Well it's finally given up .......................

[c.morewood]

On the night shift last night .. in a spare half hour I decided o investigate just how wet it was .. it was pretty wet.. got a lot of it dried using paper towels.. the kind used for drying hands... I thought I'd got it cracked .......and then discovered the foam under the plastic which runs up the firewall....
Funny thing though the carpet surface was sticky so I assumed the matrix.. but the water coming from the foam seems fairly clean.. I would have thought if it was the matrix, it would have been rusty brown like the old coolant a couple of weeks ago.. so maybe it isn't the matrix ?????? We have had an awful lot of rain lately....

[CitroJim]

That sounds more like your windscreen scuttle Chris..

If a matrix leaks that much you'd be topping up coolant every day and the car would be stinking like a cheap curry house...

[c.morewood]

Well I thought I could occasionally smell a whiff of hot radiator water before I did the pre heater.. but not since.. It was the sticky carpet which made me think it would have been the matrix.. still might be.. but the clarity of the water in the under carpet area makes me wonder about the scuttle.
Any tips on how to seal.. it is just loads of sealant.. where does it leak into the car from the scuttle area?

[Hell Razor5543]

It could possible be that the drain holes for the cabin air intake have got blocked (leaves, etcetera), and so the rainwater the drains down into the cabin.

[CitroJim]

Chris, I've always used automotive quality RTV sealant on scuttles.

The trick is to really clean the screen and the underside of the scuttle and the screen with solvent so the sealant has a chance to firmly adhere..

Don't use masses but do check the passenger side is wall stick and sealed right up to the edge...

Also check there's a big lump of 'blu-tak' under the passenger side of the scuttle very near the edge of the wing. This servers a very important role of directing rainwater running down the roof side gutters away from the heater inlet.

[KennyW]

It is definitely the matrix as it is sticky and when i checked behind pollen filter it was aqua colour. It does help have recently added fresh coolant mix.
New matrix arriving to day must purchase a good sealant for scuttle, thanks for the recommendation Jim. just need to find our camera for the pic's.

Kenny

[c.morewood]

Well the car is now dry.. I dried out all the carpets and foam using a small fan heater alternating between warm and cold air which seems to have done the trick.. However I had what I thought was an unrelated problem with the radio.. last year it began hissing occasionally at first and then almost all the time.. it was cured when I got a new radio facia from CitroenXM or so I thought.. so a few days ago it started again..not continuous but annoying just the same,, seemed to be cured by switching station and back again.. I figured I'd give the aerial a clean and try to improve the earth contact.. so I took the front of the roof lining off and undid the bolt for the aerial...I put my hand up to try to recover the small circuitboard and its container and discovered a load of soaking wet tissue up there and found that the aerial had been sitting in the wet for a while.. so I cleaned everything up and dried everything out and put it all back together and the radio works perfectly .. I'm wondering if the wet has been coming in the aerial hole and coming down the passenger pillar getting to the passenger mat etc? The roof lining wasn't wet .. the only clue that there was some wet in the car, after I'd dried everything out, was that the back window would mist up when I wouldn't have expected it to.
I'll be looking out for that in the future as misting of the back window in cold weather, seems to be an early indicator of a leak somewhere inside the cabin.
How is that matrix replacement coming Kenny?

[CitroJim]

Chris, that's excellent and very well found on the leaky aerial base. Very possibly water was running down the outside of the coax and dropping on the carpet. Certainly one to be aware of...

My Activa is terrible for misting up and has suffered leaks in the past. You're right that it's an early sign and I must look again. One thing I have never checked ever is the aerial base. I'm thinking it'll be well worth doing.

Thanks for that Chris...

[jsp]

It is definitely the matrix as it is sticky and when i checked behind pollen filter it was aqua colour. It does help have recently added fresh coolant mix.
New matrix arriving to day must purchase a good sealant for scuttle, thanks for the recommendation Jim. just need to find our camera for the pic's.

Kenny

Hi, just seen you want to repair the heater matrix just a few tips:

1. bypass the heater first to avoid a lot of spillage till it's fixed.

2. removal of the dash is a hassle I know that of my cx last time.

3. buy a quality one as the plastic connectors those are often breaking.

[KennyW]

Chris,

Not started yet work and weather

JSP I've done one before so Iknow what a straghtforward PITA job it is.

The leak has got worse so it looks like it'll have to be soon.

Kenny

[KennyW]

A wee update, purchase K-seal and ran that through the system and it's sealed the leak meantime.

I'll wait, hopefully , for better weather and change the matrix then. But I must find where the camerta is to take lots of pics for anyone forced (wanted) to cahnge the matrix.

Kenny