dashboard removal

[Tony]

Greetings - My 250sl was recently painted, new interior, etc.. Looks great. As part of the 'make-over,' the dashboard was removed and re-upholstered and re-installed. Within a day or 2, a fuse kept buring out [#7]. Within 45 minutes of  headlights turned on,  I noticed the smell and eventually the site of smoke in the cabin! Shut lights out, smoke gone. But burned/damage wires remain. I've located the harness with some of the burnt wires. It's located underneath the dash, behind the drivers side air vent. This harness, I believe , leads to the instrument panel [speedometer, etc...] although all is in good working order. I need to follow the wires from the harness and need to remove the center portion of the dash to get behind the instruments. Must we remove the wood trim and the windwhield to remove dash or is there a better way? Appreciate any thoughts. Thank you.

Tony
1968 250sl
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida   

[George Des]

Tony,

Check to make sure you did not puncture the harness when you replaced the underdash covers or trim including the footwell covers and lights. It is very easy to do if you are not careful to use screws of the proper length.

George

[J. Huber]

Hi Tony. It will all be accessed from underneath. Its tight under there but much has been shared here about how each item in the dash is incorporated. Do a search for "dash or tach removal" or something like that. There also a wiring diagram in the tech manual that will help. Identifying the burnt wires and then replacing them will be a job I'd say. Like George said it could be that something got pinched causing a short/fire! Always work carefully under there as some wires are constantly hot. Good luck.

[Tony]

Thank you for your suggestions. "Tight" under the dash is an understatement but 'doable'. This too shall pass...

[Tony]

Short circuit corrected! It was all reached from underneath the dash. The wires in question went from harness to center instrument cluster so removing the tach and cluster made project quite doable. Thank you.