Ok I've been putting this job off for 3 years as i've been told its a pig of a job..... but after succesfully installing an altornator this morning i was on a roll!!

Can someone please explain a) what the feck this thing is and b) how do i remove it to get to the heater matrix

Pictures taken from divers side foot well, just behind the stereo!



Inlet and outlet water pipes i guess?



Lots of black plastic, how do remove this???



I can only find one bolt at the very top, but i'm sure thats not the only thing holding it in place







HELP!!!!!!!!!

 

Dash out job, makes it a whole lot easier.

The whole heater box comes out in one go once you removed the pipes, nuts etc.... from the engine bay side.

Good luck

 

You wanna do mine ?

 

noooooooooo not what i wanted to hear

Took me ages to get the dash half way out last time i tried

 

If ya like

But i'll have a 24 pack of Smifnoff Ice Red

 

Once you've done it once, getting the dash out again is the easy job

 

Sounds fair

 

Sounds like the dash it coming out next weekend then

 

Im sure i managed to undo a few bits of the heater controls and then with the heater pipes removed and clamped in the engine bay, i managed to wiggle the matrix out via the drivers footwell

 

think yourself lucky you dont have a sierra then dan!

 

yeah Serria's are just piles of shit with a half decent Cosworth engine in them

 

hmm anymore detail mate? is it possible to remove just the center section (ie stereo and bit above the glove compartment) from the dash? I've started removing bits from the dash now anyway so looks like i'll just gradualy take the whole thing out..........

 

No need to take the dash out mate.

All you need remove is the centre console.

Undo the water pipes in the engine bay, and under the dash each side there are 2 13mm bolts. These hold the entire heater assembly up. wiggle the heater down and the matrix will slide out drivers side.

As Haynes says, rfitting is the reversal!

40 mins max

 

Cheers Ian,

Haynes doesn't mention anything other than actuly fitting the matrix i.e. nothing about the dash etc.

I take it those yellow pipes are the "top" of the matrix, just undo those screwns (and hoses in engine bay) and in theory it just slides out from there? What about those struts shown in the pics, do i need to take those off?

Cheers,
Dan

 

Yeah as Ian said you removed the centre consol (think i just un screwed mine and moved it far enough out the way) and then you can get at the matrix to slide out from its housing towards drivers foot well.

 

Yes the 2 'yellow' pipes are the top of the matrix, and are these are what the water pipes in the engine bay are connected to.

From memory (it was about 3 yrs ago I did one), 2 x 13mm bolts, the whole heater will be loose for you to wiggle the heater box down (its massive!) and the matrix will slide out! There are also some cables that contol the direction flap on the passengr side of the heater that will need disconnecting as well (1 self tapper)

 

you dont have to take the dash out but you need to lower the heater box down on one side, i did mine on my series 1 took me a while but got it done good luck

 

Ian and andy are corrrect

before you undo the 13mm bolts, and once you have removed the pipes in engine bay, undo the 2 self taping screws holding the metal plate to bulkhead in engine bay

you will only need to remove centre console, you WILL need to remove those little strips of metal you mentioned once its wiggleable lol, you may be able to just about get the pipes out the bulkhead, if you can there is no need to remove the cables then just undo the 2 self tappers on the plastic matrix to slide it out the box, remove all the old leaves in there too

 

Yeah whats all that about leaves in there, i found half a tree in mine when i did it back in 1998 (How old am i feeling now)

 

well I did mine in 1996/7

 

You is also old then

 

Thanks guys!!

You say theres two 13mm bolts, i can only see one from the drivers footwell, is the other visable from the passenger footwell?

EDIT
never mind

 

Have fun, just done mine

 

and does the heater come up nice and hot now?

 

I think the passenger one is the easiest of the 2 to do!

A long reach extension is required!

 

Oh and yes half my garden fell out of mine when I did it! lol!

 

So why did it take you and Ant nearly two hours to do the one on Dawns old car ?

Did you keep stopping to polish things ya Bufty Puff !


Even the bloke at Kempston Radiators reckoned on an hour and a half, his tip was to loosen the 4 big screws that hold the dash so you can move it slightly


My other tip, after doing the one on Dawns new car is to take out the drivers seat, make a much easier job

 

Hello neil!

We got the matrix all in and connected and working in that time, but then had to take half of it back out as I had trapped one of the fooking heater cables!

How are you 2 awyway?

 

Fine mate... how's you and Deb ? We'll have to catch up sometime mate ! Are you coming to December Beds Meet ?

 

Yeah gwannnnnnnnn Ian...... 19th December 7.30 onwards

 

Hello Steve!

Sorry cant make a weekday night as I still working nights

Deb and I are fine! The cossie has been tucked away since the tax ran out at the end of Aug, and I havent done a thing to it! Not spent a single penny! Infact I had better go and check that it is still there!

 

dunno not had it running long enough to find out

my problem was never the heater not being hot enough, it was the puddle of smelly water by my feet that pissed me off