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Mystery sponge

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:28 am
by Norm57
Hope someone can help. My repaired dash binacle (thanks Brinkie) should be back with me today or tomorrow. When I took it out some old sponge like material came away with it. I am guessing insulation or sound deadening?. My question is do I need to replace it and where exactly does it attach? It's in pieces so can I use something else if needs be?

Norman

Re: Mystery sponge

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:52 am
by dcwalker
Hi Norm

Sorry for never getting back to you about helping you on this - been swamped by life recently and it simply slipped my mind. Anyway, it sounds as if you succeeded in getting the instrument cluster out :D

The sponge was stuck on the RH side of the surround so that when it is in place it sat against the RH side of the instrument binnacle and in front of the light bar that goes up behind the 3 switches and headlamp switch. I think it was partly to stop rattling from there but more importantly to stop stray light shining out through the gap between the surround and the cluster.

If you look at the plastic frame that the switches clip into (screwed to the "back panel" of the fascia surround) you'll probably see dried out traces of the foam...if it is still in one piece, experiment with putting it in situ various ways round - it'll be obvious which is the right way when you do that.

Hope that helps!

David

Re: Mystery sponge

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:09 am
by Norm57
Thanks David, had an op on my right hand so broke speedo needle with my hamfisted left! Brinkie hopefully has worked his magic. Will see if I can salvage the remains and glue it back.

Cheers Norman

Re: Mystery sponge

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:35 pm
by brinkie
The instrument cluster is on its way, but somehow the tracking information got lost on its journey across the North Sea; both PostNL and Yodel don't know its current whereabouts. Don't be alarmed, and don't be surprised either when it will be delivered today!

Don't re-use the remains of the sponge, it will probably crumble to dust in your hands. I've seen this often on 480's where I removed the instrument cluster, you can leave it out completely, or put some fresh foam in. Take care that it doesn't touch the top right hand corner of the instrument cluster, because the 5 watt halogen bulb for the info centre will melt the foam. No fire hazard, it just smells bad.

Re: Mystery sponge

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 8:39 am
by Norm57
brinkie wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:35 pm
The instrument cluster is on its way, but somehow the tracking information got lost on its journey across the North Sea; both PostNL and Yodel don't know its current whereabouts. Don't be alarmed, and don't be surprised either when it will be delivered today!

Don't re-use the remains of the sponge, it will probably crumble to dust in your hands. I've seen this often on 480's where I removed the instrument cluster, you can leave it out completely, or put some fresh foam in. Take care that it doesn't touch the top right hand corner of the instrument cluster, because the 5 watt halogen bulb for the info centre will melt the foam. No fire hazard, it just smells bad.
Thanks Robert, it's in pieces so probably will not go back in anyway. I think I will leave it out and see how it goes, if the problem that David described appears I will have to have a rethink.