Has my heater matrix been blocked off?

I've been trying to cure knackered cabin heaters on my '93 lse....to no avail.

Having a good look at the engine bay yesterday, and the two pipes that run above the offside rocker cover, with the highest filling point for the cooling system, have been looped together with a hose. Is this a (rather obvious) sign that my heater matrix has burst at some point in the past, and not replaced? It looks factory so I've never questioned it before...but it's starting to become increasingly obvious.

If so, what do I need to do to replace or fix it?

Here is how the heater pipes connect through the bulkhead, part no. 9 being the Heater Outlet hose, and 10 being the Heater Inlet hose. Hope that helps.

Pete

take out the whole dash and replace the matrix

Wonderful. Looks like the previous owner's bodged it after the matrix has burst. I suppose it's a relief in a way as I cancrack on and fix it now. I've been bleeding the cooling system thinking it was an airlock causing the problem.

I assume it's a case of removing the dash bit by bit until the matrix can be accessed, then re-plumbing everything again?

Thanks again folks...you've all been very helpful.

is it a softdash?

fett said:

is it a softdash?

Click to expand...

It's a hard dash.

in that case you cane leave the a/c gassed, take the wood trim off and then the whole a/c blower and duct comes out and there is enough length on the hoses to put it to one side to get the rest out

fett said:

in that case you cane leave the a/c gassed, take the wood trim off and then the whole a/c blower and duct comes out and there is enough length on the hoses to put it to one side to get the rest out

Click to expand...

Cheers Fett, I'll set aside a day next week and get it done.

On the plus side...my girfriend refuses to come in the car with me at the moment as it's so cold - nag free motoring bliss!

lol, one bright side

It will be an all day job if it all goes well as it the whole dash out. binnicle and centre console too.

center console is easy tho