I've just recently purchased a '94 850 Turbo Wagon and am really enjoying the car. I realize that the car is ten years old and will have various creaks and rattles, but the one I'm experiencing kind of baffles me. There's a "crackling" sound coming from my dashboard when driving over So Cal's rough highway pavement - it's definitely mechanical sounding - much like plastic on plastic. What's bizarre is that it sounds as if it's emanating not from one point under the dash, but from dozens of points under it - as if it's "tingling". I know this may sound strange, but it's driving me mad! Is the dash easy to remove? Anyone with any suggestions please speak up - or better yet, if any of you guys are in the Los Angeles area and might know what this is I'll gladly stop by for resolve. Thanks!

OK...I'm getting myself together after lol to Micheal's advice on an improperly installed dash...what a laugh. Anyway I seriously think it could be the surfaces as mentioned earlier, but from your description, the 'crackling plastic' to me is the climate control housing. This is a white plastic housing of the Evaporator that takes up most of the dash. It could be that part of something broke and is being blown around the housing or some device (if you have no pollen filter) went through the air intake. If its the latter, beware, this leads to premature evap failure- a monster to repair. Given your options, I think you should just wait else you will have to remove the entire dash to 'locate' this intermittent problem- a full day in itself. Just look at the other posts about AC repair to digest what it takes. Try to limit the fan speed to avoid all the debris blowing inside the housing or your plastic shrapnel may grind into the blower and cause failure then you are stuck in the middle of Cali with no AC and a bunch of pissed passengers.

I have had this problem. It turned out to be the windshield. It was wrongly installed.

How was it improperly installed? I've noticed that in my situation, the crackling has only happened once, when it was 90+ degrees outside and my A/C was on full tilt. Over the last few days, it hasn't returned - maybe it has something to do with the fact that I started pounding on the dash with my fist and may have "settled" something underneath. Part of me wants it to come back so I can track down what it is and the other half of me is content to never hear it again! Whatever the cause, it was quite alarming and didn't sound natural by any means.

Peer into your dash area through the windshield...you should not be able to see wires or plastic tabs or anything other than the dash. If you can kinda see four plastic tabs, and some wires, the dash support is broken. Often times, through several dash pulling required repairs, the four tabs that secure the "bones" of the dash break. I've used washers and hobby clay that air hardens into hard plastic to repair this. Someday someone somewhere will actually build a kit to repair this and make money, but it won't be me. I'll just stick with my Lowes washers and hobby clay.

Since I've always repaired these when the dash assembly was out of the car for another reason, I'm not sure if you can repair this without pulling everything apart. You might be able to just pull the dash pad, and the cowl (under the hood, you'll have to pull the wipers) to repair this.

Other than that...you could have some confused mixer doors for the climate control...they are just about everywhere under the dash...but it would happen any time you had the heater or AC on, not just on rough roads, and the climate control would not function properly.

Keep us posted...

Chris

I haven't been able to reproduce the alarming "crackle" that I first posted about. I did start yanking away at the dash along with some mixed whacks with my fist to try to either increase the problem (easier to trace) or to "settle" it. Seems as if it's fairly settled. Well, see...

Granted, it was close to 90+ degrees that day and my A/C was running full tilt when it first occurred; a situation that has yet to arise again - weather wise. If it happens again, I'll end up ripping the dash apart to track it down. I'll update here if it comes back.

Thanks everyone!