ack! Dash cracked last night

[2ndnissan]

Florida is not supposed to be 28 degrees..It's just not natural!! Apparently my 240 agrees. Got in it after work this morning and there is a crack right in the center of the gauge dome area that runs from the windshield to the front. I got lucky with a junkyard dash two years ago..$25.. Doubt that will happen again..Just had to rant a little..Now I've got to find another one..in Florida preferrably so I can pick it up....

[ILoveMyRHS13]

Thanks for sharing.

[Chugpuppy]

What? I live in maine. its like -6 right now. My dash is fine lol

[NISMO24096]

lol I feel ya on that one...I too live in Florida. and I managed to get two cracks in like one two week span...i was heart broken when the first on appeared ...like you i call my friends to share some choice bad words to express my frustration...and this was like my third dash that i had put into the car a crack free one...guess its time to do that full on fiberglass custom one now...

[sjbsuperman1425]

What? I live in maine. its like -6 right now. My dash is fine lol

Michigan sucks when it comes to the cold. My car sits in one spot all winter and although i have two cracks, its not from the cold i dont believe. and why buy a new one, ITS ONLY A CRACK. lol

[AZ89two4Tsx]

It's probably not so much the temperature itself, but the change in temperature causing the dash to expand/contract.

[sjbsuperman1425]

It's probably not so much the temperature itself, but the change in temperature causing the dash to expand/contract.

when it started getting warmer last year, i put a blanket over my dash to kind of sheild it from the sun, and it seemed to slow/stop the cracking.

[hotrod240sx]

my 240 has a few cracks havn't been able to find a crack free black dash yet. also here lately its been getting to 20 here in my area and the dash in my 84 chevy truck is still the original dash and is uncracked and i am sure plenty of you know how bad they crack, you can't even find a truck of that body style with a uncracked dash hardly they very rare. anyway 1 thing i do to help protect it is armorall every so often at the very least every other weekend. btw this has been a work truck all its life and is a streetrod more than anything now, between my dad and i we have know the truck since new a friend of his bought it new

[NizzmoS13]

Yaa that def sux, I got some cracks on my dash but I think am gonna go with the dash overlay, since they look pretty good and should last forever.

[safin]

my condolences

[tomatotyler]

same thing happened to me, two huge cracks in my uncracked dash

[S13_love]

It's probably not so much the temperature itself, but the change in temperature causing the dash to expand/contract.

This^

...and using a certain interior cleaning product that dries out the dash and then shortly after, having the temperature dip to -20 degrees will do it too...

[Dire91]

^ What's a good dash cleaner!?

[Dunky Kong]

Just a little tip remove the defrost vents and remove the left and right screws it will let your dash flex just enough so it will have a less chance of cracking!!!!!

[David s12]

just remove your dash, and scrap all the "pancake" batter off of it..

sand it down smooth, and there you go... no cracks

[2ndnissan]

The sharp change in temp is what did it in. To be truthful it wasn't really glossy looking to begin with so the dryness was a factor too. I'll get a glossier one when I find a replacement. The one in my daughters 240 IS glossy and seems to be less dried out but she'd really be mad if I swapped it!!I've never used armour all or anything else on it except warm soap and water (not dawn ..just a mild soap.) Will definitely leave bolts a little loose whenIi do replace this one to let it flex. Anyone in Florida have one? I'd just as soon support another NICO persons project by buying their parts ...

[94_240sx]

Just a little tip remove the defrost vents and remove the left and right screws it will let your dash flex just enough so it will have a less chance of cracking!!!!!

Are you talking about deforst vent at the top facing windshield or vents blow air to your and passenger in the center, left and right?

[JStrateger]

I would just buy one of those dash cover caps off ebay. They look really good and seem to be more durable than the original dash material.

In my old 92 it cracked when spring rolled around. Does anyone tips to prevent the dash from cracking? I just armor mine every so often, hasn't cracked yet but I've only had the car for a couple months.

[breadbox]

MY dash is squeezing out a crack from under the HUD. :/

[crash n burn]

^ What's a good dash cleaner!?

yeah armor-all tears up your dash if you don't continuously use it. i just use this bee's wax stuff, comes in an aerosol can..guy i used to work with has an old chevy 15 passenger van he used for work; interior was mint, said he'd used this stuff since he'd bought it new. brought back the color on all of my black interior panels.

man, i gotta get some more. and yes, it's furniture polish; like 15 bucks a can

[Armstec_S13]

Yeah same happened to me when I moved to chicago, I came from nice warm cali, I have the car since 2001 and the cali sun/heat it never cracked, moved to chicago in aug of 2008 once january came I noticed a very tiny crack, not even half an inch then the next day I go get my sunglasses from my car and there was a crack from the windshield to the front I was so mad, then the next day I go to show my bro and bam I noticed a big A55 crack where the top of the cluster all the way to the windshield so mad.

Luckily I got a black dash super clean with the HUD with bezel from my neighbor for free so now im changing my ugly dodo brown interior to black, so far all I got are the "A" pillars and the dash oh and a random fuse box cover for the kick panel.

It sucked so bad to get those cracks, my interior is so clean but looks like crap with the cracked dash