Is car driveable w/o instrument cluster?

[dcardy]

I'm trying to narrow down a creaking noise in the dash area. I would like to remove the instrument cluster and take the car out for a test drive to see if the cluster is the source of the creaks.

Will the car start w/o the instrument cluster?

2000 996.

thanks,

Doug

[Tool Pants]

We started a Boxster without an instrument cluster. Started fine.

[CA_Boxster]

Try driving the car over whatever favorite bumpy road you have while putting pressure in the cluster with one hand. Just push on the overhang hard to hold it in place so it won't move and see if the creak goes away. I did this and it helped me isolate a rattle to that cluster. Still working on figuring out exactly what the rattle is, but holding the cluster pod firmly in place while driving does keep it all tight and makes the rattle go away.

[CA_Boxster]

I pulled mine off again today to take a last shot at getting rid of my rattle. Mine sounds like wires bouncing on metal and happens even worse when I run the A/C, presumably because the stuff all gets cold and hardens. If yours is really a creak like something rubbing together and is not a rattle then try these steps after removing it:

1) Clean all the dust out of there

2) Put cloth tape (friction tape or felt tape) around all the edges. It won't show once you put the POD back on.

3) There are a handful of points where posts on the POD snap into the dash, and where some small posts on the dash stick into the pod (on the back). Put a little of the cloth tape on those as well to keep plastic from rubbing on plastic.

This cloth tape is what most of the TSBs say to use for problems like this. The trick is finding the right spot. There's no harn in just covering them all to be safe.