I'm doing a little repair to my meter hood. While I'm at it, I noted the rubber skirt that protects the steering wheel components has 4 missing discs. These discs are some sort of slip locking clip. The 4 plastic studs without these locking discs looks like they are not supposed to have them. However, when I remove/reinstall the meter hood, this rubber skirt often pops off the posts without these clips. I measured all the posts (with and without the clips) on a digital caliper. They all measure 1.83mm in diameter.

So 2 questions to ask:
1. Are these 4 posts not supposed to have locking clips?
2. Where may such a locking clip be purchased?

Cheers,
George

Here are some photos for reference.


Hard to see but the yellow circles are the posts that do not have locking clips.



A better view of the rubber skirt and posts with and without the locking clips. The center post does not have one.

 

It's been a few years since I had a need to go in there, but IIRC, some of those studs on mine didn't have clips either. And the gasket wanted to "fall off" when I put it back in as you described. As I recall, I used a daub of clear silicone to hold the rubber gasket on those studs. After it set up it's been holding just fine since.

 

Those are called Flat Round Push Nuts. There are many styles. You can get them at any industrial hardware supply. Here is just one online supplier. You can probably find a local place that will let you buy just a couple.

 

Sgtblue & mdp,

Thanks for the info.

Cheers,
George

 

Yep, I've seen a number of cars that just had the push nuts on some of the studs, not all. Typically once the cluster is installed that rubber seal doesn't have much stress on it, it stays in place fairly well. It just needs to fill that gap for cosmetic reasons.

Dale

 

Dale,

Thanks for confirming these push nuts are not on all of the studs.

I used a dab of RTV on the stud tips that did not have the push nuts, as Sgtblue suggested.

Cheers,
George

 

In case anyone else runs into this as well, I found some small nuts in my shed (maybe M2), that will thread onto the plastic posts. I topped them off with a little super glue and I'm good to go.