DashBoard Creak (Fabia)

[Armegatron]

Its been annoying me for weeks, and I decided that while Im off college with man flu, Ill fix the creak. Armed with 6 plastic cards, I managed to get the vents out and (hopefully) fix the problem. Heres a guide avec pictures...

To stop anything that may snap (god forbid) falling into an abyss, put the heaters onto the feet position.

Heres the hard bit. Use the cards to release the retaining clips which are circled (there are another 4 under these too in the same positions).

If its too tight a fit with 3 cards under and 3 cards above just use 3 under, and gently prize the top part away (this is abit more risky as you need a fair bit more force and the clips could snap). The top should protrude about 3-5mm, then you can "wiggle" the bottom out fully.

Heres some close up pics of the clips:

Dont pull the vents fully out, as you need to unclip the hazzard light switch from the vents first!

Once you have the vents out its plain sailing.

Now you need to choose your method of taking up the gap.

From awt41 - If you use a long thin screwdriver or something similar, you can just manage to push some foam into the gap between the bracket and the top of the dashboard. Pack it in tight.

I know it looks daunting, especially with the ventilation cups and the metal bracket down the middle - but it can be done!

It cured the problem on mine - see recent thread.

Regards, awt41

Alternativly,

From Bingyp - Hi there everyone,

I've also used the cork method, and so far it is a succcess. Dash seemed to be getting noisier and was driving me potty so I gave it a go.

I didn't use the same method as the above, slightly more unusual tools!!

On removing the vents, the bracket to wedge is central, about 6 inches in and underneath where the ridge on the dash is. I say central but I got better access from the driver's side vent.

Looking at the bracket, there is a gap at the bottom about 2-3 mm.

I cut the cork length ways. The cork is then 'D' shaped. the flat part goes to the bottom.

Thanks to skomaz' excellent advice I tried it with a small chamfer but couldn't get the cork to go in very far. So I then cut a much flatter angle, leaving the leading edge around 2-3 mm as per the gap.

To offer the cut cork to the bracket, I used a wooden chopstick about 10 inch long. Sticking the cork onto the pointy end of the chop stick firmly gave good control as the cork is put in position.

Once the cork is where it needs to be, I slowly rotated the chopstick to release the cork.

To push the cork more firmly home, I used the shaft of a small-headed hammer to gently, repeatedly knock it home. Securing the shaft with a 'pool-cue' type grip gave nice control as I tamped the cork home.

And that's it. The cork seems nicely seated, wedged in the bracket. There are now no squeaks from the dash so I can now hear all the noises from the trim/seats etc!!

It was a simple, painless job. If I can do it then anyone can.

Hope this helps someone.

Regards,

Bingy

Whichever you choose, your aiming for this part which looks like a top hat metal section, its behind a greyish plastic vertical support strut. I cant really describe it, but youll know what part when you see it.

Oh, and I thought it would be ideal if I sorted out my head unit at the same time and heres the result:rolleyes: :

Hope this helps everyone who is turning deaf because they had to turn the radio so loud in order to drown out the mouse under the dash!

Mike Pembo

[seano47]

Thanks alot i thought it was just my VRS that made this noise lol

will av a go at sorting it at the weekend

[Armegatron]

Thanks alot i thought it was just my VRS that made this noise lol

will av a go at sorting it at the weekend

Your very welcome! PM me if you need anymore info.

[lakeywhite]

My set up seems to be different to this, when I start to remove the fascia part of the vent it seems to leave behind the louvre and adjustment dials. I have not looked further into it as I didn't have much time, so I put it back.

[Armegatron]

My set up seems to be different to this, when I start to remove the fascia part of the vent it seems to leave behind the louvre and adjustment dials. I have not looked further into it as I didn't have much time, so I put it back.

Sounds like the facia clips are detaching instead of the full unit coming out.

These are the locations of the clips that are coming undone I presume on yours:

It may be easier to remove the radio and put your hand up behind the vents and push it out that way :confused: Give it a try :P

[echase]

Not quite clear where to put the half cork. I have put mine 6" in front of the greyish plastic vertical support strut. It's inside the top hat and underneath 2 diagonal plastic struts that slope down from above.

Photo (double click on it) taken from left vent shows the top hat to right of cork and one of these sloping plastic struts above it. Is this the right place?

When pulling out the vents 4 of the spring clips detached from the vent and one fell inside. Maybe I had got the credit cards below the top clips rather than above them. Took me 3 hours of dismantling the central fascia to find it. Not helped by Halfords selling me the wrong radio removal tool.

[Rob.]

I have put mine 6" in front of the greyish plastic vertical support strut. It's inside the top hat and underneath 2 diagonal plastic struts that slope down from above.

Well, that's where I stuffed an almighty amount of packaging foam from a HDD! Seems to have fixed my squeek... Now to cure the 2 other major noises (the plastic trim that goes over the high level brake light rattles between 1000-1500rpm.. and summint aint down proper like, in the boot!

anyways.. just wanted to confirm the location as correct and your description as perfect!..

two plastic supports come down from the dash at an angle.. the aim is to stuff something under these and in the top hat metal bracket to push UP on the plastic supports! and stop the flexing.. wherever it actually is!

[linc1]

Thanks everyone for this info about the source of the squeak! I followed the directions and stuffed some packaging material underneath the two plastic struts and it seems to have pretty much cured the noise for now. The method I used was to cut a long (about 1.5 metre) strip of thin packaging foam, about 5cm wide, and then push it into the gap using a cutlery knife, starting from one end of the strip and feeding it in gradually. This has the advantage that you can't drop it inside the dash by accident as you have hold of one end!

[dxg]

Is this to cure a "mouse-like" creak or a loud "plastic on plastic" rattle?

I've got really bad rattling coming from this area (and now from in front of the dash pod) and am wondering if it's the same thing (I'm beginning to fear it's the dash support / cross-brace)...

BTW I've been using bits of pipe insulation to cure the other creaks and rattles with pretty good success so far...

[fabiash]

I put an uncut cork just behind the plastic pillar in the centre in each of these pics at the bottom.

Is that right?

BTW I thought the hardest part was taking the hazard out from the middle.

[Armegatron]

I put an uncut cork just behind the plastic pillar in the centre in each of these pics at the bottom.

Is that right?

BTW I thought the hardest part was taking the hazard out from the middle.

Yes, should be. If it stops the squeek then WINNER:D

[fabiash]

Well it has reduced it alot.

I dropped one cork down the back into the ablyss.

Is there anything it could get caught on?

[PhilTop]

Thanks to this thread I fixed my rattle today. Lost one of the clips and 2 others broke so I had to super glue them but apart from that it was a success. Well, I haven't been on a long drive yet but when I popped down the road there was no longer a rattle.

It was harder to remove the vent than I expected and although I used 6 credit cards, I found that prizing out the bottom first was the easiest option. I used a plastic floor spacer cut in half and wedged it into the gap whilst loosely taped to a long screwdriver and it seems to be stuck well in there. Not sure if other people had to do this but I needed to guide the vent back into place using the credit cards positioned under the clips as they were catching.

Thanks to everybody who has contributed to the thread.

[lennyoberon]

Thanks for that PEMBO only picked our fabia up the other day and two things have been driving me mad!! 1) the engine light has come on (egr valve) and 2) the dashboard was doing my head in, at least one thing is off the list.

By the way I used about 40mm of hose pipe rammed full of cloth to stop it from collapsing. Went in really easy and squidged in nice and snug.

Thanks again, the radio can now be turned down to a sensible volume.

[Armegatron]

Thanks for that PEMBO only picked our fabia up the other day and two things have been driving me mad!! 1) the engine light has come on (egr valve) and 2) the dashboard was doing my head in, at least one thing is off the list.

By the way I used about 40mm of hose pipe rammed full of cloth to stop it from collapsing. Went in really easy and squidged in nice and snug.

Thanks again, the radio can now be turned down to a sensible volume.

Not a problem I have the EGR issue too, but been ignoring it for sometime now as it occasionally goes back off.

If you do get any progress on your EGR though do send me a PM as Id be interested in how you manage with it.

[glasgow-westend]

I've been trying to fix the notorious dashboard creak on my 2002 Fabia TDI for years. Recently it has got a lot worse and has been doing my head in. Thanks for this thread the problem is now fixed! The key is to put the wedging material into the metal "top hat" bracket to stop the two horizontal plastic members above it creaking against it. So hats off to PEMBO for isolating the problem to this component, as randomly stuffing wadding in behind the heater ducts just doesn't work. I went in and removed a huge amount of sponge wadding my Skoda dealer put in when I first had the problem years ago. I then wedged a piece of folded over bicycle inner tube from a knackered tube into the top hat. My Fabia is now purring along with no irritating trim noises to spoil the driving experience.

[vanagonjon]

AMAZING!!! both of the Mk1 Fabias that I have owned have suffered from this blasted squeak and now it's gone!! Thanks for saving my sanity :-)

JON

[Woolfy]

Fantastic guide this

My dash squeak has gone thanks to the clever positioning of a shaped to fit cork in just the place suggested.

I'd never have known where to start without this guide:thumbup:

[Kablam]

I'm either really stupid and am failing to follow this guide or I've got a special squeek, either way I haven't managed to stop it by padding out what I assume I'm supposed to.

Could someone do me a favour and take a picture of it finished before the vents go back in to confirm either of my fears.

[Woolfy]

I'm either really stupid and am failing to follow this guide or I've got a special squeek, either way I haven't managed to stop it by padding out what I assume I'm supposed to.

Could someone do me a favour and take a picture of it finished before the vents go back in to confirm either of my fears.

Hmmm. Me too, my squeak has returned, and after a whole journey without it, it is really annoying.

It might be that the cork has dropped out (as it did seem to cure it) or, like Kablam, I am really stupid or I have a 'special' squeak.

Piccies would be good, anyone?

Edited 21 September, 2009 by Woolfy
still rubbish at typing - new fangled computers - humbug

[mark.r.cullen]

Thanks for the guide.

Just done this on mine. Took me a while to figure out how to get the vents out. I ended up using four cards on the bottom four clips, then used the car key to pry it out from the bottom left and right sides. It needed a bit of force but once it was a few mm's out at the bottom it was quite easy.

I then wondered where this metal top hat was. Hint: use a torch and look from the drivers side! I stuffed as much foam in there as I could with a long metal pokey stick (long screwdriver should work fine!). To test the rattle I reversed gently to 'biting point' with the handbrake on, varying between different amounts of clutch and throttle. I still had a rattle, which seemed to be something to do with a thick loom of wire around that area down to the left, more easily accessible by removing the head unit. I pulled on the wire a bit away from the plastic and it disappeared, but for good measure I wedged a couple of bits of foam between the wire and dash plastics.

I now seem to be rattle free... from the dash area at least!

[ctiltman]

I also managed to do this after acquiring my new car, thank you very much! And i only lost 1 of the metal clips!!!

[Barkballz]

sorry to re live this old thread but i have an incredibly annoying squeak in my furby vrs that only exists when travelling in excess for about 40mph on a not particular smooth road (country lanes)

this actually drives me insane.. (im one of those people)

if i apply pressure to the bit of trim under the steering wheel - the equivalent to the underside of the dash where the little "shelf' is - it stops, but its kinda inconveniant to drive constantly like this.

my question is this part described by the OP the cause of this particular squeak or is this a different one? i have yet to take it off and inspect as its one of those things that only temporarily winds the crap out of me and i usually forget about it by the time i get home.

thanks

Andrew

[ap0gee1978]

Different squeak, I'm afraid, although as the part you're describing is screwed in place, you may be able to sort it by just loosening off the screws, giving it a good bash with a rubber mallet or even your fist to make sure it's located properly, and then tightening everything up again...

HTH

[Barkballz]

Different squeak, I'm afraid, although as the part you're describing is screwed in place, you may be able to sort it by just loosening off the screws, giving it a good bash with a rubber mallet or even your fist to make sure it's located properly, and then tightening everything up again...

HTH

I thought this was the case, it's one of those that annoy you on country lanes when your booting it a bit but by the time you get home and have slowed for the residential area's it disappears and with that the hope of rectifying it. Must do it when this rain fades!!

Andrew