Heater matrix replacement

[FunkyMelon]

Hi all,

Anyone on here replaced their heater matrix and if so, what brand did you use?

I replaced my O rings last week as it was weeping coolant, however a week later I can still smell coolant when putting the vents on high and my windscreen fogs up, looks like the heater matrix needs replacing now

I've tried Volvo and even with family discount the gen matrix is still £300 plus.

Has anyone used Nissens or the one Skandix do which I believe is an AVA unit? Both priced around £100.

Thanks in advance.

Funky

[Boomtown1]

I used nissens,fairly straightforward job
I believe it was £60 delivered from ebay,contains all the new o rings and foam

[Welton]

Straightforward job?

That's good to hear, I understood it was a nightmare.

Funky - I wonder what has caused the leak in the first place? quality of the coolant maybe?

[FunkyMelon]

Originally Posted by Boomtown1

I used nissens,fairly straightforward job
I believe it was £60 delivered from ebay,contains all the new o rings and foam

Thanks, have been looking at Nissens but they have mixed reviews online, mainly because it's got a plastic side tank which goes brittle over time with heat then starts to leak. How long ago did you get yours done?

Was it a S40/V50/C30 you did the job on? It's not a nice job on these apparently, most the dash needs to come out, though there is a hack where you can remove 2/3rds of the dash and cut it out from the plastic box below.

Either way I'll be going to a garage for this one.

Originally Posted by Welton

Straightforward job?

That's good to hear, I understood it was a nightmare.

Funky - I wonder what has caused the leak in the first place? quality of the coolant maybe?

It's common as muck on the US forums to have problems with these but it's usually just the O rings where the pipes meet. I think it's just a combination of age and a pretty poor design to start with.

[Welton]

Originally Posted by FunkyMelon

Either way I'll be going to a garage for this one.

Are you sure they'd want the job? a lot of places don't like this sort of work.

I'm now ****ting myself about my matrix

Have you read this? https://forums.swedespeed.com/showth...g-Replacement&

In the US they have the CEM in the way but for us here it should be a lot simpler, I once saw the incoming pipes on mine whilst investigating access to the Pollen Filter. The Swedespeed guys seem to say the whole job isn't too bad to DIY.

[FunkyMelon]

Originally Posted by Welton

Are you sure they'd want the job? a lot of places don't like this sort of work.

I'm now ****ting myself about my matrix

I'm taking it to Volvo. Luckily I have a master tech who works there in my family so get rates at what a normal indi charge per hour.

Very grateful as they charge £153 an hour to every other customer now. Absolutely mental!

[Welton]

Check out my edited post above mate. It might help.

[LizardOfBodom]

One of the issues I am dreading the most, Im literally having nightmares and kinda waiting for this to happen as apparenently its not a matter of if but when.
Welton is right, from what I researched Its a nightmare job for DYI and also a hassle for garages that may just turn you down, good you will have it sorted (and you are really lucky volvo dealership will allow you to bring aftermarket piece, wouldnt fly if not for family member I reckon...).
Fingers crossed you will have it sorted in no time

[FunkyMelon]

Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom

One of the issues I am dreading the most, Im literally having nightmares and kinda waiting for this to happen as apparenently its not a matter of if but when.
Welton is right, from what I researched Its a nightmare job for DYI and also a hassle for garages that may just turn you down, good you will have it sorted (and you are really lucky volvo dealership will allow you to bring aftermarket piece, wouldnt fly if not for family member I reckon...).
Fingers crossed you will have it sorted in no time

To be honest if I had a garage where I could leave it in bits and take my time I'd have a crack at it myself but I only have the drive way so it's not worth the risk. It's apparently quite hard to get it fitted in properly first time as well, quite a few fit it themselves then find it weeping from the O rings again later down the line.

I'm just not sure which way to go. Gen Volvo is ~£360 for the part (£300 to me but still expensive) OEM from Nissens is £80.

It's a 3.5h job at Volvo to do the work, even at family rates I'm still looking at £540 all in using the gen core vs ~£300 all in if I go the Nissens route.

I was pointed out if the gen one fails it's all covered by Volvo but if the after market fails I'll be paying to get it done again.

[Welton]

Lizard - the weird thing is the early cars (mine has a build date of 2004) seem to be of higher quality in certain areas and this was certainly discussed on here when I joined in 2009.

A good example is that I'm still running the original a/c condenser

I wonder if Fords' cost-cutting took a year or two to filter through to the factory stock etc.

I'm kinda thinking that at 15 years old if the matrix was going to leak it would have done it by now. I also think the quality of the coolant mix is important (I work in the HVAC industry and we see O-rings fail on pipe systems where the water quality has suffered and the seals 'go off' as it were) my coolant has been changed 3 times in my ownership.