Horrific squeak on driver side dash fixed!
12-19-2011, 07:37 AM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Horrific squeak on driver side dash fixed!
I just bought a 2004 Acura TL with AT and 122k miles. The car had a very annoying squeak/squeal the seemed to be coming from the top dashboard area while driving down rough roads. I read on another post on Acurazine that this may be caused by the center speaker on the dash. I was hopeful that this was the problem but it wasn't. The speaker was not making any rattles or squeaks. I still could not find the exact location of the squeak so I began knocking on top of the dash with my hand. This caused the squeak to occur and I narrowed the location down to above the instrument cluster.
Here is what I did to eliminate the squeak completely:
Items needed- 1 phillips screwdriver
1 soft cloth to cover steering column
1. Tilt steering wheel all the way down and pull all the way out.
2. Carefully pull the plastic instrument cluster cover out by gentley working each side. This cover is held by little plastic snaps. It felt like I was going to break it but it popped right out. There are two electrical connectors on the back of this cover that you must remove. The one on the right is for the MID and the one on the left is for the dimmer.
3. Once you've removed the cover in step 2 this will expose four screws the hold the instrument panel in place. Use the phillips screw driver to remove the screws. Make sure you don't drop them! At this point I used the soft cloth (T-shirt) to cover the steering column to prevent scratching it. Once the screws are removed you must gently pull the cluster out far enough to remove the two electrical connectors. I found it easiest to pull the right side out first and disconnect that plug and then pull the left side out and disconnect that plug. Once both plugs have been disconnected the instrument cluster can come completley out.
4. With the instrument cluster removed, I was able to tap on the dash and hear the squeak better. It seemed like it was coming from a shiny metal plate that was vertical going from the top of the hump on the dash to a plastic piece above the steering column. This metal plate had a screw in the center of it. I tightened the screw as hard as I could and the squeak got quieter but did not go away. I then removed the screw with the phillips and cleaned it and lubricated it and the metal plate and reinstalled it. This still did not get rid of the squeak. I did notice that I could not reproduce the squeak while the screw was out! I'm not sure how critcal this screw is and I was afraid to leave it out. So, I reinstalled the screw and I pushed and pulled on the metal plate and it was barely moving but still squeaking. Then I removed the screw again and pushed and pulled on the plate and it moved the same amount as it did with the screw installed but now it wasn't making the squeak. So I left the screw out and put everything back together and now the VERY VERY VERY annoying squeak is COMPLETELY gone! WHEW!
I may try to post a picture of the plate that I am referring to but it may take me a few days.
Here is what I did to eliminate the squeak completely:
Items needed- 1 phillips screwdriver
1 soft cloth to cover steering column
1. Tilt steering wheel all the way down and pull all the way out.
2. Carefully pull the plastic instrument cluster cover out by gentley working each side. This cover is held by little plastic snaps. It felt like I was going to break it but it popped right out. There are two electrical connectors on the back of this cover that you must remove. The one on the right is for the MID and the one on the left is for the dimmer.
3. Once you've removed the cover in step 2 this will expose four screws the hold the instrument panel in place. Use the phillips screw driver to remove the screws. Make sure you don't drop them! At this point I used the soft cloth (T-shirt) to cover the steering column to prevent scratching it. Once the screws are removed you must gently pull the cluster out far enough to remove the two electrical connectors. I found it easiest to pull the right side out first and disconnect that plug and then pull the left side out and disconnect that plug. Once both plugs have been disconnected the instrument cluster can come completley out.
4. With the instrument cluster removed, I was able to tap on the dash and hear the squeak better. It seemed like it was coming from a shiny metal plate that was vertical going from the top of the hump on the dash to a plastic piece above the steering column. This metal plate had a screw in the center of it. I tightened the screw as hard as I could and the squeak got quieter but did not go away. I then removed the screw with the phillips and cleaned it and lubricated it and the metal plate and reinstalled it. This still did not get rid of the squeak. I did notice that I could not reproduce the squeak while the screw was out! I'm not sure how critcal this screw is and I was afraid to leave it out. So, I reinstalled the screw and I pushed and pulled on the metal plate and it was barely moving but still squeaking. Then I removed the screw again and pushed and pulled on the plate and it moved the same amount as it did with the screw installed but now it wasn't making the squeak. So I left the screw out and put everything back together and now the VERY VERY VERY annoying squeak is COMPLETELY gone! WHEW!
I may try to post a picture of the plate that I am referring to but it may take me a few days.
12-19-2011, 09:16 AM
#3
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Yeah it was very easy. It took me 10 minutes because I had to figure out where the sound was coming from and I wasn't quite sure how to remove the cluster cover. But now that I know what to do I'm confident that I could do this job is 5 minutes or less! I was so pissed off that I just bought the car and it had such an annoying squeak, I had to fix it right away!! lol It was so loud that I had to turn the radio up to about 20 to drown out the squeak but now its completley gone. If anyone knows the importance of the screw please post. I saw no difference in the structural integrity of the plate after the screw was removed. I'm thinking it was there just for additional support and is probably unnecessary.
12-21-2011, 10:44 AM
#5
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Did you determine if you had the same squeak as me yet? And if so, did my suggestion resolve the issue?
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