Thursday 23 June 2016

Update: 23/06/2016 - Heater Matrix Replaced


Big update since last time

Was all going fine since last update, was all ready for track day on the 29th April until 21st April when this happened....

Noticed that the car got very hot very quickly but never over heated. Got back to work and spotted this....

Steamy windows & a wet passo floor can only mean one thing....





....A leaky heater matrix...

Nursed the car back to my folks house not too far away after dumping water into the rad to keep it going. As we were right in the middle of moving house and I was about to travel with work for a few weeks, I left the car in my folks for a while. Needed to dry out anyways.

After researching what was needed when I got back, I ordered a new replacement heater matrix from Conceptua in the UK and some new black coolant & breather hoses from Boostjunkies to match the black turbosmart kompact recirc valve which was replacing a leaky OEM recirc valve.

Conceptua Heater Matrix & new hoses




Here is the kicker, I got the AC all re-gassed when the bodywork was getting done. With a heater matrix it all has to be de-gassed again! Very annoying and waste of money but what can you do. Found a mobile AC guy to come out and remove the gas safely.

AC de-gas


After that was done, I now had to get the car from my folks to our new place so I could replace the heater matrix. Rang AA and got a flat bed out at no cost to me with my membership which was handy

AA serious flatbed


Got it home & after a few days of the various parts arriving, I went to start on it on the one free day I had and what happened?

Started chucking down rain of course with thunder & lightening thrown in for the crack


Drained remaining coolant then started the tear down

Some pics(in no particular order) of tear down & putting it all back together again - no bits left over either!

Dont worry, the AC evap box / rad got all cleaned up

Old vs New. Old one had burst bottom right corner

Start of re-assemble. pretty tight space to tighten up these 8 screws. Thanks to Gus for hand here


While I was at it, popped on the new rad hoses & turbosmart kompact recirc valve(now have new mikalor clamps to go on)


Rad was then filled up and whole system was checked for leaks - no signs so happy camper. Bled it several times over the course of a few short drives. think all of the air is out of the system now.

Since changing a few of the breather / IC pipes, I seem to have a boost leak only on low boost. High boost is ok. So next will be to diagnose where its coming from and sort it. Then get it down to TDP for remap and check over in prep for upcoming trackday.

At this stage, I think I have been unlucky & had all the common things go wrong in a short space of time. Hopefully I can get some decent KMs on her this year & enjoy it. Turbo / injector plan is still in the pipe work at some stage. All when funds allow.....

That is all for now, stay tuned for next update....

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