Pilote A class dashboard

[JFD]

Can anyone help me with advice on how to remove the dash surround on our Motorhome? We have really bad drafts coming in all over the place, seemIngly from behind the dash.

The dash itself seems to be a standard Peugeot van one, with an added infill panel, to fill in the space between the A class body, and the van dashboard - see below. I have removed all the screws, and the radio speakers, so should be just left with a plastic infill panel, behind which I am hoping to put some draftproofing! Problem is, the panel seems loose, and I can lift the edge nearest the driver, but cannot seem to get it released from the front edge.

Has anyone done this before, and can offer advice? Pictures of the offending panel attached. As you can see, I can lift up the edge nearest the driver, but it still seems attached at the front!!

 

[Figaro]

Have you looked in the engine bay, there may be fixings there ? or things attached to the underside

 

[JFD]

The engine bay is, as with most A class, I understand, more than a little cramped!!! I must admit I haven’t checked that out, but will do first thing tomorrow. Thanks for the pointer!

 

[Bonkers the Dog]

I had the same problem on my Exploratuer, Fiat Ducato based, essentially the same thing IIRC. Before you do anything drastic....

Check under the hood. Firstly I found that the heavy liner above the engine that runs the full width of the bay had fallen down and was acting like a big air scoop. I screwed it back up again several times but the OEM install had failed as their cheap, small self tappers had pulled out due to the fibre glass giving way so they could not be refitted.

I bought some large self tappers with skirts under the bolt heads (Homebase to my eternal shame), cut some thin 4mm aluminium strips from stock, pre-drilled the holes, countersunk em and ran it all alone the edge of the liner across the bay; jobs a good un; home in time for beer.

However, it did not solve the problem entirely as I think being commercial vehicles to begin with passenger comfort and draught exclusion is not a high priority. Soo...I bought a few square meters of neoprene off Fleabay and lined the areas I could reach under the dash, Velcro tape helped. Jobs another good un, time for more beer.

Finally, ask yourself how many miles you do when it is really cold, not many I wager. In our case if it is really cold get the heater on full chat and she uses the nice moe hair rug I installed for just such an emergency to keep her tootsies extra, extra cosy, HUSSAR - beer delivered to my hand on arrival!!!

I would avoid removing your dash if at all possible, a wee bit OTT...

 

[The Coops]

Mine had the trunking for the cold/hot air fall off, caused similar problems but an easy fix, Someone in the factory forgot to fasten it ! Friday afternoon syndrome!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Reallyretired]

I have seen some people carpet the dash top. Makes a nice spot for a small dog to lie in the sun.
NB I haven't done this myself, and our dogs are not small.

 

[JFD]

The air is coming in all over the place, from every gap in the plastic! My original plan was to remove the ‘filler’ between the original dash and the ‘A’ class body, to see what had come loose! I will be descending on the under bonnet this afternoon!!

Thanks for the guidance so far.

 

[JFD]

Progress update (or lack of!).

There seem to be no fastenings under the bonnet - just some expanding foam that has seeped out of a crack across the front below the line of the windscreen. That makes me think the dashboard has been removed in the past, and replaced by being glued in!!!

Backup plan is to revert to stuffing as much foam up behind the dash as possible, without causing any damage to the wiring harness, which does seem to have been ‘modified’ somewhat over the years!

What a pity not all folk look after their motorhomes as well as they could!!!

Thanks, again, for your helpful hints on trying to fix the gales!!!