S70 (1998) Dashboard

philosophicaldreamer · Post by **philosophicaldreamer** » 21 Jan 2009, 21:22

I am hoping that someone may enlighten me. In wife's S70 the piece of plastic that runs along the windshield and separates the windshield from the rest of the dashboard is seriously cracked. The crack is located where the alarm light is located. Hence, I am thinking either of having it replaced or replacing it myself. The questions that I have are following: How difficult is it to replace this piece of plastic? Is this something that I can do on my own, or should I go to a dealer? How much is this part? Any information that someone can share with me pertaining to this problem will be deeply appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

janusz

Post by **januwan** » 22 Jan 2009, 10:55

This plastic part has VIN # attached to it (at least on my 850). I wonder how you are going to transfer his plate.
I have the same crack and after odometer fix I got a new one but I fixed it with crazy glue. If it is not much more work than removing dash, I will replace mine too.

larryh · Post by **larryh** » 22 Jan 2009, 19:11

That plastic part is called the dash assembly. It is the entire dash. A lot these cars have the same crack, but with a hidious squeek to accompany it. It would be very expensive (guessing ~2k) to have the dealer replace it..if it isn't squeeking or rattling count yourself lucky and forget about it.. I think you would be silly to have it replaced just because of the crack.
I've replaced the dashes on both of my 850/v70 because the noise was unbearable. I bought used dash assemblies and did it myself.... big job!

The vin plate is very easy to transfer to the new dash, it's just a couple of plastic snap rivets.

meteg · Post by **meteg** » 23 Jan 2009, 13:57

I have just replaced my dash(95 850N/A) because of the cracks you mentioned.. and like it was told the area which the alarm led is located is bonded together with the speedometer and lower section so you cannot correct the problem without replacing the entire dashboard. the only part which can be replaced is the cover which contains the tweeters and the passenger airbag. and it is very very expensive to replace $2500 at the dealer. I did replace my dashboard because the cracks look terrible.. to avoid this kind of cracks it is best to wipe the whole dashboard with vaselyine every 6 months.never use dashboard shining materials because it provides a shiny look but when it dries it causes the dashboard to get stiff and cause cracks in time.. but vaselyine softens the dashboard and protects it from the cracks.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 23 Jan 2009, 16:05

Thanks for the great hint on the Vaseline. I know that Armor All is junk and actually attracts dust.

meteg · Post by **meteg** » 23 Jan 2009, 16:42

I want everyone to know that when you need to clean or wax your cars plastic sections use vaselyn because of two reasons
1-it makes the plastic sections shine for least 2 months and helps to plastic sections to soften and the chemical and the substance in vaselyn is sucked in to the plastic parts deeper layers.so they can be flexible.. this is especially important if you are leaving your car under the sunlight.. however if you use dash polish products like armor all or any brand they make the plastic parts shine for a day or two but the third day the polish layer on the plastic parts become stiff and when the sunlight is added on the plastic parts will suffer damage in maximum 3-4 months..

philosophicaldreamer · Post by **philosophicaldreamer** » 24 Jan 2009, 22:25

Thank you guys for all your input. I will have to think about spending $2K. However, my wife's dashboard rattles horrible, and we might decide to go to a dealer to have this addressed.

Thank you so much.

meteg · Post by **meteg** » 27 Jan 2009, 16:57

I have another idea,

you can find a dashboard from a salvage yard easily.. it would cost much less.. the only problem would be the installation.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 27 Jan 2009, 17:37

They can be tightened from the firewall side...you might have to build up the part that's broken...someone posted a fix recently with metal brackets he's customized. You can also build up the broken mounts with epoxy. There's no need to replace the dash cover unless it's cracked and unsightly. A new dash cover will do the same thing if the anchors aren't addressed.

larryh · Post by **larryh** » 27 Jan 2009, 19:06

They can be tightened from the firewall side...

IMO they probably aren't loose ...just broken. But it wouldn't hurt to check. Just be carefull because the super cheesey plastic dash mounting tabs will break for sure if you take a ratchet to them. My theory is that most of the tabs were cracked from over-tightening on the assembly line. And the rest are finished off by the mechanic that re-does the AC evap. I would not tighten those bolts with more than a nut driver.