I am going to remove the dash pad so I can change the instrument cluster lights but do I need to do anything special with the air bag and/or its panel on the passenger side of the pad?

 

Hi Phil,

The real only precaution I can think of is to be sure to disconnect the car's battery. This is to eliminate any posibility of it going off and more probably, if you don't, there is an increased posibility that the SRS light will come on if the car notices it is "missing". I believe from what I have read that only the dealer can reset the SRS light and it doesnt come cheap in some cases.

Also when you remove the pad, be sure to support the airbag since it is heavy, if held improperly, it could flop and the pad can break.

 

Dash Pad Removal, Volvo 850

 

I read that but the dash on mine is a little different design with the opening more in the middle so I wanted to be sure.

 

there will be 4 10mm bolts under the airbag you need to remove, then the whole lot comes out with the dash pad.

 

There is only 1 dash design on the 850. Those pics are from a '95 model.

 

Interesting. Mines a 95 but that could mean a late 94 or early 97. I wounder when it was changed?

 

Bay 13 has a nice write up too.
Dash Removal

 

I was about to do this when I realized that I need to remove the after market boost gauge on the column that is only about 1 inch above the dash pad in order to lift it so I can pull it off. How long does it take to get the pad off? I figure a few extra minutes for the boost gauge if there is enough wire and tubing on it.

 

Takes about 15 minutes to remove the dash pad.

 

I bought an odo repair kit from IPD with a dvd. This dvd has you take off only 7 screws on the left side and middle of the dash pad. It's then lifted up enough to get the instrument cluster out. I did the repair last week and it was really easy. rspi is right, it's a quick process to get the dash pad off.

 

I just finished replacing the instrument lights and I never got the passenger side of the dash pad fully off, even with all the screws I could find it didn't come out. I did manage to get the instrument cluster out and changed the lights anyway. I now have 2 screws left after putting everything back but I think I know where they came from. I must say that this project was a pain as far as the pad is concerned but some of that might be because I have the CD changer in the glove box and I dropped the glove box door arms and the slid down under everything so I had to take some more stuff apart.

 

I think I'm going to add a few notes to my instructions. One will be to help people NOT drop those arms behind the dash. The other will be to express that people not try to squeeze the cluster out of a half removed dash pad. The dash and the dash pad are so old and bridle that one or both will break / crack and leave you with a ugly and noisy dash.

The thing that causes people to get stuck is the airbag behind the glove box. You have to remove the 4 bolts, unplug the airbag (after disconnecting the battery), then that side of the dash pad has to clear the bracket the airbag mounts to.

 

I removed the 4 bolts that hold the air bag but it didn't move. I was just able to slide the instrument cluster out with out any damage but the one problem that I have is the dash pad does not lay totally flat above the instruments now.

 

Oooh another tricky set of screws are the two directly in front of the airbag under the lip of the dash pad. Oh and the one odd screw under the passenger side speaker grille.

 

Got those but I think I left out the ones in the vents at each end the face towards the seats.

 

As a follow up to this. After about a week the dash pad has settled and now sits the way it should and I did find out where I had left out one screw but still have one left over.
The next part of this project will be to figure out how to brace the glove box door hinges because the mounting point on the dash face for both of them has broken away.

 

Recent aquired skill... epoxy and small sheet metal work.

 

Yep, sounds about like what I was thinking. I was going to look to see if I could run a brace from the hinge point down to where the knee pad trim mounts and epoxy it all in.