Heater Matrix

[joebrent 0]

Right, ever since ive had my car the rad. fans have always been on. I finally took it to my garage for the sparky to look at it. Now the bad news, He says that because the fans were always on the car was not getting adequate pressure, as a result the matrix has blown. :cry:

 

It seems that it is a long process to replace it, ive been quoted about 500 quid to get it sorted, but im friendley with the guy so its gonna be cash. Does 300-400ish quid sound about right to you guys?? that price is all in by the way.

 

Cheers peeps.

[crdo16v 0]

Joe-does'nt sound to me like he's doing you much of a favour at £300+ for cash, still I 'spose in London they charge £50 just to lift the bonnet.

A new matrix (16v) can be bought on ebay for £30ish, but i think it is a bit of a fiddly/s*itty job. Does the heater still work & are you losing coolant? If the answers are yes & no I would hang on to my wad & just put up with the fans on & maybe pump up the bass to cover it up. :afro:

[The Hub 0]

Joe, keep the 300-400 quid in your sky rocket!!!!

I think if there is a query over your matrix you'd be better off replacing it before you flood your interior and leave a nasty mess, but do the work yourself.

I recently replaced mine and until having the C the most i'd worked at a car was to change a tyre or check for oil and water :oops:

I wasnt looking forward to it either but I followed this as a guide http://www.corrado-club.ca/forum/ultima ... 112#000003 and actually enjoyed doing it.

If you have a chance to spend all weekend at it and want to learn a bit more about whats behind the dash then really this isn't a hard job just time consuming and well worth saving £400, also allows you to give it a good clean up while it's all out :D

If you want i'll do it for £250 but you'll have to bring it to Northern Ireland :wink: :lol:

[joebrent 0]

i know the matrix is only cheap but its a good 5 hour job by the sounds of things, the car uses so much petrol because it doesnt ever run at temp. im gona bite the bullet knowing that im gona have a sweet running car for a while.....

[joebrent 0]

I am useless with mechanics, I havnt got one tool to my name!

[The Hub 0]

Pop down to halfords and buy one of there sets, thats what I done, although a 10mm socket a few screw drivers and a few other bits and peices are all you really need.

Like i said i had never work on a car either, it's not about mechanics more remembering what you took out of where. The guide explains it so well, but if you need any help PM me and I'll give you my mobile in case you get stuck :)

 

This is the worst part seeing your car like this :shock: notice the nice rust colour coming out of the vent in the middle of the pic, do you really want this all over your carpet :roll:

[joebrent 0]

I couldnt face it mate, I dont have the time, space or inclination to do it!

[The Hub 0]

Maybe just lazy and too much money :wink: :lol:

Joking mate, but I suppose you do need to have the will to do it.

[joebrent 0]

id be doing it at the side of a busy road which doesnt help much.

[dr_mat 0]

I'm no expert but I have absolutely no fecking idea how a blown heater matrix might cause the rad fans to run 24x7. Sounds like BS to me mate..

Get the heater matrix bypassed (simple job) and see if the fans still run 24x7 - if so it's definitely not the matrix is it?!

[joebrent 0]

I'm no expert but I have absolutely no fecking idea how a blown heater matrix might cause the rad fans to run 24x7. Sounds like BS to me mate..

Get the heater matrix bypassed (simple job) and see if the fans still run 24x7 - if so it's definitely not the matrix is it?!

 

 

The mechanic said the matrix blew because the fans were always running, youve got it the wrong way round :wink:

[joebrent 0]

and the fans were always running because some idiot previous owner chopped into the fans wiring for some reason or another?

[dr_mat 0]

And I still can't think of a link ...

 

My guess is the idiot owner hotwired the fans most likely cos the fan thermoswitch didn't work and the car overheated...

 

But I can't think of a way that "fans always running" could cause "blown heater matrix". Quite the opposite. Running the engine much cooler would be much more likely to prolong the life of the heater matrix, cos the system is less likely to reach full pressure...

[steven_j_bennett 0]

Joe, i just did this job on both my corrados and it is really simple! time consuming and fiddily but simple!

 

I would think the price is about right as probably 6 hours labour involved + £30ish for matrix.

 

Be brave(£300 could pay for a lot of other stuff for your car) have a go yourself tools needed :

 

Phillips Screwdriver(s), 8mm socket, 10mm socket and 24mm socket (to take steering wheel off).

 

Start by looking for any visible screws taking them out removing trays etc and it all becomes pretty self explanitory.

 

Good luck

[The Hub 0]

Be brave(£300 could pay for a lot of other stuff for your car) have a go yourself tools needed :

 

Exactly what i was thinking, ask a mate to use his drive or garage for a day or 2. You know it makes sense :)

[dr_mat 0]

Maybe I missed something in this thread? How do you know the heater matrix is blown? Do you have a damp footwell?? I'm sure the poster appreciates people's advice on how to change the matrix, but perhaps we should work out whether it's actually fooked or not first! :)

[joebrent 0]

because the fans have now been fixed the car can get upto to temp and correct pressure, because of this water now pisses out of the matrix. when the car did not get up to temp, there was never enough pressure for the water to come out of the matrix.

 

I know what you guys are saying about doing it myself but by the looks of the how to guide i couldnt do it. all those wires would just make me freak out, also i havnt got any time to do it!

 

so we reckon about 6 hours labour?

[dr_mat 0]

Ok, now we know the heater matrix is a gonner.. ;)

I'd go give the guy who sold it to you a kicking, sooner, rather than later... :)

[joebrent 0]

i knew the problem when i bought it, was v cheap though.

 

In everyones opinion how long should this take a good mechanic?

[dr_mat 0]

Stealth quoted "pretty much all day" - i.e. about 8 hours when I asked about it.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

The thing that catches a lot of people out is that there are two (I think) bolts through from the engine side of the bulkhead, in the area of the windscreen wiper mechanism, which help hold the dashboard in position.

 

My garage took 8 hours to do mine, or at least that's what I was charged for..... It has a/c, maybe that complicates things.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Supercharged 2]

Yeah, I can imagine it would given whats got to come out, thinking of doing mine soon before i need to...

[G60Jet 1]

I'm doing my matrix tomorrow, sadlly the Matrix for the Aircon heater system is about £60, maybe i should to a how to guide as well.

[Yash 0]

Done my heater matrix last saturday and sunday, it takes ages (took me 10 hours, but I've never done it before) but isnt too difficult, just time consuming, its good to get the dash out tho, gives you a chance to clean everything behind and tidy up the wires.

[steven_j_bennett 0]

First time i did my heater matrix it took me and a mate 10 hours but this involved dash out twice as i crushed the plastic matrix pipe that goes through the bulkhead by massively overtightening the jubilee clip!

 

The next one i did (not too long ago now) took me 4 hours in total (with same mate ) and that included putting foam (draft excluder to be precise) on all bits of dash that came in contact with other plastics. This is well worth doing as my dash is now totally squeak free.

 

If you really dont want to do the job price sounds about right and in this cold weather you will probably think it was worth every penny!