Heater Core leaks

Hi Guys & Gals,

I've just had all the glovebox out to check for a leak in the heater gubbins after being steamed out Friday morning, and found the matrix is screwed, there's a drip evey half a second down the drive tunnel and into the passenger footwell. It's definately Coolant, with a nice pink hue to it. The car's now off the road until I get this thing fixed, although I like the thought of an in car bath, it's just a shame it smells so bad!

I realise this is the bitch of all jobs as the whole dash has to come out (I did a search!) the A/C needs de&re pressurising before and after. Does anyone have any advice they can share, I'm not too hot (cough, sorry...) on putting any type of redweld in it as I believe this is postponing the inevitable, but if anyone has some rock solid proof it's ok to use that stuff, I may consider it.

I'd be looking to get my existing recored for about £70 as new they're about £300 or so I've been lead to believe and I have no reason to doubt it of Toyota.

Basically, does anyone have a possible cost to the nearest ton (weep-sniff) and has had this done in the past who could just run me through the process and costs.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Anyone?

Any and all thoughts would be very appreciated in this difficult time.

Sorry, I know I'm fishing with nothing to use as bait.

I've only really read about it and what a PITA it is. Chris Wilson on here has done some before but i know he's a busy man!

There is someone else who has i believe tapped off or linked up both pipes to bypass the matrix. I know this is not a solution but it gets you mobile (if thats important?) while you consider the best course of action, especially as you won't probably need the heater for a good few months?

Originally posted by Scooter [/i

There is someone else who has i believe tapped off or linked up both pipes to bypass the matrix. I know this is not a solution but it gets you mobile (if thats important?) while you consider the best course of action, especially as you won't probably need the heater for a good few months? [/b]

Yep that'd be me then !!. Still re rooted but what the hell summers coming. I've braved the cold (and trust me it was !) but the leccy seats helped out and in time it will be sorted. To be honest I'd rather get a new smic on first, then radiator (sat in the garage still in Toyota box) and then the matrix. Kind of funny how every thing with fins has just rotted away on mine eh

.

I have done one, and I am in no rush to do another, unless I am very quiet. It's a bastard of a job, and it's easy to break clips and brackets et cetera, none of which will be available without waiting and a load of agg finding correct part numbers from Mr Toyota. It's also a common problem now. DO NOT use radweld or Barrs Leaks, they block steam holes in head gaskets, gum up heater control valves, blah blah. nasty stuff, OK for an old Sierra soon to be scrapped, bad news for a complex engine, Barrs Leaks even carried warnings about NOT to use it on Rover / Honda V6 as they suffered coolant flow failure when it was used.

Brilliant, cheers guys.

How do I go about this matrix bypass? I'm hoping it's in the engine bay somewhere and involves a length of pipe and a few clips, but that's ok I feel a little more at home there!

...And as you say womble, sod it, summer's coming and the A/C still works! Next winter check one of these out Car heater, not the prettiest I grant you but not bad for 20 notes.

Huge thanks by the way everyone, just smiled for the first time in days!

Matt

Mines stuffed as well, looking at exp. parts and lots of labour (20 hours easy)

A bypass procedure would be great, dont need it at the minute!!!

Gaz.

Originally posted by fatmerecat

Brilliant, cheers guys.

 

How do I go about this matrix bypass? I'm hoping it's in the engine bay somewhere and involves a length of pipe and a few clips, but that's ok I feel a little more at home there!

 

Matt

Yeah that's pretty much the sum of it, it's at the back of the engine bay mounted pretty much centrally and it's just a case of disconnecting the pipes from the matrix inlet / outlet and connecting them together (be careful not to get any kinks in it) and then checking for leaks. If I can do it anyone can .

Originally posted by womble

Yeah that's pretty much the sum of it, it's at the back of the engine bay mounted pretty much centrally and it's just a case of disconnecting the pipes from the matrix inlet / outlet and connecting them together (be careful not to get any kinks in it) and then checking for leaks. If I can do it anyone can .

Womble,

How long have you been running with it bypassed? Still OK to date?

Gaz.

Originally posted by Gaz Walker

Womble,

 

How long have you been running with it bypassed? Still OK to date?

 

Gaz.

Probably going on for a year now with no problems to date (other than near frost bite one day last November ).

If you run a heater matrix bypass you normally have to add a flow restrictor into the circuit to stop all the coolant taking the bypass path. Its some thing we do on engine dynos a lot.

Ok, it's not pretty but it works for now, no leaks and no temp change on first test. I have to get some new clips and switch the pipe from an 18mm copper 'U' to fabricated 18-20mm nickel alloy (which I think the original pipes are made of?) which I'll scout out this weekend. I also need to cap off the matrix pipes at the bulkhead.

How necessary is the flow restrictor and what dia. would you suggest?

Atleast half the passenger side can go back in for now, but I'm not happy with it to be honest, I need to get this fixed. Oh well, best buy myself a little diesel as a run around before I do, the missus will need a car soon!

Thanks everyone, the push biking to work was killing my knees.

Well since it sounds like no-one else who has bypassed the heater matrix has ever put one in, and you don't have any pressure rise in the engine, if it works as is you can probably leave it.

So, how hard is it to take everything out to get to the heater?

Originally posted by Darren Blake

Well since it sounds like no-one else who has bypassed the heater matrix has ever put one in, and you don't have any pressure rise in the engine, if it works as is you can probably leave it.

 

So, how hard is it to take everything out to get to the heater?

Not "hard" per se, just VERY time consuming and easy to scratch / damage / break / bugger things. Any clips and stuff broken or buggered are unlikely to be in stock at Mr T's, and hard to describe over the phone. Just a PITA basically

Ok, just thinking of ways to save a lot of hassle. Is the following viable:-

you bypass the matrix as dicussed, but then instead of capping the entry / exit you then attach piping and via some means (external pump etc) and put through radweld type stuff. This way I'm thinking that you could fix the leak and then continue flushing thoroughly to remove any excess radweld sludge etc that could cause problems once linked back up to the cooling system proper? (should say that i know nothing about Radweld type stuff and how it works if it solidify's enough to ensure that after flushing bits won't breakaway in the future)

Originally posted by Scooter

Ok, just thinking of ways to save a lot of hassle. Is the following viable:-

 

you bypass the matrix as dicussed, but then instead of capping the entry / exit you then attach piping and via some means (external pump etc) and put through radweld type stuff. This way I'm thinking that you could fix the leak and then continue flushing thoroughly to remove any excess radweld sludge etc that could cause problems once linked back up to the cooling system proper? (should say that i know nothing about Radweld type stuff and how it works if it solidify's enough to ensure that after flushing bits won't breakaway in the future)

Hmm, it's an idea (and not too bad a one at that) but to be honest considering the amount of sludge and crap that came out of mine when I flushed it out on its own I would say that it was that knackered that it's beyond anything other than a very temporary repair .