I've had this annoying dash squeak/rattle for a long time, and always thought that it was something deep inside the dash. But recently I've found that the sound is coming from part of the dash itself, specifically, the top piece from the driver's side windshield post across the instrument cluster to about the middle of the dash.

The front edge of this piece joins to the rear edge of the dash where the defrost vents open. All along this edge, the two pieces are joined together snugly. But the right front corner is loose and flexes easily.

When this corner flexes, it squeaks, and the rattle sounds like it might be from a loose clip that should be securing the two edges together. My problem is I have no clue how to access this area.

Thanks in advance for any instructions, or better yet pictures, for how to get in there.

 

That peice just pops right out. It might seem tight like you're going to break it, but it comes right off.

 

^^only 1/2 correct. Once you pop off the radio bezel and remove the piece that goes around the speedometer cluster along with the steering column trim and take out the headlight switch, you'll find several bolts that are holding the front of the big piece in place. You remove all those bolts, then just pop out the back of it where it clips to the other part of the dash.

 

The reason I feel this happens is because the clips are metal and they go into metal. All I did to fix this problem was put a little electric tape around it loosely so it will still hold but inst metal on metal.

 

I finally had some time this past weekend to pull apart my dash. I followed the instructions in Raptor05121's "Change your cluster color on 97-03" how to article, which was great. The only difference I found from his instructions was that the headlight switch in my 2001 is held in place with 3 metal spring clips, and it came out a lot easier than the elaborate routine Raptor05121 had to follow to remove his headlight switch.

When I finally got the dash apart, sure enough, one of the clips wasn't properly seated and it rattled with the slightest motion. Just to be sure, I tightened every bolt and screw I could reach inside the dash. Now, it's like driving a completely different vehicle! It's so much quieter. I love my F150 again!

Now if I could just figure out what causes the terrible squeak in the front end everytime I drive over a speed hump.