Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

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elma
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Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

After many weeks of trying to get the remains of the elbow off of the heater matrix inlet/outlet it seems that they are fused.
I don't have the time or the will to be changing the matrix and I'm certainly not paying half the price I paid for the car for a plastic elbow.

So I have decided to fabricate something to do it's job.
At the moment I have just over half of the elbow still attached to the matrix and it seems to be structurally sound compared to the lower end which disintegrated.
My intention is to glue either pcopper or plastic central heating pipe into the remains and put the rubber hoses directly onto the new pipes with hose clips.

The question is does anyone know of a suitable adhesive for the job of bonding copper of plastic pipe to what I assume is an ABS elbow?

This is a very urgent repair as I cannot stand having the car without heaters and am rapidly falling out with it. I do the majority of my driving at night, with open windows and heaters on full blast. Driving in a coat and 2 jumpers with the windows closed is not fun for me.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by xantia_v6 »

I don't fancy you chances of making this work. The plastic fitting will be glass filled nylon, which doesn't have a solvent glue, and most of the glues that will stick to it won't take the heat and moisture for long periods. See https://www.polyvance.com/radiator.php for details of some difficulties.

Have you tried warming the fitting with a hot air gun before pulling?
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

Yes it's had heat over and over again, the elbow and the matrix pipes are now one piece.
I considered going in with a jr hacksaw blade but without removing the engine I don't fancy the chances that way either.
Is the elbow definitely glass filled Nylon? It feels a lot more like ABS than Nylon to me compared with things I've 3d printed. I've never used a glass filled Nylon though so could easily be thrown off track.

I can answer my own question, it clearly is not ABS. I believed ABS was good up to about 200 degrees C but alas no it's glass transition temp (new thing to me) is 105 degrees C so it could not be used for this part.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by Stickyfinger »

Will it take a thread ?.....that would be my choice.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

A threads impossible on what I have left. The internal profile is not straight..

Looks like a new matrix or scrap the damn thing.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by lexi »

Can anything be made from stainless? Elbows and bends are available for header tubes and the like.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by Stickyfinger »

I have a car here you can practice on mate.....let me look at it tomorrow and try a couple of things.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

Thanks buddy, I'll take some pictures tomorrow so you can see what I'm up against.
Sorry btw for not messaging you re visiting, long week.
I'm free 3 weekends out of the next 4 but I don't know which at the moment.
Your sockets will work soon!
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by RichardW »

Stixall?

Tech data says OK to 100°C - not often you are above that in a cooling system, so might well be OK...
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

That is an interesting product.
I'm not sure weather it would work on this material having read the link Mike put up.
Could be worth a try if no other options materialise, I've bookmarked the page

I think I may end up changing a perfectly good matrix over this and I'm none too impressed about it.
I won't pay £90 for a plastic elbow so will still have to improvise something.
Lets hope a solution comes up, I'm sorely tempted to give up and get a Van.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by ekjdm14 »

I've used Loctite chemical metal on numerous "projects" (read emergency bodges that lasted!) and I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work if used in copious quantities on this job. It stemmed the leak on a crumbled heater valve on a Fiesta amongst other things, also reattached the governor stop screw on the ZX pump after I bashed it off de-armouring it :oops:

What I would say, is if there's any doubt over it's ability to bond to the plastic, you could surely "smear" it around corners/ridges etc in such a way that when cured it physically couldn't come out even if the bond failed.

That said though, I do think it'd work fine... There's a datasheet for the stuff here & it seems OK on mild steel to +160c

EDIT-: oops forgot the link... http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/45057.pdf

Certainly don't give up, or if you really must then join the heater pipes to bypass the matrix & drive the car to us and we'll rescue the thing lol :rofl2:
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by elma »

I won't give up, just demoralised with it.
Most likely plan at the mo it's is get the cheapest van possible to use and put the Xantia in the barn until it is sorted.
The fact that I haven't got any tools has not helped.

The matrix is already bypassed which is the main reason I currently despise driving.
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by ekjdm14 »

elma wrote:I won't give up, just demoralised with it. Good, stick with it & it'll be good in the end... (actually, if the bit you need could be removed from a breaker I do want to go see an estate in a scrappy soon if you'd like me to have a go at removing in one piece?)

Most likely plan at the mo it's is get the cheapest van possible to use and put the Xantia in the barn until it is sorted. Of this plan I am jealous, I want a barn for project storage! :-D

The fact that I haven't got any tools has not helped. Of this statement I am not at all jealous! how come you're sans-tools? I'd go nuts without 'em!
Oh, and there's no need for a heater in this weather of late! Or is it more the knowledge that it's not right that's doing your head in?
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by CitroJim »

ekjdm14 wrote: Oh, and there's no need for a heater in this weather of late!


That's true! I ran a V6 Xantia with a bypassed matrix from about now until late in the autumn with no worries at all a few years ago...

Global warming and all that... :lol:
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Re: Need to improvise repair for heater matrix elbow

Post by KennyW »

How much rubber left from the bulkhead. As I have some hoses and plastic connectors sitting the garage doing nothing which I found fitted over the matrix hoses on my mk 2 estate.

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