Well, my heater matrix has died (RIP) and left me with a lovely coolant stain in the carpet. I had to bypass the heater using a piece of hose and 2 clamps just before they enter the cockpit.
Now I have 2 options:
*Replace the heater core
*Leave it like that
I don´t use the heater too much since the weather here in Guatemala is warm to hot all the time but since there is water always ciculating in the heater I assume I´m gonna have some cooling problems.
Or I could leave it like that and maybe install a small radiator in the bypass to help cooling and live without the heater.
What do you think?
ZX heater matrix
Moderator: RichardW
Bypassing the heater matrix with the hose and 2 jubilee clips shoudln't cause any cooling problems providing you have beld the system up again. A heater matrix is about £30 (over here it is anyway), however its a fair job to tackle, you have to remove the dashboard, steering wheel and the heater gubbins etc to do it, can be done in less than a day as I have done it before (and that included removing the matrix from a donor car!). Another option would be to try some radiator stop leak (barrs leaks?, radweld?) and see if it cures the problem. Simon
-
martyhopkirk
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by oscarloco</i>
Well, I had to bypass the heater using a piece of hose and 2 clamps just before they enter the cockpit.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Did you by any chance own a Green AX? [:D]
Well, I had to bypass the heater using a piece of hose and 2 clamps just before they enter the cockpit.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Did you by any chance own a Green AX? [:D]
Flippin heck! What a job! After 5 hours I had accessed the heater assembly and then decided to leave the rest til Sunday - cold, dark, wife bored of holding lamp. Six hours slog Sunday and the car is driveable, but finer details like steering shroud can wait. Oh and the centre console won't fit - there is 1 cm difference between the position of the bolt and the hole for the bolt. I'll drill it again and fit, but don't know why there should be a difference, unless the whole dash is 1 cm out of position [?] And the Rad bottom hose won't stay on - last person to access it had used a zip tie to hold it on and I wasn't able to repeat their success. Heater motor is still drying out and will be re-fitted later. To sum up - 6 out of 10. First attempt at car repair, fixed problem, learned more about myself and the zx than I wanted, feel happier about owning a car now that I know I can fix things on it. Thanks to all those who posted here with advice and tips - invaluable, especially keeping a list of each stage in the process. And a huge mention to my [:X] wife for her patience, moral support, cups of tea and 12 hours holding a lamp and freezing.