Sagging headlining

[827Roverman]

The headlining in my 940 saloon is deflecting/sagging across the middle, the facing material does not feel as though its come away from the backing board, its the board itself that has dropped, are there any clips behind it that should be holding it up, Has anyone any idea how I can easily fix this, I really don't want to be taking the headlining down, can anyone suggest a easy permanent fix for me please, David.

[bob12]

In the ridge there should be 2 visible plastic turnbuckle fixings that attach the headliner to steel fixings/receptor points attached to the steel of the roof where the headliner seems to sag. I cant see them in the pic. Also there are 2 further to the back of the car. See recent thread on headliners where I put up a pic of a 940 headliner I put in my 745.

Just realised you are talking about a saloon which may be different to an estate ... but maybe not much.....

[Laird Scooby]

I don't have any photos of the bits but hopefully this diagram makes it as clear as mud David :



The interior lamp unit 6 clips into the brace 18 which in turn clips into clip 5 or is secured by trim tape 18a, depending on year, model, what colour socks the elk were wearing on the day of manufacture and how many pedestrians the production staff had speared on their horns that week.

If memory serves correctly, the lamp should be pulled forward to release it for blub changes and similar and when refitted, pushed backwards.

However if that brace isn't located properly you'll get a sag, just from the weight of the interior light unit - ask me how i know this! Or better still, don't ask me how i know this!

This is what i was trying to explain earlier and couldn't because i was suffering brain fade after today!

If you've ever changed the bulb(s) in the interior light, this is probably when it happened, if not and you've got one where the brace is held by trim tape, that may have dropped off after 23 years.

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by bob12

In the ridge there should be 2 visible plastic turnbuckle fixings that attach the headliner to steel fixings/receptor points attached to the steel of the roof where the headliner seems to sag. I cant see them in the pic. Also there are 2 further to the back of the car. See recent thread on headliners where I put up a pic of a 940 headliner I put in my 745.

Just realised you are talking about a saloon which may be different to an estate ... but maybe not much.....

Hi bob12, many thanks for your reply, I did look at your previous thread, on my saloon there are no plastic turnbuckle's in the central ridge, so I just do not know how it should be secured. David.

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I don't have any photos of the bits but hopefully this diagram makes it as clear as mud David :



The interior lamp unit 6 clips into the brace 18 which in turn clips into clip 5 or is secured by trim tape 18a, depending on year, model, what colour socks the elk were wearing on the day of manufacture and how many pedestrians the production staff had speared on their horns that week.

If memory serves correctly, the lamp should be pulled forward to release it for blub changes and similar and when refitted, pushed backwards.

However if that brace isn't located properly you'll get a sag, just from the weight of the interior light unit - ask me how i know this! Or better still, don't ask me how i know this!

This is what i was trying to explain earlier and couldn't because i was suffering brain fade after today!

If you've ever changed the bulb(s) in the interior light, this is probably when it happened, if not and you've got one where the brace is held by trim tape, that may have dropped off after 23 years.

Hi Dave, many thanks for your reply and the diagram, I've never had the need to touch the light or replace any bulbs, so its quite possible the brace, bracket, or clips have come away or broken, or like you say it could be trim tape, I'll remove the light and see what I can see, David.

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by 827Roverman

The headlining in my 940 saloon is deflecting/sagging across the middle, the facing material does not feel as though its come away from the backing board, its the board itself that has dropped, are there any clips behind it that should be holding it up, Has anyone any idea how I can easily fix this, I really don't want to be taking the headlining down, can anyone suggest a easy permanent fix for me please, David.

Today I took the light out to see what was behind, nothing at all! , I thought there may have been broken clips or signs of adhesive tape that had come away, but there was nothing at all, behind the headlining I could see the strengthening brace that goes across the roof, there was no signs of anything ever being fixed to that, the channel/box section preformed in the headlining has no turn buckles as a way of securing it, I am wondering that the preformed box section in the headlining is what gives it its strength/support, (rather like folding a piece of cardboard into a channel) from new, and there never was any other fixing, and that due to its age and perhaps condensation behind is what has caused the shape its in now, attached is a photo with the light removed, you can see the roof support brace, My previous post shows the amount of deflection, Has anyone else got any ideas ? David.

[bob12]

Can u somehow look at another saloon car?

The 'Volvo parts diagram' put up by Dave doesn't show any extra clips, but I find it a bit strange. I understand the backend one, but I can't understand what holds the middle section up .... faith? I can't accept that the corrugation/ridge is sufficiently strong enough to support the headliner at the mid-section even after a short time.

The overhead light fixing was not in any way a form of support in connects to the headliner.

Maybe the remedy is to drop the headliner (a bit of an 's@d') and see whats underneath. Then if nothing make up a couple for brackets (like I did under the 'ridge') and with plastic turn fitting from a breaker fix up the headliner.

Meantime I would still try to see if there are a couple of other fixings that have been missed somewhere.

Meanti

[Laird Scooby]

I'm stumped then David! Without seeing it in the flesh i don't have any more ideas at the moment.

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by 827Roverman

Today I took the light out to see what was behind, nothing at all! , I thought there may have been broken clips or signs of adhesive tape that had come away, but there was nothing at all, behind the headlining I could see the strengthening brace that goes across the roof, there was no signs of anything ever being fixed to that, the channel/box section preformed in the headlining has no turn buckles as a way of securing it, I am wondering that the preformed box section in the headlining is what gives it its strength/support, (rather like folding a piece of cardboard into a channel) from new, and there never was any other fixing, and that due to its age and perhaps condensation behind is what has caused the shape its in now, attached is a photo with the light removed, you can see the roof support brace, My previous post shows the amount of deflection, Has anyone else got any ideas ? David.

The amount of deflection in my headlining is approximately 30mm, quite a lot! I have tried fitting 30mm plastic blocks one each side of the hole for the light and one inside the channel section, I tried bonding the plastic blocks to the headliner and metal roof with 3M VHB tape, needless to say it did not work, the facing material on the headliner is still bonded to the backing board and is in good clean condition, there are no clips or turn buckles on the centre preformed channel section, has anyone got any ideas how I can stick it back up to get rid of the deflection, or is it a case of buying a complete new headliner, (without a sunroof) if so any ideas where from and cost and what's involved, I'd like to get this resolved, it spoils what is a really nice car, David.

[bob12]

Originally Posted by 827Roverman

The amount of deflection in my headlining is approximately 30mm, quite a lot! I have tried fitting 30mm plastic blocks one each side of the hole for the light and one inside the channel section, I tried bonding the plastic blocks to the headliner and metal roof with 3M VHB tape, needless to say it did not work, the facing material on the headliner is still bonded to the backing board and is in good clean condition, there are no clips or turn buckles on the centre preformed channel section, has anyone got any ideas how I can stick it back up to get rid of the deflection, or is it a case of buying a complete new headliner, (without a sunroof) if so any ideas where from and cost and what's involved, I'd like to get this resolved, it spoils what is a really nice car, David.

Reckon your only option now is to drop the headliner inside the car (which you would have to do in any case if you got a replacement headliner; which seems a waste if the existing is OK), and look carefully at why what shouldn't happen is happening!

Then, depending on what you find .... if it were me as a final solution, I would acquire from an estate breaker a couple of plastic turnbuckle fittings; make up two new metal brackets to accept them; superglue them to the metal of the roof in the the pre-formed 'ridge area' of the existing headliner, and put a hole in the existing headliner to match the hole in the brackets in a similar way to what I had to do when I found the front roof fixings of a 940 where in a slightly different place to a 745. It was a fiddle but has worked to provide support.

Let us know how you get on.

Bob.