I looked for better pics but sadly I dont have any. I am trying to remember how i did it. It seems like if you unplug that actuator that's holding that flap it may be easier to prop open. My fingers seem to be saying they did it, but im thinking long pliers in the center hole to pick up till you can grab at the top. Also, looking at your pics, I think I see both flappers. Im sad for you if thats the case. Maybe taking the dash out is the better option for you. Then you could just pull the ducts out and (as they say) Bobs yer uncle. I just hate the idea of removing that much of the car....... and then having to put it back. Yeesh! I have a spare Haynes if you need one.....

 

I have successfully removed the instrument cluster and I am now trying to figure out how to actually remove the whole dash pad assembly.
I looked in the Haynes manual pdf that Don posted and it does not seem to actually discuss how to remove the dash pad assembly.
I am looking through Don's old Jag-Lovers.org photo albums but I have not found any hints there either.
I found a post from 2015 by someone named Guillaume who details steps to access the AC condenser and to do this he describes doing a lot more stuff to the car than I need to do. However he gets to the point where he talks about actually removing the dash assembly and says "Unscrew 2 large nuts on each side, as well as 1 nut on bracket behind air bag assembly" but he doesn't actually say or show where these two nuts are.

 

OK, I got the dash top assembly loose but not out. The two large "nuts" on each end that Guillaume mentioned are actually BOLTS, not "nuts"
I have each end of the dash top assembly loose and after locating the two screws that go down into the top of the center console, the dash assembly is almost loose but there seems to be something still attached at the front center edge, closest to the windshield at the center of the car. I tried removing the screw that held the demister grills onto the top of the dash but that did not gain me anything.

I found something on another random site where they talk about "Disconnect the hoses to the vent system- remember to mark them!" so maybe since the dash top assembly is loose but not actually coming out, perhaps I missed some air vent hose connections somewhere up in the center front of the dash top. Maybe there are air supply hoses to the front demister vents that I need to remove.

 

So I think what is holding me up from removing the loosened dash top is the two defrost flaps that have fallen partially down into the heater box.
So this means I need to move those vent flaps before I can pull the dash top out but I cannot GET to the fallen vent flaps until I have the dash top out!

ARGH!!!!

Any suggestions would be most welcome at this point.

 

I assume you have stepped back and are taking a breath. Good choice. Did you remove the screw behind the airbag that you say Gillaume mentioned? As far as getting to those flaps here is this as a suggestion.... unplug that vac hose from the center dashpot inside the vent. Hold That flap open with a hacksaw blade set in tall-ways at one side- it's flat and won't take up space. Now you should be able to see the fallen flap. Use a Long pair of needle nose pliers or maybe a fingertip to move the flap closer to the top opening. It will be a "little by little" action but I promise that's how I did it. Also, I like to use Beethoven to help keep my mind from exploding on these little projects... just putting that out there.

 

Yes, as it was 1:30AM in the morning I decided to call it a night. I put the instrument cluster back into the car and I was able to drive it back home.
Unfortunately in moving the semi-loose dash top around, the fallen flaps have moved and the flaps for the center vents are now not able to move as much as before so I cannot even see the fallen flaps inside the box any more.

 

Steve,

You may have already found these, but I think I recall two screws inside the center air vent that had to be removed before the dash would come out. You mentioned two screws at the top of the center console - were they actually accessed inside the center air vent opening?

Cheers,

Don

 

Im following this thread! My heater works but I only get heat from the rear vents. The front only give me cold air. Its the only thing that makes me curse at my car in the winter.

 

Yes, I got those two screws inside the center air vent area. As I said the dash top is loose and can be wiggled around but is definitely being blocked from coming out by the fallen flaps.
I am positive of this.

 

Jerry may recall for sure, but I think the ends of the demist flaps that are still attached to your dash just have plastic pins that slip into holes in plastic tabs at each end, so if you could pull each flap toward the center of the dash, they may fall completely free.

If that doesn't work or my memory is faulty, you might be able to reach down into the vents and snag the flaps with a long O-ring pick like these:



You might also be able to use a strip of duct tape to pull the flaps up - use a pencil, dowel, etc. to push the end of a 12-inch strip of tape down onto the flap, then gently lift the flap upward and adhere the strip of tape to the dash to hold the flap up while you remove the dash cover.

Cheers,

Don

 

As seen in my pic of the parts on the workbench the pivot pins are part of the defrost grilles. Your dash may be hanging up on the ductwork coming up from the main box but recalling how far down mine was and your own pics of yours make me seriously doubt that it's your flaps. Could you post a pic of the under of yours and maybe we can spot something out for you. Another set of eyes and all.....
Also, Don, does the dash just flop out once it's unfastened, or does it need a tug or maybe a pickup to free it?

 

My recollection is that it has a bit of a friction fit, and also has to be lifted upward to the degree possible to clear things that will hang up on its underside. There are electrical connections for the solar sensor and on the later cars there are electrical connections for the tweeters. I can't remember if there were any other connectors.

Wait, are there vacuum hoses connected to the solenoids for the demist flaps?

 

Yes there are, but I can grab those lines and wiggle them about and hear the loose flaps or vacuum actuator moving around under the dash. The vacuum lines come out on the passengers side just behind where the airbag or glove box would be.

 

I guess you know your fate then!

 

sorry- double entry

 

 ​Pulling the center vent stuff out to look inside the top of the heater box to see if you can see the fallen defrost flaps is a fairly simple thing to do so I would start with that. There are four robust metal spring clips on the back side of the wood trim panel around the center vent and once you get one corner or one end up, it is not too difficult to get the other clips to release. After you have this wood trim panel off, the plastic part of the center vent just pulls out. Then you can look into the area behind that to see the center vent flap doors. You can try to push those back (they swing back from a top mounted hinge) to see if your problem is the same as mine.

If you do this simple first investigative step, it is simple to put stuff back together to continue using the car.

 

So today it was quite warm here in NE Ohio and I was able to work up the enthusiasm to go out and work on my problem with removing the dash from my car with the no heat issue.
After once again pulling the instrument cluster back out and fiddling around trying to peer through the little openings I had when I pushed the center vent doors open I found that one of the fallen defrost doors had moved out of the heater box.
It somehow had magically slid out of the way and moved to the outside edge of the dash so it was no longer blocking the dash from pulling out of the car.
However the other defrost door was still dropped down in the heater box and was still in a position where it was an obstruction to pulling the dash out.
So I got to looking around and saw some additional screws in the dash just outside of the area covering the heater box.


Screws on driver's (USA car) of the dash

Screws on passenger's side of the dash on LHD US car

Once I removed these two screws on each side (for a total of four screws) I discovered the center vent door assembly that I had been struggling to reach through was now detached from the back side of the dash.
I was then able to move this around a little bit and get better access with my fingers to reach the fallen defrost door. Once I moved that fallen defrost door up out of the heater box, I was then able to EASILY pull the dash out of the car.
YAHOO!

BTW, for anyone else who may be contemplating this same job, it would be VERY difficult to get the center vent door assembly back into place after removing these screws if you are not going to pull the dash out of the car afterwards.
I.E. It is only possible to correctly position the center vent assembly back into the proper spot and put these four screws back into place when the dash is out of the car and flipped upside down.
So if you are not intending on removing the dash I would strongly advise you not to remove these screws.

Now that I have the dash out of the car and flipped over I can see what has gone wrong with these defrost doors that had been obstructing the movement of the dash.
BOTH defrost doors are broken away from the vacuum pots that are supposed to actuate them in EXACTLY the same manner.


broken defrost doors



Vacuum pots that are supposed to control the movement of the defrost doors

After I got this great progress made, I put the dash and instrument cluster back into the car so I could continue to drive it around.

So my next problem is how to repair these broken plastic defrost doors so they are reattached properly to the two vacuum pots that are attached to the underside of the dash.
How have other folks here reattached these defrost doors to the vacuum pots?

BTW, for anyone who has a large high resolution monitor and is interested in seeing the full the original full size photos instead of these reduced size pictures, I can provide those.

 

Before I re-installed the dash, I removed the plastic parts and vacuum pots for the defrost assembly from the under side if the dash so I could work on them on the bench.
Here is a photo of the pieces sort of set back together with arrows pointing to where they are broken.



I did check the vacuum pots and them seem to work fine. I.E. I can push the levers fully into the pot, put my finger over the vacuum port and the levers stay depressed until I remove my finger.