The roads in the Houston area are horrible and have loosened my bolts and screws around my dashboard. I have tightened the ones around the glove box and ashtray. The noise is coming form the center area of the dash, anyscrews around that area? Help the squeek is driving me crazy!
This is coming directly from the middle of the dash. If you press the dash right above the the ac controls you can hear the squick. Horible squeek!!!!! Not extremly loud but very anoying.
Okay, guys...I have tighten all the screws inside the car for the dash i.e. under speaker panels, glove box,etc. and could not take remedy the problem. I took it in to Volvo and they are going to charge 90.00 to look at the dash from the inside of the hood. Apperently the dash has bolts the keep it together that you can only get from the inside of the hood area. Does anyone know how hard this would be to check. Is there a lot of electrical wiring that I'm going to have to contend with. I would like to check it out myself since the dealership can't guarantee that this can fix it.
I called another place that deals with Volvo cars and asked for their opinion and the response was not good. They said it's a pain in the butt to tighten those screws. The price that they gave me was actually more than the dealership. So it looks like it's going to go into the dealership next week.
I can sympathise with your problem. My last C70 developed a really annoying dashboard squeak after the windscreen was replaced. It turned out that the windscreen surround was rubbing against the bulkhead (requiring yet another windscreen) but the dealer had to remove the entire dash to locate the problem.
The dash is secured to the bulkhead by four or five bolts under the scuttle panel (the bit of black plastic below the windscreen). The scuttle panel is held in place by four (I think) torx screws and comes off with a bit of flexing after you've removed the windscreen wipers. The scuttle panel has to come off to change the pollen filter so it's not a big job. Once you've got it off you should see the bolt heads spaced along the bulkhead. You should be able to get at them with a socket extension (although the wiper mechanism might limit access to a couple). To be honest though, I'd be amazed if these were the source of the noise you describe. From your description I'd hazard a guess that the top section of the dash is rubbing against either the lower section of the dash or against the windscreen/bulkhead. The top section of the dash simply lifts off once you've undone all the screws (including the one under the centre speaker cover) so you could try driving around without it for a while to see if the problem disappears or you could try the trusty method of shoving a business card between the things you suspect are causing the problem. Even if you can't, or would rather not, remove the dash top completely you might find that loosening a few of the screws is enough to stop the offending parts contacting.
My own experience however is that the more bits you fiddle with, the more likely it is that you'll create another squeak or rattle or damage something in the process. Lots of the screw fixings are self-tappers and they never grip the same after they've been cycled a few times. At least if the dealer carries out the work you'll have some comeback.
One last thing - is the noise temperature dependent? If you can put up with it until the colder months you might find that it simply disappears of its own accord.
[This message has been edited by SG (edited 08-21-2002).]
[This message has been edited by SG (edited 08-21-2002).]
Wow. Thanks for all your information. I will give it a try this weekend. I'm almost inclined to think that it could be one of those screws. The passenger side of the dash where the noise is coming from seems to be slightley lower than the drivers side. Also, if I grip the dash by the air vent hole on the side by the door window and push up and in without hardly any pressure the noise will be produced.
When I first started to think it was the dash I put some soft foam padding in between the windshield and the dash and that pressure was enough to stop the noise. Then when I pushed the foam all the way down so it wouldn't be seen the noise just started again. The foam didn't have enough pressure up against the dash being all the way underneath it.
I didn't want to put anymore down there because I was afraid that I might end up blocking some vents or having the foam touching something that would catch it on fire.
I tell you that this noise is not something that will pop your ear drums but when your driving an awesome car and this noise just keeps squeeking it just drives me nuts. Hopefully I can remedy this problem before I take drastic measures.
[This message has been edited by dcbeltran (edited 08-22-2002).]
Does anyone think that a strut brace would stop the noise from comming back after it has been fixed? Obviously dash noise must stem from flex in the front of the car right? Or maybe it is just temperature changes?
I have been thinking about putting a strut bar but my thinking is if other C70's don't have one and they don't have the noise then mine shouldn't either. I will probably put one anyways but I want to take care of the problem first.
But if anyone has had a noise similar to this and they experimented with the strut bar please let me know your results.
Thanks for everyones input!
-Dariel
Well, I finally broke down and took it into the dealership because I was tired of screwing with it. I was ready to dish the money out when my tech came back and said the dash mounting brackets were broke and they were going to order a new dash. Best of all it's covered under warranty! Boy was I releived and extremly happy! Thanks everyone for all your input and help. Now I can concentrate on better things to spend my money on(upgrades)!
I know this is an extremely old post. Does anyone know what replacing the "dash mounting brackets" cost? My '99 dash moves about 3/4 of an inch when pushing on the dash directly behind the top of the steering wheel. The dash squeaks and rattles terribly. Detroit roads are probably responsible for making this car so awfully squeaky.
I'm going to try tightening all screws I can find as mentioned in this post prior to taking it to a dealer. If I put about 40 lbs of pressure on the dash just behind the steering wheel while driving, the squeaks subside big time.
Take a cleanex, fold it in 2 and place it on the latch while closing the glove box. If the sqeak stops, it's the latch. Put a little rubber piece on the latch and the sqeak goes away.
My glovebox squeeked when I first got my car. I tried that same fix but it kept squeeking. So, if that doesn't work try this:
When you open the glovebox there is a small rubber stopper in each of the upper corners, pull them out and then put them back but only far enough so they stay put. This increases the pressure pushing back on the door and stopped the squeek!!! It also gives the glovebox door a little more of a solid feeling when opening and closing, which I like.
thanks for the advice .. it actually helped out a bit.. I still have some squeeks in the dash but hopefully the dealership can fix it when they put on my new trim
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