Hi guys, I thought this might be helpful to some of the guys using this forum who want to remove their dash. It can seem like a daunting task, but you'll be amazed (or shocked ) how easy it actually is!

This will be a step-by-step tutorial on how to remove the dash, showing every screw you need to remove (and later on, replace). Here we go:

Step 1:
Take off the fuse box cover on the drivers side. You'll then see this



Step 2:
Then pull on this cover under your instrument cluster to remove it.



Step 3:
Then pull on this top cover, and remove it...



Step 4:
Whip out this T15 torx tool



Step 5:
Remove these two torx screws, they hold the instrument cluster in place.





Step 6:
Now pull the cluster towards you, you might have to remove the steering wheel to get it out (use a 24mm socket to do so)



Step 7:
Now lift up this swing clamp to release the cable



Step 8:
Now remove the other plug like so



Step 9:
Remove these screws (highlighted with the red circles)













Step 10:
Now you can remove the piece of the dash where your light switch is situated. Now remove these three plugs (lights, instrument cluster dimmer switch, and VAG-Com port)





Now its time to tackle the cubby:

Step 11:
Remove the screws as indicated (5 in total):











The cubby should now be loose, just pull it out and set it aside



You should be left with this, nice eh?



Now lets move on to the centre console of the dash...
This is what your dash should look like now:



Step 12:
Remove these two plates either side of your radio





Step 13:
Remove these buttons, they just pop out when you pull them hard enough



Step 14:
Remove the screws as indicated













The screws are situated like so:



The center console should now be loose for you to pull it out:



Step 15:
Pull out the center vent, it just pulls out, use your fingeranils to pry it loose and pull the whole unit out. Be careful of the hazard switch, unplug it before you yank the thing out!



The plug that goes into the hazard switch:



Now we'll remove the big top-panel of the dashboard:

Step 16:
Remove screws as indicated:







If you havn't removed this one yet, do so now...



Same story here...



Step 17:
The whole panel should now be loose, be careful not to break your indicator stalk off, and make sure the plugs and wires are not catching anywhere.



The top panel slots into these two tabs:





This is where the tabs slide into:






Admire the bare carcass of your car

It should look like this now:






I wanted to reduce the road noise coming from my dash, as well as insulate some minor rattles, so I bought some dog blanket from PEP (R35 on special ) and cut it to size. MAKE SURE YOU INSULATE ALL YOUR WIRES PROPERLY BEFORE DOING THIS!


Here are some pics to give you an idea of what I did. I must say that the dash is feeling more solid now, and the road noise is down by about 30%

















To re-assemble the dash, just follow the steps in reverse, its hardly rocket science
And thats all there is to it. Not that hard is it?

You'll be back to this in no time

heeltemal te veel skroewe vir my......

Haha, ek dink dis minder as 30 skroewe??!! Ek ken glad nie die ou golf dash nie, maar ek dink dis meer van 'n mission om die ou dash te strip?

as ek reg onthou is daar baie minder skroewe in die ou dash.

Interessant. Ek en my tjom het ons gatte af gesukkel om sy ou dash af te kry. Allerhande switches an stuff wat jy moet unplug ens. Maar gelukkig is die golf dashes eenvoudig

nice...i think we should move and make sticky.......

That would be great

The whole reason why I did this whole how-to was to help guys out who wanted to strip their dash (or remove part thereof).
It also might come in useful to guys who want to install the new dash into an older golf etc.

The funny thing is, that it took more time to actually make the DIY on the computer than to strip and re-assemble the dash

+1