NA6 Dash pad creaks and squeeks

Gazbo · Postby **Gazbo** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:43 pm

My dash pad (soft bit between upper and lower dash) has this horrible constant creaking/squeeking noise coming from it.
If you apply pressure to the pad with your hand, the noise stops.
If you remove the dash pad, the noise stops.

I've removed the pad and tried regluing it with black silicone, to no effect.
I've glued black felt padding around all the contact points, to no effect.
I've tried foam adhesive tape around all the joints (both pads and centre console), with no effect.
I've installed a different dash pad from a spare dash, to no effect.

Has anyone actually managed to fix this problem?

Frustrated....these NA's can feel like a bucket of bolts sometimes....

Juffa · Postby **Juffa** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:21 pm

Have you noticed a hump/split forming in the top of the dash, about half way between the front and rear edges of the dash. I have seen this with many NAs. The hump and the creaks/squeeks are a sign of the age of the car. Here is what I suggest.

Remove the glove box. Now look up under the dash. You will see a plastic support bracket that is attached to the underneath of the dash. I have cut this bracket on two of my MX-5s. It helps stop some of the rattles and it also stops the hump/split forming in the upper dash.

Hope that helps.

J

Gazbo · Postby **Gazbo** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:35 pm

Juffa wrote:Have you noticed a hump/split forming in the top of the dash, about half way between the front and rear edges of the dash. I have seen this with many NAs. The hump and the creaks/squeeks are a sign of the age of the car. Here is what I suggest.

Remove the glove box. Now look up under the dash. You will see a plastic support bracket that is attached to the underneath of the dash. I have cut this bracket on two of my MX-5s. It helps stop some of the rattles and it also stops the hump/split forming in the upper dash.

Hope that helps.

J

Yup, my dash has that crack. The spare dash I bought didn't have a crack, until I started handling it and the crack appeared.
So, cutting the support bracket might stop some of the rattles? I'll have to try it.

Still won't help my creaking, chirping dash pad, though.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:23 pm

Awesome, thanks for that Juffa! I have the crack, although stragely no noise. Hopefully cutting that out will stop the crack from getting much bigger.

Juffa · Postby **Juffa** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:43 pm

I had to remove the glove box from the dash today. While I was in there I thought I would do some further investigation of possible causes of the dash hump/crack/creaks and squeeks.

I did think to take some photos, but the battery was flat :evil:

Anyway. As you may know there is a large steel tube that runs from one side of the cockpit to the other, inside the dash. The dash, wiring looms and other bits are attached to this tube. When the dash is removed the tube comes with it. You can easliy see this tube with the glove box removed. On the glove box side of the dash there are two brackets attached to the tube. The brackets are basically L shaped. The right angle of the L is spot welded to the tube. The lower part of the L attaches to the back of the dash pad and the vertical part of the L attaches to the underneath of the upper dash. If you open the glove box and run your fingers behind the dash pad you will touch the brackets about 3cm in from the outside edge of the glove box. If you run your hands over the same point further up on the dash you will probably find two humps, each is where the L bracket attaches to the underneath of the dash. I don't know why these humps form, however for many MX5s these humps will eventually crack. In my case there is a very slight hump over the bracket I broke/cut, there is a bigger hump over the untouched bracket. I would cut/break the 2nd bracket, but it seems to the only one supporting the dash in that area.

As for the squeeking dash pad. I did notice that there is a number of screws and what maybe reinforcing plates behind the dash pad. I suggest removing the glove box (2 screws) and having a look under dash and see if you can anything loose, or rubbing under there.

Hope this helps someone.

J

Gazbo · Postby **Gazbo** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:13 pm

Thanks for the ideas... I'm sure my squeeks are caused by the dash pad rubbing against the dash - it's held on my some flimsy clips are a lot of silicone adhesive, seems that the silcone itself squeeks as the pad moves against the dash, especially when it's cold.

I'll post up some photos of my spare dash in case that helps anyone else, it's much easier to see what's happening with the dash off the car.