Here I sit

Broken hearted

Was driving my Z

Then it farted

Clouds of steam

All around

Now I sit

Broken down

 

 

I topped up the radiator at the weekend and this morning noticed the drivers footwell was damp.

Not sure if it was the targa tops leaking or something to do with the heater system I drove

to work. All was fine. On the way home the heater seemed to be misting up the windows all the time

so I suspected something may have been leaking. I kept an eye on the temperature guage but it

seemed fine. Then after another 1/2 hour I hear a glugging, running water sort of sound from

somewhere behind the passenger side of the dash. I noticed a change in the gauge, now up to 3/4 instead

of its usual 1/2 way. I knew there was a layby 1/4 mile ahead but before I got there I heard a pop

(there goes a heater hose) and steam started pouring out.

 

Now I'm sat in the middle of nowhere in pitch blackness using my laptop and mobile phone link to get some sympathy from you guys

 

And to think I ended my string of Italian cars to get a Japanese one as it would be more reliable

ha bloody ha

 

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Where abouts are you Dylan?

Hi ya Dylan,

 

So sorry to hear about your troubles mate - you have my sympathy. I have no idea what the problem may be but it may sound like your heater matrix gave the ghost ... But when in doubt blame the T-tops

 

Hope you get home okay mate ...

 

Cheers,

 

Danny

well, you could look at porn to help calm u down [sorry]

 

or you could confort yourself with the fact that my z is currently in the garage and has never [officially] been on the road since i bought it in the summer!

 

sorry, i cant think of any helpful stuff.

ben.

Ben what the prognosis on the zed can we help out? Jeff TT

hey, hows it goin jeff.

 

yeah, it failed the mot - simple things were..... small weld need to be done on back box of exhaust. er, new brake pads like you said, and the more serious things....

 

cos the suspension is so low, it has muckled up the camber on the wheels and i think the mot guy said there was "too much 'play' in the steering " or somethin. so i thought -camber kit, but the latest garage guy reckons it needs all new springs and stuff.

 

anyway, the real problem is the engine, i think it is totally not firin on one or more cylinders - he said i shouldnt really be drivin it [and then he chuckled to himself]

but. this guy has got it all week to look at.

and hopefully he will be able to utilise the prob to some extent - even if he cant fix it.

 

 

so, hopefully it;ll get sorted this week. [probably not though] but when if does get goin i think an all round service type thing would be good [iff poss] throtthle bodies etc! so, yeah , if u could squeeze me into your new zx worshop that would be good. - although i would'nt like to make a bookin any earlier than december [2002] the way things are goin!

 

shame i cant make it to that rollinroad day either - i would have like to have gone to that. bloody japanese cars!

 

sounds like danny's been havin a few probs aswell.

 

anyway, ill let u know if anythin interestin happens. .

 

cheers, ben

[ps. say hello to your daughter] [sorry]

 

Bad one Dylan

Thats a heater matrix buggered fella, nasty.

Quite a common problem on the Zed and not nice

Hope you get home ok mate, and hope it gets sorted soon!

 

All the best,

Glen

Mr Tim had same problem beginning of year on the M25, keep the farting up and at least you'll stay warm!

Oiiiii Mrs. Naff Off will ya!!! LMAO

 

Dylan, did you take the blue pill or the red pill? Coz that is yer matrix gone west, funny reading the events of yours transpiring. Well not funny for you mate, but it all came flooding back...that cold night November last year I think!

 

Tooley had his done and then it went again recently aswell. What is it with heater matrix's on Z's??? Cack!

I've been there Dylan. its your heater matrix. Temporary fix is to bypass it. On the bulkhead behind the engine you'll see two rubber hoses entering into the bulkhead from the engine bay. undo these (jubilee clips) and join together with a bit of pipe or something. That way you can still use the engine without losing water. Remember do this when engine cold (doh!) and refill the radiator when done Incl antifreeze. Take it to your friendly garage who'll rip out the dashboard and replace the matrix. In the meantime you have no heater. Brrr! My matrix went, was replaced and went again and was replaced under warranty. Sounds like it happened to someone else so beware.

 

If the bypass is not done at least make sure the heater is off AND down to its coldest setting. This way the valves will shut preventing the heater matrix being included in the circulation. But its not a 100% .

 

Lastly do not allow the temp guage to move above its normal position even a bit as the z engine will cause stink. Oh and look forward to a few more of your hoses going if you do.

Er...have a nice day.. Hope you've got home Ok.

Cheers

...and hey...that's poetry init? Do we allow culture on the forum?

Well, I'm home now. I called my personal breakdown service (my Dad), and he came with lots of water (if the Z wasn't so low and big we could have just trailered it home) and I limped it home (stopping to let the steam dissapate and refil with more water every 5 miles). Thanks to this forum I managed to search for heater matrix (I remember reading about it a few months ago) and I think it was Craig who said you can set the a/c to 10C and it will just bypass the heater (big thanks to whoever it was anyway). That seemed to work (except the smartass car decided to reset itself to 25C at some point without me noticing so another full radiator load emptied inside the car)

 

I now have a boat (except the water's on the inside, ha ha) and the thought of a Nissan frigging Micra courtesy car to look forward to.

 

Are you guys sure it'll be the heater matrix and not just one of the hoses? Its definitely inside the car, not under the bonnet. Just asking as my warranty covers me for the heater matrix, but I'll probably end up paying for 10 hours of labour if it turns out to be a hose.

 

Modern technology - the ability to search a forum for information on how to get home whilst stranded in the middle of nowhere near Glastonbury. Christ, this forum is fantastic, thanks guys

 

Dylan

 

 

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It might be a hose. You can try part disassembling the lower dash and try to feel with your hand for the hoses. But there ain't much room. Its a good (80%) chance it is your matrix. You may want to consider getting a new one anyway once you've taken the dashboard out. Or maybe you can er.. arrange with the mechanic to make sure it is the matrix and not the hose...if u see wot I mean.

Dylan mate,

 

I got mine done under warranty, well the part anyway and a percentage of the labour paid by the warranty peeps.

 

Only other thing you may get stung for is they may, may have to regas the A/C aswell.

 

Main dealer that mine was done at said that depends on how easy a time they have of getting it out!

 

Good luck mate

Hi Dylan,

 

It will almost certainly be the heater matrix. I am on my fourth one! They are a weak point on the system. One of the problems with the 300 is that when they run hot the head gaskets tend to fail. They can fail in such a small way, for example by letting exhaust gases pass in to the water jacket. This builds up pressure in the coling system and thereafter cooling system failures. I had a catalogue of failures on hoses all related to this.

 

Simple advice is; DO NOT LET THE CAR RUN EVEN SLIGHTLY HOT FOR ANY PERIOD OF TIME.

 

I wish you luck.

Grant