first and foremost before you do anything unhook the battery !!!!! i learned long ago when messing with wires unhook battery or you could burn your car to the ground i almost did !!!! you were warned !!!!!
next we need to remove all the screws holding down the speaker cover they are t15 torx and i believe they are also 7mm the heads are both sizes. some of them i use my cordless screw driver with a 12"extension 1/4 drive in the drill for quick screw removal. some you will want to use the 1/4 socket with the t15 torx with a ratchet.you will see the big split in my dash which is the reason for this whole thread its been pissing me off for over 5 years so yesterday was the day it got fixed.
next we have all the screws actually holding the top part of the dash pad to the base of the windshield there is 4 and they are also t15 torx and i used the drill with long extension with a socket in it to remove them.
~~~~~ how to remove a dash step by step ~~~ lots of pics~~~
- Thread starter ttaowner
- Start date
there are 3 -10 mm bolt that attach the dash to the car that need to be removed. 1 up above the emergency release handle that shiny silver head bolt
the cover panel under the glove box needs to be removed its 7mm screws along with the 1 screw that holds the light up and there also a few 7mm screws that hold the bottom of the glove box door on you can remove.
in the corner of the dash on the passenger side there is another 10mm bolt that needs to be removed to hold the corner to the car
the 3rd 10 mm bolt is in the dash right in the middle but a little more on the passenger its kinda hidden up in there so you are gonna need to get on your back and look for it but trust me its there !!!!!!
now its all unbolted from the car except under the steering column !!!! see the 2 15 mm flanged nuts holding up the column? those need to come out and the frame work of the dash is sandwiched in there so you will want to bend down the piece of steel and that will free up the dash some but dont get a head of yourself we still have a bunch of wires and cables and stuff to undo !!!
the cover panel under the glove box needs to be removed its 7mm screws along with the 1 screw that holds the light up and there also a few 7mm screws that hold the bottom of the glove box door on you can remove.
in the corner of the dash on the passenger side there is another 10mm bolt that needs to be removed to hold the corner to the car
the 3rd 10 mm bolt is in the dash right in the middle but a little more on the passenger its kinda hidden up in there so you are gonna need to get on your back and look for it but trust me its there !!!!!!
now its all unbolted from the car except under the steering column !!!! see the 2 15 mm flanged nuts holding up the column? those need to come out and the frame work of the dash is sandwiched in there so you will want to bend down the piece of steel and that will free up the dash some but dont get a head of yourself we still have a bunch of wires and cables and stuff to undo !!!
Attachments
back in the glove box door area you will see that connector thats for the heater controls and it needs to be unplugged. that cable also goes to the flapper door on the heater box and mine was broken so it must of gotten broken this winter. be really really careful because if you break that part your kinda screwed because that arm is made on the heater box but thats another story . so use a pair of pliers and squeeze that clip and gently slide it off that little pin.the cable is also attached to the heater box and will need to be popped out !!!
the vaccum connection will also need to be disconnected and it will need to be gently pulled apart
i believe we have the majority of whats exposed on the passenger side done but we have another item to deal with after once its out and away from windshield but for now onto other places !!!
ok we are out in the engine compartment once again this time we are gonna remove the wiper motor there is a 13mm nut holding the wiper transmission to the back of the motor once the nut is off use a screwdriver and pop the linkage off to seperate the 2. next there are 3-10 mm bolts that hold the motor to the cowl the 2 easy to see ones totally remove them the 3rd bolt is buried on more toward driver side and we are only gonna lossen this one and please do yourself a favor and dont take it all the way out there is no need since the motor will slip off of it. take the 2 hoses off and unplug the 2 connectors. might want to take the wiper fluid jug out its only 2 -10 mm bolts and will give us a little more room for what we are really after the bulkhead plug for all the wiring. in the center of the bulkhead plug is 1/4 " bolt and i use my 1/4 socket in my cordless drill and its pretty damn long and you will want to lossen and pull and if it doesnt come off means the screw is still engaged once this is taken / sperated from the inside fusebox we will be done in the engine compartment until its time to reassmble.
the vaccum connection will also need to be disconnected and it will need to be gently pulled apart
i believe we have the majority of whats exposed on the passenger side done but we have another item to deal with after once its out and away from windshield but for now onto other places !!!
ok we are out in the engine compartment once again this time we are gonna remove the wiper motor there is a 13mm nut holding the wiper transmission to the back of the motor once the nut is off use a screwdriver and pop the linkage off to seperate the 2. next there are 3-10 mm bolts that hold the motor to the cowl the 2 easy to see ones totally remove them the 3rd bolt is buried on more toward driver side and we are only gonna lossen this one and please do yourself a favor and dont take it all the way out there is no need since the motor will slip off of it. take the 2 hoses off and unplug the 2 connectors. might want to take the wiper fluid jug out its only 2 -10 mm bolts and will give us a little more room for what we are really after the bulkhead plug for all the wiring. in the center of the bulkhead plug is 1/4 " bolt and i use my 1/4 socket in my cordless drill and its pretty damn long and you will want to lossen and pull and if it doesnt come off means the screw is still engaged once this is taken / sperated from the inside fusebox we will be done in the engine compartment until its time to reassmble.
this is the emergency brake release and we need to get the cable out of the slot and 99% of the time you need to stick a screw driver in there and open the slot open because the factory squishes it shut . i know this because i have had about 80 of these dashes out of these cars. also note the yellow plasric piece it will need to be pryed out with the screw driver as well than thats all set,
take note of the wires in the black sheathing on the very far left that plug into the fuse box on the left side of fuse box this clump of eires runs back to your taillights and fuel pump. this group of wires on the left unplugs from the fuse box by more or by pulling on it and we are going to do this now before the next step !!! note the upper right corner of fuse box the 7mm bolt also the 7mm bolt in the lower left of fuse box i usually use the cordless drill with a socket and a extension to remove this from the firewall. we are leaving the harness attached to dashpad and pulling it out with harness attached its easier to deal with this way trust me !!!
you will also need to yank out the big pink wire and the silver fuse breaker thingy will come with it !!! bottom right corner the black wire with orange stripe behind the hose and above the circle cut out also needs to be pulled, there was also some other miscleanous wires 1 going to the ebake pedal tan if i remember right and i think a purple wire for my rear defrost, if your car has a few more option you might have a couple more wires if you have less options you will obviously have less wires to unplug.dont worry things only fit in1 place and will only fit 1 way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
steering column wiring now. on the left side of column see the pink and purple wires with the hose thats for the cruise control i believe its a break switch to turn cruise on and off . you will need to unplug the hose and what i would do is just yank the the whole switch straight out with wires still plugged in because by now my patients are running thin and i hate being under the dash but you could always unplug the wires if you like. there is a regular brake switch all cars have same deal unplug it or yank the whole thing out switch and all.on the top of the steering column there are 2 more switches with wiring that need to be unplugged these are kinda at the base of the column you cant see them in the pic. there are 2 other switches on the right side of the column 1 has a black plug and 1 has a blue plug. these black and blue plugs need to come out in sequence and go back in sequence. the smaller black comes out first then the blue. they are stacked in there on top of 1 another and when reassmbling the blue will need to go back in first and then the black just remember this !!!!
there are like 3 flat plugs and a screwdriver helps pop them apart and they will only fit 1 way when reassembling !!!! i bet your shitting your pants by now i know i was i took a running car and disabled it because of cosmetics ,
next we are going to tackle the gauge cluster removal. the grey dash bezel just pulls straight out toward you work slow and go around the perimeter there are 4-5 clips holding it in providing they didnt fall out. then the bezel will just come off. next grab your cordless drill again with your 12" long 1/4 drive extension with your 7mm socket and start unscrewing all the screws that hold the color coordinated dash surround in place . there are several screws maybe 8 if its not falling off then you missed 1-2 this will literally fall off.
Evaddave 87gn
Always learning...
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2005
Great Info!!! THANKS!!
