So it feels like every time i go over an expansion joint or pothole my entire dash is about to shake loose. ‘00 XJR with 90k miles on it. You can see the dash visibly shake. New shocks on it so I presume that is not the problem. Has anyone ever dissected the whole dash and tightened things up? Thoughts?

 

Welcome SublimeXJR, where are you at up there...Lake Placid? Just a recommendation, put your Jags specs in your Signature so you don't have to post it all the time and we don't have to ask if you forget...or if the thread gets long we don't have to chase it back to the first post, feel free to put up other vehicles you may have as well.

First word of warning, finding replacement pieces aren't going to be in much better condition from a recycle yard or eBay (they are all sun dried). If you can source a re-popped piece from say SNG Barrett, it'll cost you. One of my favorite sources is David at Jaguar Parts - EverydayXJ ...he always comes across new old stock or well preserved pieces....there are some others you may find with some hunting. Take disassembly pics as well to insure proper reassembly...or at least hopefully the PO reassembled it properly. In that case just come back here and ask.

You are more than likely not just tightening things up, you will be dealing with sun dried cracked/broken mounting points. Using plastic body panel tools (easily obtainable from Amazon) you will have to take off the wood panels. The hardest to get off will be the passenger side airbag one, but it will come off as you work it and when it does it may pop off but will be tethered so as not to kill the passenger if the airbag to be deployed during an accident. Don't worry, it won't blow taking off the wood panel.

You need to be somewhat careful because you don't want to create more broken mounts. The mounting points aren't the only area sun dried, it's the whole panel, this will include the slip clip recesses that hold the wood panels on. To get the area around the radio off, put your emergency brake on, turn the key to ACC, bring the shifter back and remove the knob. Lift the shift bezel straight up, remove the retention plate, then remove the wood. You can put the shifter back in park and remove the key to stop the incessant dinging. Recommend putting a towel over the shift indicator, they scratch easy. If your interested in a custom shift knob or need wood panel repair let me know, I can refer you to a great source, he's done work for many on site here.

To get your instrument dash case out, again...key to ACC, bring the steering column back and down as far as it goes...then remove the wood trim. You can remove the wood without the column being down, but you'll have a bit more room this way. To remove your instrument cluster, use a 6" magnetic tip fillips driver, the wells are deep or get a magnetic pickup. Be careful on reinstall, make sure the wells line up with the screw mount and be snug, not tight with reapplication.
Just remember, once you bring the key back from ACC and remove it the column returns to its up exit position.

 

Check out my LS swap thread. I switched out the entire interior (down to bare metal) from my parts car XJR into the project car XJ8. A lot of work. Removing dash was a bear. There are pics of some of the bolts besides the ones under the covers on the side of the dash. If memory serves me, there is also one you can't see until facia is off.

 

Thanks, @pcolapacker! Will def check it out.

@HighHorse - yes, Lake Placid! Signature updated!

 

Sounds like worn dash mounts or loose fasteners. You might also check the subframe and suspension bushings, as excess vibration can transfer to the dash.

 

Good idea. Thanks!

 

I’m willing to bet that someone had the dashboard out at one point and left a few (many) fasteners out and/or loose causing your noise.

This may be pseudo helpful.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...r-time-223146/

 

I pulled mine apart after I wrecked my car, mostly out of curiousity to see if I could track down where my air draft at highway speeds had been coming from. Never tracked down the draft, but I did notice that the dash leather/foam cover was kind of debonding from its frame, particularly in the area under the windshield. Don't think I have any photos, but it was the same kind of brown foam that has plagued the headliners on these and other Jags of this era. Maybe your adhesive has failed the same way and it's causing the issue. No way to really know until you pull the dash though, but once you do it'll be obvious.

Pulling the dash didn't actually seem all that bad. Mostly, there is a LOT of prep work with pulling the center console, all the controls, center vents, steering wheel and all steering wheel controls, etc. There is also some brackets underneath the dash along the transmission tunnel you need to get, as well as a couple ground studs along the transmission tunnel you need to undo. And connectors hidden in the kick panels, tucked behind the carpet. After most of that stuff there's really only a few critical bolts holding it in.

If you don't have the workshop manual, absolutely get that before diving into it. Just note the locations it has for those ground studs is wrong...
And make sure not to loosen any of the support brackets once you remove the dash, the ones that affect alignment.