3rd gen heater matrix replacement

[banker]

Need to swap mine out, Haynes says remove dashboard but heard it said you can remove by just taking the lower section of the passenger side trim off. Anyone done this?

[SUPERCHARGEDGTA]

sorry, no

[SUPERCHARGEDGTA]

according to an article on 3rdgenorg, only top pad and under panel need to come off

http://www.thirdgen.org/heatercore

[banker]

Cheers John, i've been doing some trawling too. Found a couple of vids on You Tube which show installation without the dash fully out so i'll give it a go, sounds like there could be a lot of swearing

[Rocky]

Done hundreds, the dash doesn't need to come out but is easier to fit if it is out. You will need to remove a couple of the top screws under the dash pad and the lower dash nut so you can pull out the passenger side of the dash slightly.

[banker]

Cheers, sounds like one of those jobs which is a bitch first time but easier second time round with experience. You busy?

[Rocky]

Seem to always be busy at the moment, long way to come just for a heater matrix though?

[banker]

Hence my other PM

[bhm1712]

have you seen these videos?:

[banker]

Cheers Ian, did find these and quite useful.

[Caz]

Cheers John, i've been doing some trawling too. Found a couple of vids on You Tube which show installation without the dash fully out so i'll give it a go, sounds like there could be a lot of swearing

Hi James
When you do yours please take loads of photos as I've got to do mine. Lol and if I break a nail
Let us no how you get on. As heat in my car would be heaven
Caz xx

[banker]

I'll certainly try, just waiting for parts to arrive

[Newcastle knight]

I had to do mine a few years ago and it was indeed a royal pain ! make sure you dont snap any of the under dash plastic that houses the matrix though as mine was, it looked like some previous owner had tried to do it and left it so i had to take the whole thing out of the dash to change it, which in turn made changing the matrix easy but i had to dismantle nearly all of the underside of the dash to do it.

[banker]

managed to get a day off yesterday and sorted this out. Don't know if i was exceptionally lucky but managed to do this by only taking trim off bottom of passenger side and use a few different sockets and bars to get at the awkward ones. The heater hoses even slipped off easily at the baulkhead so didn't need to cut old ones off and fit new hose, should have bought a lottery ticket. Just a bit fiddly lining up the new matrix with the holes in the baulkhead but wasn't too bad.
Wasn't before time as there was a nice little pool of antifreeze in the footwell so had got worse quite quickly. Nice to have a car that isn't misted up every morning with ice on the inside of the screen.
Shame the leak had stained the carpet a bit but sorted that with a dusting of carpet dye

[SUPERCHARGEDGTA]

good news dude

[Caz]

If you fancy doing another. Fill free to work on mine lol

[banker]

Once the cuts heal up i'll let you know