Went to drive the car to work this morning and noticed a wet patch about 2ft square underneath the drivers door, the water is bright green in colour so after talking to jeff (zedworld) worked out the only thing it could really be is antifreeze.

 

Anyway tried to find the leak and eventually found it trickling down the dash where the foot rest is (auto) so i am pretty sure it has something to do with the heater matrix.

 

In order to get to the matrix and pipework how much of the dash has to come out ???

 

Any hints and tips would be much appreciated.

ouch, big big big big big job this one, i think your entire dash coems out lol, but Grant on this forum had a sort of qucik fix i think.

300zx, Thanks for that you have made me feel so much better :(

 

The quick fix.........did that include a petrol can and a match.....

 

I bet its not just as simple as a loose hose either

Temporary fix would be to disable the matrix - do this by removing the matrix hoses in the engine bay against the bulkhead, and fitting a pipe between the supply and return from the engine. This will at least allow you to drive the car without losing coolant. Warren is correct - the dash does have to come out to replace the matrix - probably about 1 1/2 days work for the whole job...

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Cheers Andy, excuse my ignorance hear but i take it the A/C will still work as the matrix only supplies heating and not cold air.

 

will capping off the Heater matrix at the bulk also cause higher engine temp ???

Yes the AC shouold still work fine as far as I can see. The engine temp should be fine - the heater matrix only takes water when the heater is on. The rest of the time there is a valve which cuts off the supply....

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Nice one cheers Andy, I take these two pipes that go from the bulkhead are fairly easy to find ????

Reasonably. Look behind the plenum, coming out of the bulkhead, just inside the brake master cylinder - you should see them there. The only problem I can see is finding a piece of pipe which will bend enough - the two hoses point the same direction (towards the drivers wing) as they come out of the back of the engine - basically you need a U shaped pipe which doubles back on itself - you'll see what I mean ;)

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Cheers , will have a look tonight

Yes, have got this bypass on mine at the mo. I (well, SE) used a metal u-bend kind of pipe thing. Mine has been like this for 2 winter's now and it gets a bit chilly, let me tell you!

 

When you order your new matrix, do yourself a favour and get it from Courtesy!

 

There is a "dash in" way of doing it that takes between 4-5 hours. I will find the link to it if you want?

http://www.aus300zxclub.com/tech/heater/heatercore.htm

 

-Andrew

One thing I would say is that dash removal is preferable. A common reason for failure of the matrix is bad earths - with the dash out you'll be able to check for these - dash-in and it may be a bit restricted... ;) You don't want to have to buy another matrix in 2 months ;)

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

My Dash is split near the windscreen by the top vents , probably hot jap sun day after day, so was gonna replace this when i replace the interior in Sept when the car goes off the road.

 

So hopefully if i can bypass it untill then i will get it changed at the same time.

 

As for no heating in the winter........sod that had an Astra once with no heating and had to where bobble hat and gloves everywhere , never again.

 

Fairplay to you James300

Bypassed the heater matrix yesterday , managed to get a hose from Cafco that fitted with a bit of manipulation but still a pig of a job, anyway when removing the heater matrix hoses one of them was full of rust particles to the point of being almost clogged :(

 

So gave the system a full flush , four flushes later and it still kicking out brown crap. 6th time put some nice new coolant in and the gauge now sits nicely just below half way , where as it used to sit spot on half way.

 

I wonder how many other Zeds out there have systems full of crap that they don't know about :confused:

 

anyway it was nice to get out in the sun yesterday for a blast :cool: and all is well for now

bagins:

 

I have done a couple of heater matrix`s last month and Andy does have a good point about the earth connections causing problems , (usually the battery to chassis connection)

 

I use the dash in method and although it is a PITA job I prefer it as it disturbs less, also the matrix sits in a plastic box that is insulated but the inlet pipes are bolted to the chassis (standard ) and this is where I feel problems arise (restricted access) , it is however no problem to attach an earth strap at a more convenient point to be sure all is ok.

 

 

Jeff TT

Once you have the Matrix out you can see how it is possible to get the Matrix out without removing the dash. Without that knowledge it's easier to take out the dash, particularly if you want to repair the dash.

 

And P has some links on his site and there is a recent post about the earthing issues.

 

Grant