Climate control panel on 88 560SL
 

Well, the boss got home today and she came in and told me "I want you to see this" so we walked to the garage and I was surprised to see that the climate control panel had completely detached and was held to the rest of the car by two vacuum lines and two electrical wires. I easily detached those and now have the plate with me. It appears that the cover was glued to the control unit (that is, the thingy with the thumb wheel, push buttons and fan control) at two points and that the glue had finally failed. My problem is that my manual does not have an actual picture of the 88 SL cover showing how it is attached. I see two screw holes at the bottom of the opening, but I see no screw holes in the cover. On the other hand it seems to me that more than glue is needed to keep the heavy contol unit attached to the cover. Any ideas on how to put it all back together?
Thanks.

JL

The Ac control panel is held to the wood trim by 2 small screws. If over tightened they can strip the wood.
That is all that is holding the unit to the wood, besides the opening and the shape that relatively snug.

Dave

Dave, thanks for your reply. What has happened is that the two small blocks of wood that attach to the screws have become unglued from the cover, so I guess I have to reglue them. Any suggestion about the glue?
Below there is a small plastic tab attached to the cover that fits into a tab on the AC control unit. That should help to secure the unit.
One more thing. On the top part of the back of the cover there are two spots (roughly above the two lower ones) that appear to have supported also two glued wooden pieces. Do you know anything about that?


JL

Glue the wooden pieces with polyurethane glue. Wet the wood surface with a damp sponge and then clamp the pieces in position. polyurethane glue uses moisture to cure so the wet sponge helps. The glue will foam and squeeze out of the joints, this is normal for polyurethane glue. But it will hold the wood the best. I use a sharp wood chisel to clean up the joints.
The tabs at the top are so the top of the wood can slip under the radio frame and then the bottom is pushed into position.

Dave

So there are only two wood blocks glued to the back of the cover?

JL

One more thing, better to chisel than to sand the wood?

JL