sixysix
Post #1
Hi guys, whilst down in Devon on the shark fishing trip, Neil (iplay) and myself planned on replacing my heater matrix at the same time and it's now all sorted 
There are about three FAQ's on the matrix already so I won't do the in's and out's of what's involved, but thought I would throw a few pictures up for reference which might be of extra help for anyone brave enough to pull their car to bits
So we take one perfectly fine dashboard like so...
And proceed to take it to pieces...
My alarm led on the vents had come loose a few weeks before which was a silly niggle I had to sort.
The only real way to reatach is to take the centre vent out, then it is easy to push back into position.
It plugs into a brown two pin conector behind the stereo.
I removed the clip holding the connector to the dash and routed it to the side as the cable is too short and I assume the wire comes loose as it is easy to snag the wire when replacing the stereo.
More connectors...
Black and white connectors for indicator stalk...
Grey/white window wiper connector...
Almost ready for removing...
At this point, I thought about the parts for sale section
Next on to the engine comartment to remove the wipers to get access to the nuts that hold the dash on...
Three nuts hold the dash to the bulkhead. Two in each upper corner, and one hiding behind the heatshield...
If when removing the engine side hoses, the hose cracks, there is a technical way to get around this...
Then get some pliers on the bits of hose left in the bulkhead and wiggle till they come free.
You may be lucky and the hose comes out cleanly, otherwise it's off to Pug to spend around £130.00
Back inside the car and you can now carefully pull the dash from the bulkhead, while unclipping any other connectors as you go and...
Wonder how the feck you are going to put it all back together
Removed Matrix from heater box and also moved fan unit for better acces and cleaning...
I noticed whisps of steam coming from the top of the dash vents around 12 - 18 months ago and used some K-seal as a temp fix which worked just fine to keep me on the road with heat but it's not ideal really.
That means that my original matrix lasted aprox 12 years of abuse which is pretty good.
So what did the offending matrix look like after a decade in the dash...
Not pretty then
We took the fan box out to make sure all was ok, you can see where the matrix lives in the box...
Shineeeeey!
Then it's a matter of putting everything back together again and refilling the cooling system.
I would suggest checking and double checking the hoses on both sides of the bulkhead to make sure they are seated and sealed properly before replacing the dash as we had a little leak on the inside hose where the O ring did not seal properly and you don't want to do it twice now....Do you?
Once happy all is good, try and route everything as it was before and that all the connectors are connected up. Look for connectors that you did not disconnect yourself as some can unhook themselves when pulling the dash out!
I had a couple of issues after putting the dash back together and luckily, only had to remove the central console to sort them out.
Being a phase 1, the ashtray is under the switches and one of the cables squashed up onto the heater mechanism where the cable attaches which stopped me from turning the dial which controls the airflow through the vents
It also snagged the ashtray which stopped it from opening but managed to move everything around and it was all fine.
Checked everthing and all was good exept one very important safety feature. NO BRAKE LIGHTS!!!
It seems that we had disconnected the plug when removing the dashboard and knew nothing about it (I told you it could happen
)A quick call to carl and he told me how to get to the connector. Three screws to take steering shroud off, then four 13mm bolts to drop down the steering column, then find the cable, reconnect, then refit parts.
The only other thing that I need to sort is the wipers are not working as they should but I think I have either disturbed a wire by the relay or the relay itself may be damaged from movement.
I will have a look at that tomorrow.
I was a bit weary of water temps and so on as I had to drive back to London after it was finnished and did go for a quick blast before hand to make sure there were no more leaks.
Made it back home and no loss of coolant from the system, so I am very pleased it's all sorted.
I had no spare screws/nuts/bolts left over and used a very simple system to be sure that I used the correct fixings. Sandwich bags and sticker labels, then each part you remove, put the bits in the bag and label up as you see fit
So that's my essay, and hope it may be a helpful addition to the other very good guides on here
Last but not least, thanks to Carl and Dave for their advise, to Dan for getting brutal when it mattered, and to Neil and family for all his hard work, great hospitality, great food, and everything else while we completed the work
We also replaced the thermostat, Brembo disks all round, standard rear pads, DS2500 pads on the front, refreshed the brake fluid with Castrol SRF fluid and regreased all the slider pins
Happy days!!!
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Xbox Live ID: Marksixysix (Forza 3, Forza 4 PES 2010, COD 6/MW2, WRC 2010).
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P1 Diablo red 6 gone but not forgotten
Posted 1st Oct 2010 at 01:12
