P38A Who in the South East can replace my heater matrix?

Hi all

Think I need my heater matrix replacing. RHD, '99, Thor. I have looked at the guides - looks an extensive job and although I have done the O rings I am not sure I have the time/space to tackle it.

My usual garages, RR London in Battersea and Sayers MR in Heathrow, don't fancy doing the job. (They literally don't want to do these dash out jobs).

Does anyone know either any garages who have undertaken this kind of work in the south of England, or even of any privateer, ex LR tech types who would be willing to complete the job for cash?

Thought I would ask as would prefer to have someone do it at this stage.

Josh

Are you sure the o-rings were the right size and all in place nicely? I think if you're going to do it a lot of people put some sort of Audi version in.

If you had some sort of Indy I am sure they would have a go. It isn't rocket-science but it will be costly as it will take a lot of hours. Hence why most of us do it ourselves. However, most of us have dependents who already begrudge the amount of time we spend tinkering so helping others has to be done judiciously.

@martyuk might have done one of these before and if he's about might be willing to help you if you drive across to him. He's not far off the M4.

I had my matrix out a couple of years ago to check it. But i did have the dash out and removed and stripped the heater/aircon down to refurb it. I don't think it is possible to remove and refit a genuine heater matrix with the heater in situ on a RHD car

The average home driveway has plenty of space to do the dash out, assuming you can open the doors fully. You don't even need to be a mechanic . . . just follow the PaulP38 guide.

I might be looking to do this to my own car if the most recent O ring swap hasn't worked.
This guy has managed to get his heater unit out of the car without removing the whole fascia (as per the manual).
http://www.mez.co.uk/p38-heater-o-rings4.html
Just follow PaulP38 up until the bit where he starts cutting the dash support and then do what Mez does. This will be my plan if I have to do the Audi mod on mine. I hate the idea of cutting through the car! Mez even thinks it might be possible to get the heater unit out without having to open up your aircon refrigerant.
@wammers did you take the whole fascia out as per RAVE? Unbolting the whole lot from within the engine bay? How long did that take? It looks like one hell of a job to me.

For what it's worth I had leaky O rings on my p38 and after trying to replace but being unable to remove the rounded sized screw I opted to to the Audi heater matrix conversion. It was super simple and only took a few hours. By doing the conversion you do away with the steel pipes and replace with rubber hose through the bulk head to the engine bay. No difference in performance of the heater and no leaks at all.

Littelwill said:

For what it's worth I had leaky O rings on my p38 and after trying to replace but being unable to remove the rounded sized screw I opted to to the Audi heater matrix conversion. It was super simple and only took a few hours. By doing the conversion you do away with the steel pipes and replace with rubber hose through the bulk head to the engine bay. No difference in performance of the heater and no leaks at all.

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Am i right to say you don't have to take the dash out to do it? Can you cut the dash support with most of it still in place?

Your dead right no dash remove. Only down side is you have to cut the dash support. Not ideal but after cutting it can be moved out of the way (loosening the bolt at the bottom allows it to swing or be removed). After doing this I drilled holes in the piece I'd had to cut and using a piece of plate riveted it back together. Never made any noise or caused any issues at all.

wammers said:

I had my matrix out a couple of years ago to check it. But i did have the dash out and removed and stripped the heater/aircon down to refurb it. I don't think it is possible to remove and refit a genuine heater matrix with the heater in situ on a RHD car

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Even cutting that strut in half?

Just read the remainder of the thread and seems LittleWill managed it!

Grrrrrr said:

Even cutting that strut in half?

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Never tried it in situ but i think you would have to move the steering column. Try it and let us know.

wammers said:

Never tried it in situ but i think you would have to move the steering column. Try it and let us know.

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I'll watch MrGorsky's effort first. If he manages then I'll know what to do when my time comes.

I take the top of the dash off - which is a lot quicker than taking the whole thing out, frame and all and undoing bolts etc in the engine bay/plenum.

Once you get trim, ducting etc out of the way, you can get to the bolts holding the top of the dash on, and get it out through the front doors. It's a bit of a wiggle past the steering wheel, but other than that, pretty simple.

The heater half of the box splits from the A/C Half - the 2 parts are held together with one self-tapper. As I've just mentioned in the other thread about this - taking the dash and heater box out gives a good shot at being able to refurb the heater box, and fix any sticking flaps, lube it all up etc.

I am happy to do the job for other owners - I usually allow 2 days to do it, as otherwise it's a REALLY long day, and if there are any issues along the way, you end up being pressed pretty hard to get it done before being frozen (done 3 of them over the winter! working in -1 and sleet wasn't fun!). The last owner came down from Yorkshire for me to do his one. He stayed locally for a night and I dropped him off/picked him up in the morning.

But as a DIY job - there's nothing really complicated about doing it - if you take your time, then it's quite rewarding when it's all back together with a nice warm cabin, and no book on the HEVAC!

I agree with Marty. All these cut & shut jobs sound like a real PITA.

When I did mine, I also removed the steering wheel which makes life easier, and only takes an extra 10mins.

martyuk said:

But as a DIY job - there's nothing really complicated about doing it - if you take your time, then it's quite rewarding when it's all back together with a nice warm cabin, and no book on the HEVAC!

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Thanks for the part numbers! I'd buy one of your kits @martyuk but mine had stopped leaking now. Not sure what's going on there... I can't work out if the initial coolant was already in the ducting and got blown out when I restarted it (has that ever happened?), or that the O rings have somehow seated themselves after it warmed up the first time (has that ever happened?).

Let us know when you're back in stock, £40 seems very reasonable for the core, pipes, and adaptors, and I can't help feeling I'll be leaking again soon...

pwood999 said:

I agree with Marty. All these cut & shut jobs sound like a real PITA.

When I did mine, I also removed the steering wheel which makes life easier, and only takes an extra 10mins.

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Definitely does make it easier... I've tried it a couple of times and found the steering wheel pretty much seized on - but if it comes off easy, then it does make getting the edges of the dash over a lot easier.
For some reason I have a thing against hacking apart framework which is there for a reason - on a couple I've seen where someone has been in there before, hardly any attempt has even been made at repairing it properly.. and even if you do get the heater core swapped that way, if there's binding in the heater box mechanisms/flaps, then you don't get the chance to fix that up either!

MrGorsky said:

Thanks for the part numbers! I'd buy one of your kits @martyuk but mine had stopped leaking now. Not sure what's going on there... I can't work out if the initial coolant was already in the ducting and got blown out when I restarted it (has that ever happened?), or that the O rings have somehow seated themselves after it warmed up the first time (has that ever happened?).

Let us know when you're back in stock, £40 seems very reasonable for the core, pipes, and adaptors, and I can't help feeling I'll be leaking again soon...

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To be honest - it will probably be a month or so until I get more parts in for kits etc.. I have a few bits to finish getting working on my own P38 (LPG running again on the new engine, first oil change and things like that!) and also might be away for a month around the UK too, so won't be home to collate parts/build kits. That being said, I will definitely be getting more part to make kits...

If anyone with a Diesel P38 would be kind enough to let me know the heater hose sizes for the feed/return (the rubber hoses from engine/to return pipework) then that would be great as I can then make sure the Diesel kits have any necessary adapters. Only as I own V8's, so not sure if the Diesel pipework is the same size!

If you start getting leaks again, and want a kit, then drop me a message, and I'll let you know when I'll have one available!

Cheers,
Marty

Marty, when I tried to change my matrix I bought two used pipes as the screw was nackered and just cut the clamp there didn't seam to be any different pipes to choose from and only one size o ring but I will have a measure and let you know sizes.

Thanks Brian

I'm after the rubber hose sizes for the engine bay side of things, as the Audi heater core swap does away with the metal pipes altogether, so would just need to connect the new pipework from the Audi core (which is 19mm) into the P38 hoses in the engine bay with either a straight 19mm coupler (if they are 19mm ID like on the petrol P38's) or a reducer fitting if they are bigger/smaller..

I have a feeling they will be 19m in the engine bay aswell, as I don't think there are different bits of metal pipework that goes thru the firewall to the LR heater core for petrol/diesel models - but I could be wrong!

Cheers,
Marty

I don't remember anything being different but I'll check the outer diameter next time I've got the bonnet up ... assuming Brian doesn't beat me to it.

While we're wittering away, did @josh00mac get himself sorted?

Thanks for replies all. I will discuss with Marty and decide if I'm capable!