I'm trying to replace the dash wood trim (4 pieces) on my '94 XJS. Three pieces are easy to remove, but the main piece on the passenger side (the one with the "SRS" sign) is placing a total road block on this project because of the airbag behind it.

So far, nobody seems to have a "good" answer to this, other than removing the entire dash just to gain access to the assembly that needs to come out (with the wood trim piece on it), so the wood can be unscrewed (six nuts on the six studs that are part of the wood trim piece. Jeez!

To make it worse, I believe that this early airbag type is not electrically triggered and it can be very sensitive to sudden jerking/slip/bump, etc. and BAM!! explodes in your face. Not looking forward to that.

I know of a few people who are contemplating a replacement of the tired/cracked wood on their '94 or newer XJS and they all need an answer to this before jumping on the task. Probably should know even before the kit is purchased.

Anybody knows of a better, more comfortable method?
Tips welcome!

Reinaldo
Redondo Beach, CA

 

unplug the SRS.......
or unplug the battery.

 

Thanks for the response.

The Jag mechanic said with this older airbag (and sensor) version, pulling the plugs won't bail you out. I wouldn't have enough knowledge to challenge his statement with my own skin. I'd rather not take the chance. Maybe someone can confirm this issue either way?

 

if theres no power to the cricuit it will be fine. im not sure about older cars but newer cars have a back up battery that takes about 30 minutes to drain, so i would wait a while after unplugging.

 

The '94 has a mechanical trigger - fired by a strong jolt; no electrics involved so disconnecting the battery won't do a thing. Researching this myself. The wood in my '95 needs to be reveneered (I'll reveneer myself). The Florida sun has really ruined the wood, leather and paint of my car. I digress, take a look at the video on the Myrtle Products website and come back here...

 

That video is a manipulated advertising tool. The guy explains all the panels' removals in detail, except that he skips the inconvenient "SRS" panel removal steps. He just pulls that larger assembly with the "SRS" wood trim piece attached to it, as easy as opening a glove box, like if it was already pre-loosened for the video shooting. Then he goes on and on with the other pieces, but never shows how you remove the "SRS" wood trim fron that larger assembly either. In general, they didn't want to talk or to address the more complicated issues with that particular panel's removal and re-installation. I asked Myrtle the other day and they said: "One has to lie in the footwell looking up and rearwards with a quarter drive extension bar to remove them. Not the easiest of jobs".... but that statement alone is already much more than the video contributes in regards to the piece we're talking about.

Maybe I'll lay on the floor with a quarter inch rachet and give it my best. I hope I don't give that big boxing glove a chance to knock me out....

 

Marketing tool - to be sure.
I've been out in my car looking at this panel and the surrounding area. I think the first thing to be done is removing the passenger side knee bolster from under the dash and then...?

 

Well, then it'll be like I stated above, what Myrtle responded: "One has to lie in the footwell looking up and rearwards with a quarter drive extension bar to remove them (nuts)...Not the easiest of jobs".... I've looked up there and also used small hand mirror at different angles and I just don't see the nuts/studs joints. And I know exactly whereabouts those six junctions should be because I have the brand new piece in my hand, so I know the location of the six studs. What I can also see is that big bolt holding the far right end of the dash to the car....

 

Did you ever find a solution to this issue ? ......as I will be attempting this very task soon myself .............

 

Well, I was able to take the wooden trim from the passengers side off. It was actually very "easy": a few days of internet search, purchasing the Jaguar manual (and one old laptop as the manual will not work with Apple), purchasing a $10.00 special tool for $150.00, and a good 5 hours of labor, second man recommended for lifting the dashboard out.
You have to take the complete dashboard out in order to gain access to the 6 bolts the hold the wood trim. It is mounted on to the back of the dashboard. Airbags were not a problem, disconnect the battery and buy the special tool. There was a concern with the airbag going off in my face, but I could not find a better solution - I was lucky during the disassembly, I guess.

I have sent out the wooden trim parts to britishautowood.com in FL for re-finishing. I hope I will remember how to put it all back 3 weeks from now.

If you are interested in details send me an eMail at thomaslampe@yahoo.com. I can send you the instructions and some tips.

Overall, this job is doable. I am far from being a mechanic and all things electric.

 

I would love to hear more about this in detail, and I'm pretty sure so would many others.

Please try to take some photos while the dash and wood is out. I'd love to know what it looks like!

Thank you for updating this thread.

 

i wanna redo mine in polished aluminum, as my wood is cracked. i would like to know the removal process.

 

Thanks for your post, tried to send you an e-mail requesting further info, and it came back as undeliverable. Any pictures you have especially any of the back of the dash detailing how the airbag door is bolted to the dash would be greatly appreciated. I was hoping to remove the airbag door, and then deal with the SRS panel, but don't know if those bolts are accessible. Of course any other info you'd be willing to share will also be appreciated, Thanks again !

 

OK, here goes nothing.

The attachments will provide instructions on how to remove the fascia board (darn British have their own language, who knew that their “hood” is our convertible top and their “fascia board” is our dashboard?) and some pics of my project.

Here are some hints one may want to consider:

In order to remove the driver side airbag (there is no way around this as you need to remove the steering wheel, and there is no way around this either) you have to have the special tool JD159, which I found here for $141.00: SPX Jaguar | Detail. This tool should not cost more than $20.00, however there is a price to pay to driving a Jag. I do not see a work-around to this tool. I can provide a picture of this tool if requested.

Before you lift off the steering wheel, which is only held by a large center nut, make sure that you make markings in the center, so you know on how to place the steering wheel back into its correct position.

Removing the instrument module takes some wiggling; just make sure that you remove all three screws.

I recommend lifting the dashboard out with two people. Up to that point all can be done by one person. Removing the dashboard takes pushing, pulling, tweaking etc. and you surely do not want to break anything. When you remove the upper fascia retaining tube nut (page 76-92 fig.1 no. 3) you need to get yourself some long and skinny fingers. You can only access this nut through the center air vents all the way to the right. There is an oval washer sitting on top of the tube nut – make sure it does not fall where you cannot retrieve it. You could try to just loosen the tube nut a bit, this may work as well. I forgot what I did.

Once you have the dashboard out, take the two black brackets off on each side (see pics) and the airbag cover incl. the wooden board comes off. You take off the 6 nuts and then you have to pry off these 6 nasty washers with a pair of nose pliers or any suitable tool (I ended destroying mine, but they can be easily replaced).

Now looking at the pictures and knowing what I know now it seems to me that all one has to do is to take off the 2 black metal brackets which are held by 4 bolts and then voila – the cover pops out. If you can manage to do this WITHOUT removing the dashboard you save yourself a lot of time and owe me a beer (Heineken, please). However, I am not sure if this is possible as I sent the wooden parts to www.britishautowoods.com ($495.00) for refinishing and the car is in the paint shop. Then it takes another week for me to put it all together, so I will not have it back together for another 4 weeks or so to find out if your can remove the 2 brackets without taking the dashboard out. I will post an update.

Good luck. I cannot wait to get my ride back on the road.

 

Well, after reviewing Thomas' removal process, and knowing which bolts need ed to be taken out, I attempted this on Saturday. It would be extremely difficult to remove them with the dash in place, and almost impossible to replace them, so I set about removing the dash. Because I did not have the tool for disarming the DS airbag, i decided to try it with the steering wheel in place. Because of the tubular knee bolster support, under the column, it is impossible to completely remove the dash, but I did manage to pull the dash out far enough ?(with the wheel in place) to access the airbag door bolts. So here is another solution to replacing the SRS panel. Use all of Thomas' steps outlined above except the steering wheel removal, pull the dash out, and get behind to remove the airbag door. Not the easiest, but still better in my opinion than messing with airbags.
Again thanks to Thomas for his write up, which made this all possible.

 

@newguy

Thanks for documenting this process....... I'm sure it will be very helpful to others.

I guess what we are seeing is what happens when you (Jaguar) have to try and add all kinds of safety stuff that you never intended or envisioned to a design thats over 20 years old :-)

You can just imagine the groans from deep inside the drawing rooms of Coventry when someone from Safety & Compliance walks in, places an airbag module on the table and announces "Right chaps, we need 2 of these in the XJS.... any questions?"

 

You can just imagine the groans from deep inside the drawing rooms of Coventry when someone from Safety & Compliance walks in, places an airbag module on the table and announces "Right chaps, we need 2 of these in the XJS.... any questions?"[/QUOTE]

especially when you see the size of the mechanically activated airbag module they had to shoehorn in, where the glovebox used to live.......