Heater matrix leak
 

Hi all.
The car has been losing small amounts of coolant over the last few days and I have finally traced it to a heater matrix oring.
Has anyone had the delight of changing the orings?
I have bought a pair of Orings and can see where they fit but I am unable to work out how to separate the two half's of the pipes?
Is there a procedure for this job?
I have isolated the heater for now so at least I can still drive it
Many thanks

Blimey that's unheard of on here, I've seen my heater matrix behind a small access panel as part of the climate control housing/box but I really have no idea how you'd disconnect the pipes, sorry.

I don't know why they don't put the pipe joint in the engine bay where you can access it.

Might be worth checking your cooling system over anyway? excess pressure can show itself on the heater matrix connections of some cars.

Let us know how you get on.

Actually a very common issue, though documented more on US forums.

Have you got any pictures at all? I've got the same issue, though mine is a very minor weep and with the recent heat, the air con has been on, so the heater matrix hasn't been filled with coolant much.

Mine only starts to weep if I put the heater on max, then the smell comes through the vents.

Anyway, I believe you have to drain the coolant, pop the pipes apart, remove O rings, use some Vaseline to slide the new rings over the pipe and push back together.

Make sure you use new plastic clips too, the old ones will be brittle.

Not the hardest of jobs but can be a pain getting the new O rings on.

Really?

That's given me something else to worry about!

The pipe connections are going to be well buried behind the dash near bulkhead??

Yep, agreed with FM - US lads have a LOT of cases of this. Not sure if its because of climate, coolant types or country of assembly, but I would refer you to SS forum, its listed in FAQ even.
to OP - same for you, have a read on SS about similar cases, there are picture tutorials how to deal with it aswell and some "other than standard" ways of dealing with it.
Terrible place to have a leak, I pray daily for this to never happen to me.. (along with 184 other prayers, each for different "common faliure" part :tounge_smile: )

It's on the drivers side behind the dash.

If you put your flash on your phone and take a video, place the phone around the clutch pedal and point it up into behind the dash, you'll see the two pipes there.

Should look like these

https://i.imgur.com/x036Pvk.jpg?1

You can see one of mine is weeping.

US guys actually have it worse, since they drive on the wrong side of the road....

Their pipes are right above the CEM!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRWjn-m_nk

Thanks FM, that's given me something to check out tomorrow.

Lizzard - not wanting to hijack this but was it you who explained where the coolant T-piece is that leaks in the engine bay? if it was please remind me where it is so I can check it out thanks.

Could be me, I did replace this in my car a while ago after US forum advices (again - they have a plague of those, but maybe because every single P1 there is 5pot one).
its upper radiator hose, and this plastic T junction is the problematic one. You can backtrack it from radiator output, easy to notice

link to part so you know how it looks

Ok, thanks, something else to check tomorrow!