Cracked Defroster Vents in Dash

ASSISTANCE Interior
1

I’ve got a 91 LS and the defroster vents up near the windshield are super brittle from age. They’ve been slowly cracking more and more to the point that hitting even a small bump in the road causes a loud plastic creak and pop sound. It makes driving the car kind of annoying.

As far as I can tell these are attached to the dash and aren’t replaceable on their own. Has anyone ever had a similar problem and found out a way to repair them? I tried some epoxy in a few places but it didn’t hold for more than a day. I’d like to avoid replacing the entire dash if possible. Any help or advice is appreciated.

2

x2, I’ve been wondering if they were permanently attached, either way I’m sure the dash will have to come out to fix them correctly. I’ve been thinking of taking the dash out and putting thin aluminum strips on the under side on even them out and hold them flat. Not pulling the dash just for that tho, so maybe a dash cover is in order for now.

3

I don’t have a a picture but it seems like the problem with mine are the little vanes that run from front to back that make up the grid for the vent. They are either broken away completely or just from one side so they creak and rattle as the car shifts. I’m like you, I don’t want to pull the whole dash just for this but it may come to that.
Hopefully someone will chime in who has found a simple fix.

4

The “vents” are part of the dash, you will need to replace the dash, [most of it]… #2 http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/acura/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=INTEGRA&catcgry2=1993&catcgry3=3DR+LS&catcgry4=KL4AT&catcgry5=INSTRUMENT+PANEL&ListAll=All&vinsrch=no&systemcomp=List All&vinnoT=&trim=&trans=&view=normal. 94

5

I thought I would post my solution to this problem in case anyone else suffered through the same annoying dash creaking. I started thinking about taking the dash out to try and fix the cracked defroster vents, which I assumed were causing the annoying plastic creaking noise whenever I hit bumps or made a sharp turn.

I noticed in the service manual that there is a dash board mounting bolt right behind the clock. It occurred to me that maybe this bolt was loose, causing the dash to rattle. The creaking noise was most pronounced after the car sat in the sun and would sometimes go away if the car was in the shade or at night. I took the clock out and sure enough, the bolt was not even hand tight. I tightened it up and have been driving on it for the last week with no creaking noises.