I have a 1994 850T wagon. This weekend I was just finishing replacing my a/c evaporator and heater (while I was there!) cores.

When I went to reinstall the dashboard assembly I noticed that the white plastic vent box attached to the underside of the dashboard did not sit down and seal tightly on the white plastic climate box that is bolted to the fire wall (this is the box that houses the heater core, evaporator, blower motor, etc). I spoke with an a/c shop locally and they said to cut some pieces of low-density foam and let the upper and lower pieces seal that way. That doesn't seem right. It seems to me these two pieces should fit tightly.

For any who read who have done this repair before, are there any suspect areas I should be looking at under the dash as to where the dashboard might be getting hung up and not allowing it to sit down tightly on the lower climate box (again the white plastic one).

I have had the dashboard out 2 or three times now trying to identify what might not be allowing the climate system boxes to seal properly/fit tightly together. Or alternatively, do these two pieces not make a perfect seal? I wasn't really looking at how these two pieces fit when I was pulling the dashboard out.
Each time I take it out I grow more weary of braking plastic tabs! The plastic in these dashes is very fragile/brittle.

Thanks in advance for your help!

J

 

Just have to check and make sure there aren't any bundles of wires or components in the way. I just did mine a month or so ago and the dash went right in and sat on the CCU. Make sure nothing's in the way. It sat flush on there before, nothing's changed, so something is in the way or you're not seating it properly. Do you have two people working on it? Damn near impossible to reinstall it by yourself.

 

Thanks, Gilber33!

My daughter has been assisting me and doing a great job. It's a little heavy/cumbersome for her to manipulate. I will probably need to draft one of my car buddies.

All the wiring bundles etc., that I can see are out of the way having been wire tied back as part of the reinstall process.

The only two things that I can think of that might be giving me a problem are:

1) If you look at the opening in the dashboard assembly there is an opening through which the steering colum protrudes. This is the one you have stuff the wiper and turn signal stalks through when removing or installing the dashboard. On the upper side of that opening but behind the flap of leather that hangs down there is a black painted metal bracket that is integral with the dashboard assembly. It has a little bit of foam padding on it.

My question is this: Does this black metal brack sit on top of the metal bracket that is bolted to the top of the steering column? Or, should its properly installed position be in front of or behind the bracket bolted to the top of the steering column?

2) When I removed my dashboard I discovered that the 4 black plastic firewall mounting tabs were either in pieces or broken completely off. Using the procedure prepared by OzarkLee on MVS, I expoxied the pieces and parts back in place and reinforced them all with .025 gaugue aluminum strips, again, per OzarkLees's write up. The dash seems to fit perfectly - the torx bolt from the firewall side are aligned with the mounting tabs on the dash and can spin in with finger pressure. With such a good fit here, it must be something else, but the $64 questions is where.

Thanks!

J

 

Did all the factory foam fall out?

 

Tech,

Yes, most of the factory foam was non-existant. Pretty much down to the adhesive. The evaporator in my car has been replaced 2 or 3 times previous to my just doing it, so with every disassembly and reassembly I am sure it has lost foam.

So, what I did was clean off what little "fuzz" of foam remained on the lower climate control unit box, carefully sprayed some 3M heavy duty (77, I think) spray adhesive on the joints and glued new, 3/4" low density foam in to place and re-installed the dash. From what I can see it sealed pretty well all the way around.

I'll know how successful I was tomorrow as that is when I am taking it in to the a/c shop to get the system charged.

Thanks,

J

 

Sounds good. Good luck.