case, the brackets definitely seem to be cracked in the air duct. Otherwise, the squeaking wouldn't have stopped when I sprayed the ceramic powder spray into the air duct.

Unfortunately, the ceramic powder spray isn’t particularly suitable for this, so I’ll make one last attempt and try the Osixo spray.
We'll see, in the end I'll probably go to the appointment at the car repair shop.

But I'm a bit worried that nothing will come of it since he's never repaired this before. I hope they're just small cracks and not "dust/crumbs" haha
This could then simply be glued together with a good amount of ABS/epoxy adhesive.
But as soon as anything needs to be reconstructed, I’m not optimistic...

@scot850

Yes, that’s true. That should be taken into consideration as well

[scot850]

There are several DIY repair guides on rebuilding these dashboards. They are all very similar. I have done 5 or 6 now over the years. Doing them earlier than later can often make less work and stronger repairs. If you leave them too long, the 2 support 'legs' that run down at either end and have a Torx screw in them start to disintegrate as they are not designed to carry the full weight of the dashboard. I have had challenges with some dashboards that were really bad. The C70 I believe is unique to that car possibly, so much harder to find a better replacement.

Good Luck!

Neil.

[CoupeC70]

@scot850

Thanks
Which adhesive would you recommend?

[abscate]

I’ve had luck not rebuilding the mounts , but running strong nylon cord running through the firewall holes and keeping tension on the dash with jam nuts. Evita is”fixed “ that way with butyl rubber gasket between dash and cowl

[CoupeC70]

My Volvo C70 is currently in the workshop. I inspected the air duct using an endoscope. At first, I couldn't see anything, but then I found a large crack in the air duct. My mechanic will remove the dashboard and do his best to repair everything as thoroughly as possible.

If there are cracks in the air duct, are the mounting brackets usually damaged as well? And if the brackets are not broken, would it make sense to reinforce them in some way?

[JimBee]

Contending for crudest repair imaginable award: I removed the speaker next to the A pillar, drilled a hold (slightly smaller than 1/4 inch) through the end of the dash box and into the A pillar, Then through that hole and into the A pillar, I forced a 1/4 inch self-threading screw. Repair was done 10 years ago, still very little to no squeak.

BTW: those end point dash support "legs" Neil refers to can also be reinforced to restore support. I believe there's a tutorial on this site somewhere.

[scot850]

Sorry I missed your question a while back on the suggestion for what to use for repairs. I use black or beige JB Weld Plastic. I did a write up on the repairs a while ago and posted a link on the first page of your thread here. I also use self-tapping screws and thing metal straps to re-inforce the mounts to prevent them failing again.

I see how Abscate does his fix based on his description, but as you have found that does not repair missing ducting and it also loads the 2 support 'legs' that screw to the A-pillars. These are not meant to take the whole load of the dashboard. They do have a metal insert on either end of the dashboards that do help with the loading, but they do not mount at any point to the firewall. When I have repaired P80 dashboards over the years they eventually become so broken, repairing is a waste of time. I did my buddies 850 AWD about a year ago and that is the worst I have seen. I only repaired it as there were no 850's in the junkyard to try to find a better one.

Good luck!

Neil.

[CoupeC70]

My dashboard has now been repaired.

It was completely destroyed: all mounting brackets were broken, and one of them was completely torn off from the air vent duct. There were cracks everywhere in the air vent duct.
My mechanic said that nothing more could be done and that it didn’t make sense to glue it and hope it would last.

He found a well-preserved used center section of the dashboard online and rebuilt my dashboard using that part.
Basically, it is the section that includes the air vent duct and the four mounting brackets. This part can be unscrewed.

However, one noise is still there and I think it may have become slightly worse. It doesn’t sound like plastic at all and is very different from all the other squeaking noises the dashboard used to make.
I could already hear this noise very faintly even before my dashboard was damaged. I can’t figure out what it could be. It sounds more metallic—not squeaky, but rather a chirping or twittering sound.

It seems to be coming from somewhere around the passenger-side dashboard. I was always able to reproduce the noise to some extent by hitting the top of the dashboard on the passenger side with the flat of my hand.
However, now that the dashboard has been repaired, I really don’t want to do that anymore ha ha

Does this noise sound familiar to anyone, and do you know what might be causing it?

[abscate]

My dashboard has now been repaired.

It was completely destroyed: all mounting brackets were broken, and one of them was completely torn off from the air vent duct. There were cracks everywhere in the air vent duct.
My mechanic said that nothing more could be done and that it didn’t make sense to glue it and hope it would last.

He found a well-preserved used center section of the dashboard online and rebuilt my dashboard using that part.
Basically, it is the section that includes the air vent duct and the four mounting brackets. This part can be unscrewed.

However, one noise is still there and I think it may have become slightly worse. It doesn’t sound like plastic at all and is very different from all the other squeaking noises the dashboard used to make.
I could already hear this noise very faintly even before my dashboard was damaged. I can’t figure out what it could be. It sounds more metallic—not squeaky, but rather a chirping or twittering sound.

It seems to be coming from somewhere around the passenger-side dashboard. I was always able to reproduce the noise to some extent by hitting the top of the dashboard on the passenger side with the flat of my hand.
However, now that the dashboard has been repaired, I really don’t want to do that anymore ha ha

Does this noise sound familiar to anyone, and do you know what might be causing it?

The HVAC fans start their road to death by chirping slightly, sometimes it stops when you accelerate. They last another 1.79 years after this starts , roughly.