I have been checking out these threads about the problem - I have an 03 Cavalier with no cracks as of yet.

Is this something that eventually happens to all Cavs?

How long from the date of purchase does this seem to happen?

Does this tend to happen to people who live in a particular climate (hot or cold?)

Thanks for any input that can be gathered here.

If you read old threads, then most of them would say that the reason for the crack is from the bolts holding that section in are too tight. Many have said the flex of the car when going around corners and such eventually cause these cracks because there is no give. I've heard of people backing off on them bolts and using washers and such and had no problems.

I have 4 cracks in mine and I live in FL. I you have an 03 cavalier, you ought to fill out your registry.





Convert 00+ headlights to 95-99

From a thread in the Third Gen forum:

Raptor wrote:Answers for everyone here:

It's not caused by weather.

Here, allow me to repeat that: It's not caused by weather.

If it were caused by weather, one of four things would happen:

a) only those in extreme hot would crack (Texas, Arizona, etc)
b) only those in extreme cold would crack (Michigan, Minnesota, etc)
c) only those in extreme hot or cold would crack (ie, a place like Iowa or West Virginia would have relatively no cracked dashes)
d) no dash would crack (uh.. right.)

Since that's not the case and the cracks are universal, there must be another problem.

You can rule out vibrations from audio because I don't have a system and mine is cracked.

That brings us to the next most likely possibilities. Body flex and overtightened screws. A lot of people think that if you have a strut tower bar, it'll crack. Wrong - no STB here. It might be sway bar related though. I doubt it - body roll is linear, as opposed to body flex.

If your dash isn't cracked yet, take off the top part and loosen the two bolts next to the defroster vents. If you want, you can install rubber washers and retighten them to avoid any rattling or squeaking you get from loosening them. Those that have loosened their bolts, or installed rubber washers have subsequently had no problems with their dash cracking.

- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

Mine cracked recently and all i could say was "oh well". Its not extremely noticable if i was going to clean it stock.....But i,m wraping it in Blue Vinyl so i could really care less if it cracks or not


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Raptor,

I can gain access to these bolts by removing only the top dash cover?

Thanks!

^ Yea, When i removed the top dash there were several screws but remeber that the bottom part of the dash is all one piece. So i dunno if anyone confirmed if its the whole bottom dash piece thats tightened too tight....or just the screws in that area (where the crack is)


<imghttp://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/12/web/396000-396999/396307_34_full.jpg>

Yes, just remove the dash cover, and you'll see them.

Additionally, it's just the screws in that area - however, people have had cracking problems all along that top trim piece. I would suggest removing each upper mounting bolt and installing a rubber washer underneath it, to best avoid any cracking on that trim piece.



- Interior FAQ -
J-Body of Michigan -

i had that horrible crack in the 00, never knew what it was from tho..thanks guys =)



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