General: 850: Squeeky dash rectification

[Jonathan_angelo]

I recently came across a post on a different website which gives a procedure for tightening up the bolts which hold the dash in place.

The instruction are for a 1999 V70, however should be much the same for all pre 2001 cars.

I hope you find this useful as it has stopped the sqeek on my 850!

1) Remove the wiper arms:
(1.1) Use a Sharpy or something washable and mark where the wiper arms are. Just run it along the blade. This is so later you can put the arms back exactly where they came from.
(1.2) Remove the caps covering the nut on the wiper arms. There is a small notch on the arm. You can stick a small screwdriver blade in the notch and pop the cap off.
(1.3) Unbolt the wiper arms with a socket wrench.
(1.4) Remove the wiper arms.

(2) Remove the cowl over the wiper assembly:
(2.1) There are 5 torx screws holding the black plastic cowl over the wiper motor system. Remove them.
(2.2) Remove the long rubber trim on the top of the cowl
(2.3) Remove the short rubber trim around the fuse box.
(2.4) Remove the lid of the fuse box. There are 4 torx screws hold this down. You need to remove it to make room to slide the cowl back from the windscreen.
(2.5) Unclip the the two rubber water drain hoses from the cowl. There is one on each side of the car.
(2.6) Carefully slide the cowl towards the front of the car. Just a few mm will do it, until it is no longer under the windscreen rail.
(2.7) Lift the cowl out and away.

(3) Unbolt the wiper assembly:
(3.1) At this point you will have access to the bay that contains the wiper system. On the right side there is a black box with a paper filter. That is the cabin air filter.
(3.2) You need to loosen up the wiper assembly in order to get to two of the bolts that need to be tightened. There are two bolts that need to be removed. One is on the edge of the wiper bar and goes into the vertical wall. The other is on a horizontal surface on the center of the car. Remove these bolts.
(3.3) Loosen the wire harness. There is a wire bundle that goes to the fuse box the also goes over the wiper assembly system, right at the center bolt that you removed. You have to open up that clips that hold the bundle down so you can move the wires out of the way.

(4) Tighten up the 4 bolts.
(4.1) At this point you should be able to move the wiper assembly aside enough for a socket wrench to get a clean shot at two of the bolts.
(4.2) Tighten down the 4 bolts with a socket wrench. They are on the vertical wall separating the motor bay and the cabin. They are really easy to spot since they are the only bolts in the area. I was able to get two full turns on all 4 of my bolts.

(5) Clean up the dirt and leaves.
(5.1) While I had that cavity opened up under the cowl, I took the opportunity to clean it out. There was dirt and leaves in there, which I vacuumed out.
(5.2) I took out the paper air filter and washed it. It was filthy. I should replace it, but I don't have a job or money right now. So I sprayed it off real good with a pressure washer. A lot of dirt came out of it, and leaves and other plant life too.
(5.3) I also hosed off the cowl and cleared out the drain holes. They were caked with dirt and mud.

(6) Then reverse the process to put it all back together.
(6.1) Don't put the wiper arm caps back on until you have closed the bonnet and made sure the arms are where they are supposed to be. If you marked the angle in step 1.1, then this should be easy.
(6.2) Don't tighten down the bolts until you close the bonnet.
(6.3) Close the bonnet and test the wipers to make sure they clear the bonnet. If they are too low, they will hit the bonnet.
(6.4) Once you have the the arms at the proper angle, tighten the bolts and put the caps back on.

Good luck!!!

Jono