Waho1969 … Don’t be so fast on giving up your decade old friend !
There’s no doubt that your dash has to come off. And while time consuming it’s fairly straight forward. You’ll need an assortment of sockets, wrenches, extensions, and a universal socket adapter (like a universal joint). All very common tools. If you haven’t already used most of these then this may not be a project for you. Very basic stuff.
As you remove each nut, bolt, and washer, place it on a piece of cardboard in the approximate position that you removed it. Don’t rely on your memory. No need to even label anything because it will all make sense when you put it back together. A real time saver. PUT THE CARDBOARD SOME PLACE WHERE IT WON’T GET BUMPED, BETTER YET TAPE IT DOWN TO SOMETHING !!
First remove the ski slope trim. Remove the center console arm rest. Next remove the screws in the bottom of the console box and the two screw up where the magnets are that hold the lid down. Pull out the inner console box and ash tray.
Remove the two plastic wing nuts that hold down the rear of the ski slope (cleverly hidden). You have to reach up under there and spin them off (very awkward). Pull up the rear of the ski slope trim and gently work the whole piece off.
Unscrew the radio surround, unplug and remove the radio. Remove the two large bolts in the radio cavity. Very obvious. There are also two bolts in this area (on one either side) that pass through brass rods that have to be removed.
Remove the driver’s and passenger’s knee bolsters. Again keeptrack of what bolts and screws go where.
I recommend removing the steering wheel for much better access, super easy on LHD cars . On non-airbag models just pop off the center trim and unscrew the large nut holding the wheel on. Mark the position of the wheel to the shaft before you it pull it off.
Underneath the instrument cluster there are four small bolts (two on either side) that holds it on. The cluster comes out after unplugging about four electrical connectors. Just take your time and you’ll figure this out. Don’t worry, the connectors are all different so you can’t mix them up when reassembling.
Pull out the center air conditioning vent and remove the two bolts. Very obvious.
Remove the nuts/bolts at the far ends of the dash.
Other than unplugging a few other electrical connectors (that will become obvious as you remove the dash) you are done.
You can now access the two demister assemblies (which are probably broken) from the opening in the bottom of the dash and repair them.
**** Living in Dallas Texas my main concern was cooling so I completely removed the center vent assembly and added baffling which I made for better airflow to the side vents. The way the system is designed the only time the center vent opens is when air conditioning is selected. This prevents warm heated air from (God forbid) blowing in your face during heating. ****
Since the center vent vacuum actuator is a very high failure item, and … when it fails it fails to the CLOSED position, which means no more air-conditioned air can come out of the center vent. Jaguar’s thinking must have been… "in case of the actuator failing, not having cold air in the summer ismuch better than having warm air coming out of the center vent in the winter". Obviously they’ve never been to the USA in the middle of the summer !!!
On the OP’s 94, the steering column drops down so there’s no need to remove the steering wheel, plenty of clearance to remove dash - however, the 94 also has a passenger side airbag and that will have to be disarmed and removed too.
To access the passenger airbag, the wooden trim in front has to be unclipped. It unclips from the bottom and hinges upward exposing the bag mechanism and securing bolts etc. It has to be tilted forward into the disarm position, then removed.
When I reassembled my car after replacing the dash, I left the airbag out - it was probably way out of date/service life anyway.
thanks grooveman, description 1,2,3,4,5 I once did 2 times. for radio repair and once for my gear lever. I saw an upperdash for sale on ebay with photos and there you could see where the mounting points are. So I have an idea how it is attached. Now I also have to remove my airbag passenger side, but I have to be very careful with that, I think. Speaking of tools, I really have all the tools to disassemble it. Near my house is a wholesaler for good and cheap tools, so I have already bought half a garage of tools in the meantime. Good tools are half the work, they say.
Blokcitaat
that’s good to know. I was a bit afraid that there is a special method to remove it.
(few minutes later)
i read a post from mike stone about it in the mean time
and he describe you have to be really carefull
In the process of replacing the A/C blowers in my car I removed the
passenger-side airbag and thought I would share some pictures and
info about that process. Once the necessary bits have been removed
to expose it, the airbag module must be disarmed to make it safer
to handle and to allow removal of the lower mounting nuts. Note I
said ‘safer’ and not ‘safe’. Treat it with great respect, don’t
place your head or other valuable body parts in front of it, etc.
In other words, treat it like a loaded gun - with the safety off.
And whatever you do, do NOT drop it. This airbag is not
electrically activated, it is activated by impact i.e. mechanical
force. To disarm the module, press the tabs (on each end/side of
the module) on the spring-loaded, rotating plate upwards while
tilting the airbag itself downward. I had to wiggle the bag
slightly as I did this because the actuator on the back of the
module (toward the front of the vehicle) was contacting the inner
dash panel behind it. When rotated fully downward the bag
will ‘lock’ into the disarmed position and the lower mounting nuts
will be exposed. Hopefully this will make sense when you see the
pictures here: http://www.jag-lovers.org/v.htm?1372523948 .
Carefully support the module while the 4 mounting nuts are removed
(one upper, one lower each side)from the mounting studs, slide the
module rearward and CAREFULLY remove it to a safe place - that is,
somewhere where it won’t be dropped, knocked off (as a workbench),
or hit. I have a pdf file containing drawings and instructions for
the removal and disposition of both the driver- and passenger-side
airbags which I will gladly send in a private email if requested.
And now for the legal disclaimer: PLEASE NOTE that I share this
information for your use AT YOUR OWN RISK and DO NOT advocate
attempting this process yourself if you are at all uncomfortable
with doing so and/or don’t feel like the instructions are adequate.–
Mike Stone - 1994 XJ6/XJ40 - 162,XXX miles
Springfield, Missouri, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
Certainly the best thing about doing car projects these days is the internet. If you take the time to do your homework it provides a wealth of information on even the most obscure procedures, and more often even includes videos on it.
Sounds like you’re ready to go so good luck on removing the dash and keep us updated. I repaired both my demister assemblies years ago and they’re still going strong. When you remove them post some pictures of the damage. I’ve got a series of photos of how I repaired mine.
I can’t stress strongly enough how important it is to keep track of all the nuts and bolts you remove andthe area each came from. The second time I removed my dash I did this and it made all the difference in the world when it came to putting everything back together.
yes thanks I will follow your advice and take some pictures of it. Indeed the internet is really full of info. The first thing I always do before I start a repair is look up information how and what. so that you are not faced with surprises. I will keep you posted. Regards
In the first picture you see a copper plate from which 2 pipes come out. I am almost certain that rainwater is coming in under that plate. Only the rubber insulation is in front and it runs from the passenger side to the driver’s side. So if I wanted to find out I really have to remove everything. Now I’m thinking about cutting it in. Then I’ll paste it properly again later. Or I have to remove the motor of the windshield wiper and stuff (against the firewall) in the engine room then I’m on the other side I think.
on photo 2,3,4 5 you can see that I have removed my dashboard and indeed I have a broken demister flap. I will also test all vacuum vent actuators with vacuum pump and have also tested the 2 electric blend motors. Later also check all solenoids
so that I know that everything works and that I can then find the fault why my climate unit is not working properly.
