Heater Matrix swap

[kiwi]

MKII Owners

So someone here claims it can be done in 30 minutes! Well what I want to know is what you actually removed to gain access and accomplish this?

First thing I can think of is the steering column shroud for access.

Second I can think that splitting the heater tap would be the next step?

But the difficult part is extracting the Matrix passed the steering column, whats the trick besides ripping out the complete dash?

[NZ16v]

30 minutes to CHANGE.

765765765769576576 hours to remove the-

Radiator and drain the system
pull off the engine bay hard hoses and then get rid of the inlet/outlet joiner in the body of the car, you will go mad trying to get the matrix thing off otherwise, due to RHD and no bloody room AT ALL. IMandmyfathersHO of course

Steering panel covers
steering wheel
steering column
various wires/earths.

THEN

hammer the bracket over that fouls the unit in rhd cars.

spend 63457568756858967(seriously) hours trying to get a bloody spanner onto the 6/7mm(?) bolts that the cables attach to. I found a flexi screwdriver thingee worked a treat.

Chuck in new one, and reattach everything. check it all work off the dials please!

Hammer back mount thingee, and re-route all the wires/earths.

rebuild everthing.

Its a basterd. Took me ALL DAY. BUt im an ignorant colonial kiwi. Like you.

[kiwi]

hammer the bracket over that fouls the unit in rhd cars.

Ahh now that makes sense other than that been easy getting the access, I am going with spliting the heater tap option as well.

Meantime the floor blower vent was removed because it was full of grreen sticky gunk. However it dont seem to be leaking at the moment so ingenius idea put a plastic tub under the vent between the metal brakets and if it leaks it will go into the tub. Then I will get the hammer out.

But meanwhile I got a more serious problem of the Fan not working despite changing rad switchs. Nothing wrong with fuse or fan as live feed from battery works, if not plan B direct wire with internal manual switch.

[peterwight]

After several hours work,I finished installing a new heater matrix yesterday on J Reg meteor. I've been reading the concurrent comments on this site. I too found the steering column to be in the way, but my Haynes manual had the answer. I hadn't checked the chapter at the end that gives instruction for later models, but when I did, there it was: unbolt the steering column it said Simple.
So I'm glad I didn't strip out the dash; that would have been fiddly. The real irritant was the behaviour of the tap thing. Released from the old matrix it sprung forward and no way did it want to sit obligingly against the new one. Only a big lever against the hoses (in the engine compartment pulled it back.

[Turboalternator]

Hallo Kiwi,

If memory serves me right you've either got a petrol, (carb), 19TRS or 16TRS. That being the case the problem with the rad switch may not be with the rad switch at all but, in fact, with the wiring which may not be wired up in accordance with the Haynes Manual.

Since you are investigating anyway would you mind checking the wiring and see if it conforms? Please post your results. In my case I could not see how the present wiring was able to switch on the fan and, consequently, I have have had to put in place a manual switch/relay combination to switch on the fan. Also I have never actually seen, (or heard), my fan come on automatically since I bought the car, (from new).

Finally if you are experiencing overheating problems it may be the head gasket. My one has gone, I think, and the tell-tale sign I relied upon was the presence of oil-water emulsified gunk in the oil filler, revealed when the oil filler cap was removed.

Anyway, please let members know how you got on as this is really important.

Best regards,

[Way2go]

it may be the head gasket. My one has gone, I think, and the tell-tale sign I relied upon was the presence of oil-water emulsified gunk in the oil filler, revealed when the oil filler cap was removed.

They all do that normally without HG problems, unless you check after a very long run.

[Turboalternator]

Hallo,

Three points:

1. I had this problem before the head gasket went on my car some 18 years ago. Changed the head gasket

2. After that I had a long stint, (17 years), without the emulsifier gunk. It has only recently come back, coinciding with the engine overheating.

3. Is it normal for the engine oil to be contaminated by coolant water? - since I can not see how else the engine oil would emulsify.

Regards,

[mat_fenwick]

Is it normal for the engine oil to be contaminated by coolant water? - since I can not see how else the engine oil would emulsify.

I think what Way2go is meaning is that it's not unusual for the oil filler cap to collect emulsified oil from the condensation forming on it (being a cold spot). I have to say that I've never noticed it on XUDs, but (coincidentally?) have on several petrol XU engines.

I wouldn't condemn the HG on this symptom alone, but it is a distinct possibility - unless perhaps the usage of the car has recently changed? Is there any excess pressurisation of the cooling system? Also, how are you determining that it's overheating? I didn't think the TRS had a temperature gauge as standard but I'm willing to be corrected...

[KevR]

Just done the matrix on the daily driver (1990 TZD). If anyone has the contact details for the bloke who designed the heater system, I'd appreciate it. I need to get round to his house with a selection of power tools and make him wish he'd never been born...

In the end the matrix itself was the (relatively) easy bit. The worst bit was repairing and re-connecting all the cables and re-setting the linkages so the knobs actually do what they're supposed to. I wanted to change the tap assembly as well - got a nice clean spare here - but that turned out to be physically impossible without taking the engine out...