This is something that has been bothering me for a while and a while back I discovered these directions to fix the problem. I thought I would expand on these with my own experiences in an effort to make this as easy as possible.

The problem stems not from the way the vents sit in the dash, but that the tabs that hold the vents in come loose and pop up the dash.

Vent Removal
The first thing that needs to be done is to remove both vents. The vents are held down by sliding over tabs in the rear (towards the front of the car) and and clips at the front.


Here you can see the clip sticking up at the top of the image. The box that sticks towards the viewer go over the tabs that are at the back of the dash (the tabs that come loose and cause this problem)

There are numerous clips along the front of the vent that need to be pressed backwards (to the front of the car) while the vent is pulled upward. I used a screwdriver, while the original author used a plastic scraper. A putty knife will not work, because the clips require a surprising amount of force to push forward enough to get the vents out. Use caution and I recommend doing this on a warm day, because these clips are all plastic.


Work your way from one end towards the other or from the center outward depending on how loose your vents are. If most of the old cement has come loose the vents should be easier to pop out.


You will also notice some black tape that was used to either help hold the vents in and/or to reduce rattles. I removed as much as I could and discarded it.



Depending on age and how much sun/heat your car has been exposed to, you should see the back bowing up with the metal tabs well above where they should be.

At this point we are going to glue the entire back edge back down. I used a two part epoxy made by gorrilla glue. Using an epoxy like this is as simple as squirting the two parts out of the tube (they come out in the proper ratio) and mixing them. Use plenty of exopy to ensure they last a while (and can handle the force that will be required to get them back in). Don't worry too much about a little oozing out as it will not be seen below the vents.

You will need to hold the lose trim down while the epoxy dries. I was hoping to use clamps for this, but there is nothing in the vent itself to clamp to, so I used rolled up rags to wedge between the windshield.


If you were messy in the previous step, make sure that the epoxy doesn't dry the rags to the dash or vent opening.

Let the whole thing cure for the length your adhesive recommends. Don't skimp on this since you don't want to have to redo any of this.


Voilà, everything should be good and tight when it cures.

Reinstallation
Due to the tabs being where they were from the factory, and the lack of instructions from the original source, I assumed the vents should go back in easily…boy was I ever wrong!

Essentially, the vents go back in the opposite as they came out, but it isn't that simple.

Start back tilting the vents so the back goes in first. You have to make sure that the vents go over every tab at the back. This isn't easy since part of the vent goes into the duct and tries to push the vent upward and now that the tabs are glued back nice and low it is easy to slip the vent over top of one or two of these tabs. Before you start with the front tabs make sure you didn't miss one of the back tabs. You want to mess with the front tabs as little as possible since they are plastic.

Once you are sure that you didn't miss a tab, you will push on the vent backwards with quite a bit of force. You also need to push downward, but not so hard as to push the front tabs flat. These front tabs need to be pushed backwards far enough to pop behind the front of the vent. Use your screwdriver or whatever you used before, for this. Work your way from one end to the other while carefully holding the vent so it doesn't pop out of position or slide off of the back tabs.

This entire process will be frustrating as the vent tries to move out of position. It is difficult to reach and your are trying to do about three things at once. If you are right handed I recommend doing the left vent first as it will be easier to reach and you will get a better idea of what you are doing.(this almost seems counterintuitive, but trust me on this)

Congratulations, you are finished and no longer have any rattles.

 

Whew! Glad mine are tight and don't make any noise.

 

Thanks, this should be FAQed , I will let h20 organize this

 

No kidding! I'd rather change the bushings or replace dashboard lights. That looks pretty tough.

 

(subscribed) Thanks for the thread, I will be redoing mine any day now.

 

FAQd for all your hard work Kevin.

 

Thanks for sharing Keith.....nice write up

 

It's Keith, by the way Thanks guys.

 

Matt how could you??
I apologise on his behalf Keith

Thanks again

 

sorry, I had kevin stuck in my head for some reason, though I knew it didn't sound correct...apologies! keith...keith...keith... and I can picture you driving your car top down on that back road for us to listen to your exhaust (on a windy day too). That's how I will remember you.

 

About a year ago, I took approx 2 ft lengths of 3/8 inch vacuum line and fit them snugly into the space between the defrost vents and the windshield. The vents haven't rattled a peep since.

 

Here's another idea for you guys - much easier, cleaner, and quicker. To confirm that the vents were indeed my rattle's source, I stuffed paper towels between the vents and glass (the rag stuffing photo above is a perfect depiction of what I did). With paper thus squished in, there were no more rattles. Eureka, rattle found !! Then I read various "remove-glue-reset wrist bones" threads and declared surrender until the windshield breaks.

But it struck me that if the paper-stuffing worked, why not make it the permanent solution. In lieu of paper, I opted for 6 feet of 5/8 inch caulking backer rod (available from building supply stores in packets or bulk). Backer rod is a continuous foam "rope" of various diameters that is stuffed into large cracks ahead of caulking. The rod prevents caulk from going farther into cracks than is necessary. Any color is fine because very little, if any, will show. Be aware that 1/2 inch is too narrow and slips out in places and 3/4 inch is too wide to fall out of sight at the mid-dash. Just stuff the rod atop the dash from one end to the other with something thin and handy. Keep stuffing until the rod is out of normal sight (i.e., behing winshield black edging) but not beyond the front lips of the vents. If you screw up, just pull the whole or part of the rod out and start again. The whole process took about 20 minutes, looks neat and professional, and WORKS super well. Good luck

 

Oops. I just read Skid Mark's solution and other than choice of material, it's the same as my foam rod. However, a caution: I tried rubber and plastic/clear tubing prior to settling on the foam rod. I found that foam is superior because it retains pressure on the vents equally throughout the length and resists temperature changes best. When cold, rubber and plastic tubing squeeks like a bankshee.

 

Hey Boris, it's no problem. I didn't copyright it or anything. I probably did use 5/8 vacuum line, it's been so long ago now I forgot. In my case, with the black interior, the vacuum line blended in with the dashboard trim perfectly. It sits pushed about halfway into the space, but looks like a rounded trim piece from the driver's perspective. Haven't had any squeaking, the only thing it's done is settle a bit towards the middle where the gap was a little wider, but overall the friction from the rubber line keeps it sung against both sides of the gap. I see it as a permanent fix, unless some of the line decays from sun or heat, and then I'll just pull it out and replace it.

That's not to say that I won't give your caulking rod a look see when the time comes! That's a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself!

 

Isn't it wonderful how simple things can work out really well? Sure wish I had similarly successful results with the electrics.

 

Just in case anyone needs a laugh this morning;

When I had the car inspected pre-purchase, 2008, They listed as one of the To-Do's:

Loud rattle in dashboard :577$ to disassemble and repair. I decided to just live with it, and later discovered it is these two plastic vents. (Jaguar parts = 55$ each)

I'm going to make a pattern and make a felt insert. I will upload the pics/template as soon as I get going on that.

 

Electronics success? In a Jaguar?

 

Wow great write up by Keith on how to do the job right. My vent rattle started only at red lights! When car is in drive and foot is on brake it would hum and then rattle, once the light turned green it went away. A year later it began to rattle all the time. I pushed a small rubber grommet between the glass and dash and it went away...until the grommet fell thru. I'll try the caulking rod, this seems to be the easiest method as I have little patience for fiddling with things. Thanks to all for great info!

 

added hint:

to prevent the rags sticking to the adhesive, spray WD-40 on a piece of aluminum foil, wipe lightly to remove excess, then lay foil on top of dash before stuffing rags.

++

 

Thanks for the great write ups on this problem. My vents are not rattling at the present time, I just have the ends sticking up a little. When they start rattling I will use Keith's method, but I agree with Rev Sam this sounds like a JOB to do as the space is tight there. Thanks again to everybody for your input.

wcnesta