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One of those days !

Things have been a bit hectic of late but today I was going to catch up with a few jobs.

One of the first ones was changing the front brake pads on my car. Got it done but had to fight it all the way - took twice as long as planned.
Then half way through that my youngest drives back in from playing football (4:1 win BTW). "Oy Dad the car's overheating and there's steam coming out" ... yep steam belching out of the screen vents .... the heater matrix has decided that now is the time to cause as much chaos as it can.
Well there was only so much I could get done before it was dark and have bypassed the heater and done what I can to dry out the carpets.

It looks as though the whole dash has to come out to get at the heater - so I'm not looking forward to the next stage of this one. Looks as though I urgently need to find a new heater matrix and then will have to book a day off work to strip the car and fit it - the rush being that Joe needs it for work and with his shift patterns public transport's not an option and I don't want to be giving him lifts!

Cars - don't you just love them!

As for all the other urgent jobs lined up for today .... they're still lined up ....


On a happier note, before I did any of these things, I got a new set of tyres fitted to my other set of rims (Diablo Rosso Corsa this time). I won't fit these to the bike until the better weather comes. I'm not squaring off a nice new set over the winter months - the set on the rims I've currently got on the bike should see me through until the weather improves.

Shit one dude.. If any of the cars I've worked on are anything to go by, the heater matrix will be a bastard.. I know that's not very helpful, but you have my full sympathy.

Damn bad luck Andy. Too many jobs and not enough time. I know the feeling. Hope you get the cars fixed.

sorry andy, but as will says. there's not many that you don't have to take the dash out and it is a bastard of a job.it's the only job i try and avoid.then get ready to count the dash rattles.

Bit of a long shot, I have a surplus heater matrix for a Peugeot 106 in the garage.

Nooj wrote:Bit of a long shot, I have a surplus heater matrix for a Peugeot 106 in the garage.

Cheers Nooj - but I think it'll probably be quicker to pick one up here.
If I've not sorted it by the time I next pop down to see my folks I might come by to see if it is the same .... but a real long-shot I think.

D-Rider wrote:It looks as though the whole dash has to come out to get at the heater

Hmmm..... You can't get to the heater core via the engine bay, can you? It might be easier than pulling your entire dash / console apart.

Viking wrote:

D-Rider wrote:It looks as though the whole dash has to come out to get at the heater

Hmmm..... You can't get to the heater core via the engine bay, can you? It might be easier than pulling your entire dash / console apart.

in a word no.

Can of deicer and a decent pair of gloves and a scarf.

No need to worry about the heater matrix then...

Yep - in years gone by I've had cars that didn't have a heater fitted. Mind you, they did have those old quarter-lights that let you deflect a breeze at the screen to help with the misting problems.

The 'heater' in the Reliant acts more as a cold air blower than a heater. Just about keeps the screen clear on a cold day, but have to scrape the ice off every now and then. Brilliant little machines.. Kids these days don't know they're born..lol.. The radio in my little pig consisted of a PC speaker system with a CD player connected to it. Managed to wire the sub/power unit into the main loom. Worked a treat n'all.. Better than some standard car systems

No heater matrix in Motoquip ... and none available from their supplier .... rethink .... let's try a can of Radweld .... and hope ....

When I was a child (a year or two ago) I remember buying a Christmas present for my dad which was highly sophisticated at the time - it consisted of a bar with a heating element, which you stuck to the windscreen with a sucker at each end. I suppose it had to be wired up as I don't think cars had lighter sockets back then - tho my dad's car might as he tended towards the more exotic.....
Anyway, it worked and kept enough of the screen clear to make driving fairly safe. You have to bear in mind that driving was slower then (even in Dad's cars), ther were far fewer vehicles on the road, and no motorways or dual carriageways!

D-Rider wrote:No heater matrix in Motoquip ... and none available from their supplier .... rethink .... let's try a can of Radweld .... and hope ....

Opening a can of worms more like.. Had more trouble with that stuff that it's solved. Have you tried the usual places, like eBay and knackers yards? Bound to be something around somewhere.

what car is it?