This is a quick video on the Vw Groups heater cores clogging up due to the back of granules in the expansion bottle splitting and a blockage in the heater matrix
Making coolant last for life, but have to replace the heater matrix instead. The design apprentice must have thought he was on to a winner here when they introduced that STOOPID idea!
@@hpls8160 unfortunately that’s about right. Even if you get a aftermarket matrix it will still cost about £250 and add the labour on top if you aren’t doing it yourself.
I've got a 2013 1.6tdi leon that has this problem. Thank you for the video. Its given me the confidence to get the job done. Garage want £400. They have already had £170 off me for cleaning the old matrix which worked for 2 days... so I don't think il let them do it. Thanks for video Thank you
Did that £400 include a full flush? If so, bite their hand off! Had 2 quotes for the matrix replacement and the cheapest was £785 - they said due to having to do a full flush which I've read usually takes up to 4.5 hours.
Hi, I have a query please which is driving us insane! 🤯 so same platform but A3 TDI, only overheats and spews out coolant at motorway speed. Is okay locally for the most part. Thermostat, heater matrix, thermostat sensor, water pump, All been changed! No gunk in the oil, engine sounds fine. No smoke from exhaust. Just Perplexed as to what it is. Has been manually flushed and coolant added several times. Pressure tested, no leaks identified. Just spews out the coolant tank when it gets too hot 😑 any advice greatly appreciated pls 🙏
@@jasonjay7650 yeah ive done a few now that have blocked up. The bag was fine but the matrix was still full of particles so they must leak out somewhere 😂
Anyone who has a silica bag in the tank should remove it which is easy enough to do with a pair of long nosed pliers being careful not to split the bag
I couldn't get the 2 clips to seat properly on the new matrix due to the lack of room so they leaked I cut the 2 pipes and fitted them to the matrix on the bench a lot better and easier.refitted the matrix to its holster I then joined the 2 pipes with flexi heater hose and jubilee clips...happy days red hot 🥵 heater now
Some of the expansion bottles are double skinned and the desiccant bag sits in between the walls and can't be removed. Easy enough to just replace the bottle with one without the desiccant bag. Only about £25. Just replaced the one in my golf.
With this issue were both pipes hot when connected to the heater matrix? I have this issue but both pipes are hot which would assume it’s not blocked or only partially ?
Thanks for all the advice. Eventually managed to get both the inlet and outlet pipes off and what an absolute pain they were too as there was very little room to get to the spring clamps to remove them. Flushed out the heater matrix and all's back to normal again 🙂 Decided to replace the spring clamps with jubilee clips to make removing them a lot easier with a long handled screwdriver should i need to remove them again.😀
Hi. Wouldn't the jubilee clips leak? Spring clips push the hose in the heater. I can't imagine how jubilee clips would hold the hose in the heater. Thanks.
I got GOLF GTD Mark 7 - heating works on passenger side only , no heating on the driver side . Got quote from VW today to and they advice is to have heater matrix change £1500 - crazy money!!! . I am contemplating doing this myself but by only flushing the system out as you mentioned its very tight area to get to the pipes - I want to flush the pipes as mentioned BUT how did you undo these manufacture clips? I am afraid I might break something hence I asking for advice first ? Did you cut them or do they come of a certain way? . Any help or advice how to undo them without breaking anything please ? Thank you in advance
@@quentin2110 No problem. You could also use a pair of mole grips if you have any as they do the job just as good but obviously dependant on the amount of room you have
It looks like the deionizer resin we used to use at work. Probably there in case owners use tap water for top ups instead of the deionized water that they specify. I suppose its better than having your coolant dissolve internal parts of your engine!
Thanks for the video and yes what a stupid idea from great engineers. I have the same problem with a 2015 Polo. Now I can fix it myself. Just wish i could flush the silicon crystals out of the existing unit. Oh well, no gain without pain.
Thank you this is really helpful. My 2013 Seat Leon FR 184 is pissing coolant out of the bottle occasionally and the heaters aren't particularly hot in the car so this sounds like the culprit!
Possibly. Make sure you flush the rest of the cooling system out as the granuals get everywhere. Also check your water pump is working by pulling off the little return pipe to the header tank and checking the flow while the engine is running
@@lifes.projects Hi I’ve recently replaced my timing belt and water pump and also replaced the heater matrix but I’m still getting Luke warm air is there a possibility it is blocked again?
@@ryanmaxwell93 if you didnt flush out the cooling system especially the heater pipes then its a possibility yes. Either that or the thermostat is opening too early
@@lifes.projects it also had a new radiator replaced as it had a small leak and all new coolant of course so would I be best removing the two pipes in the firewall and trying to blast water through both ends
@@ryanmaxwell93 ah right thats half the battle if its had the radiator replaced. The bottom pipe inside the car is the one that usually gets blocked. I would be tempted to start there.
Thanks for the video, I have a 2015 golf GTD with the coolant reservoir tank that says “with silicate”. My question is, I’ve still got about a year and a half of approved used warranty from VW so I was wondering if it’s worth leaving it in at least until the warranty is up?
I think ive got this fault on my wifes A3 tdi, her heaters are cold on the drivers side. The car has dropped coolant twice in 2 weeks but cant see no obvious leaks from pipes but have noticed coolant or something around the neck of the cap, could this couse over pressure?
My 57 leon sport is doing this. Garage replaced thermostat, car getting to temp no problems 👍 Needed the blowers fixed too (& resistor) because they had failed All working fine now, other than no hot air anywhere 🤷♂️ They didn’t seem that interested in the heater matrix even though I had suggested it I’ll ask again Can you access it from foot well on all Leon types? Mines a 1.6 sport Many thanks,
My 2014 A3 has the same problem. I need to flush the matrix first before dismantling everything to change it. How do I do that and are the inlet and outlet pipes in the same position as they are in your video as they appear to be tricky to get to
Yes they are in the same position and a pain to get to. There are 2 ways you can do it. Remove the pipes that go i to the bulkhead and try and blast them out with a hose pipe. 2nd way is to clamp off the larger top hose (there is a little pipe that goes into the top hose) put an air line feed into that and pressure it up so it forces water out the bottom one. It made a little bit of difference to this seat doing this but ended up changing it as theu were just getting warm. I did an A3 after and it was blocked solid so ended up sawpping that one out too.
@@lifes.projects Thanks for the quick response and your help in this.. Your right tho, they seem a pain to get too and probably wont be worth the pain afterwards. Is the top one the inlet and bottom pipe the outlet and also do I clamp the little pipe off before attaching the hose or does that not matter
My 2012 Audi Q3 is not blowing air hot or cold at all. I can hear something happening behind the dash but I'm not getting anything. Do you have any idea what the problem / solution might be?
If its not blowing at all then the heater motor isnt working. Check the basics first so fuses and wiring. Most VW Audis that age may flag a fault code in the heater module but you would need diagnostics.
I have 2.0 2016 skoda superb i noticed no heat in cabin during cold spell last week coolant level was spot on but noticed it was looking very dirty would be 2yrs old in February (coolant) didnt know about these bags till i started reading up on .Got a new header tank without the bag.put that on car was taken to garage to change coolant but was told waste of time u til it is flushed or matrix changed
On the TDI engines the heater core comes after the EGR cooler and if this is blocked the coolant boils in the EGR causing coolant to be lost out of the expansion tank! Then the useless VW service garages mis-diagnose it to be a leaking EGR cooler or faulty intercooler, or blown head gasket etc. After spending $$$$$ you then realise it's only the heater core! Fitting of an inline coolant filter would likely stop this problem or at least delay it for a good while.
I have a problem with my Audi a6 c7 2.0tdi on a 65 plate. Blows cold on driver side including rear. Took it a garage as it was not giving any codes etc. My first thought is it’s the matrix clogged on one side hence drivers side receiving cold air. They seem to think it isn’t that and it’s a broken flap. It literally gives no heat at all. Was considering giving it a system flush but seeing this makes me wonder. Anyone else come across this fault with the same car ? Or any mechanics out there able to shed some light ?
Yes ive come across it. Make sure the fan is at low speed and temperature on high Let the car run upto temperature and keep the engine at 2k revs. When you can feel your heater is blowing hot on the one side let the engine idle and then turn up the fan speed to full. Monitor how fast your heaters loose tempersture on both sides and if it is pretty quick its 100% the matrix thats at fault.
I had the heater matrix replaced on my A3 (8v - 64 plate) and sorted the problem. That was 4 years ago. However I have the same problem again now. Any ideas why?
Did they remove the bag? Itd probably cloggeg again. The Matrix is the lowest part of the cooling system so if there is and granuals in the system it will clog again over time.
Hi mate I’ve got an Audi a3 8v 2014 with the exact same issue. Can you do mine for me, obviously for a cost. All garages are saying they need to take the dash out and it’s horribly expensive
Took my bag out yesterday & it was still intact thank goodness, but i think my heater support pump is messing about so im not gettin heat when the cars parked , it only gets hot heat when im driving .
URGENT : my heater matrix is blocked too, and it s hard to find quick replacement for the matrix so i have to wait and look for a long period, do you think i can disable it completely in the meanwhile ? I mean disable it and connect the two pipes to let run the coolant freely. What do you think ?
My Seat Leon is having this issue. Mechanic had a go a my flushing the system whilst they I had it in to do the clutch but clearly the matrix needs replacing. Just need to decide if I have a crack at it myself and save a few pennies or let the professional do it
Hey there. I’m having the same issue with my mk3 leon. I’ve contacted vw and mentioned about the recall on the water pump to which they’ve said “there is no recall”. How accurate is your resource in regards to this water pump recall? Thanks
Hi pal, my coolant overflows, and keeps leaking, and I’ve noticed my heater hardly works, and doesn’t warm up, could that potentially be the heater matrix, also what sort of labour am I looking at to resolve this issue
Hi mate sorry for the late reply. Have you checked the water pump as if the water isnt circulating then your heaters will be cold and the engine will boil over.
This will be heater matrix. EGR feeds into the heater matrix, and if it's blocked ... it will build up pressure during dpf regen (as egr gets really hot and has nowhere to go!) and will resultantly blow out the expansion tank. Expansion tank will open at a certain pressure for safety reasons.
hi there I have the same problem with my mk 7 Gtd what seems to happen as well as being only luke warm sometimes the expansion tank vents off with coolant I presume its the build up of pressure due to the blocked core have you heard of this cheers great video bud
Yes ive had an A3 doing the same. The core was blocked completely and think it was causing it to boil over before the thermostat was opening therefore air locking the cooling system
Hey man, I got the same issue on a Seat Leon 2021, with a 1.5 eTSI engine, but the heat is not working on the driver side. The explanation I got from Seat is that they need to do a flushing clean of the entire engine cooling system. They will replace all the fluids afterwards.Should I worry for this happening again in the future? The car was brand new and I bought it from Oct 2021 and I had no other issues with it so far. Thanks!
Thank you. Its perfectly safe however you will risk clogging the matrix up and having to then replace it if the heaters go cold. I would advise dropping the bottom coolant hose off and flushing the coolong system out sooner rather than later
@@lifes.projects thats good to hear.my garage already put lubricant into coolant as apparently that helps break silica. My heating blows warm air only on driver side and cold on passenger side only!! Thanks
@@peterdrozd4628 ah right unfirtunately cold air on 1 side is early stages of the matrix clogging up as the coolant is only circulating through half of the heat exhanger. Hopefully if the product the garage have put in breaks up silica it may unclog it but only time will tell.
Heaters on hot but turn the fan to its lowest setting. Start the engine up and top up as the engine warms up. When it starts to get hot put the cap back on an wait till the thermostat opens.
I have an Audi S3 2014 with same issue. Clogged heater Core/matrix. I was told i need to remove the entire dash to replace this. Does this sound right to you?
I haven't done a matrix on an S3. Ive done one on a A3 TDI and its the same as this Seat. Would imagine it should be the same on yours. If you remove the glovebox and see if it looks the same as in this video then you don't need to take the full dash out.
hi, just to confirm. I replaced my heater core today and did not need to take out the dash. or didn't fix my heater issue though which is really annoying. I'm thinking maybe now it's the solenoid valve. seems something is not allowing hot water to enter the core. let me know if you have any ideas.
Great vid man! Got same problem with 2014 Leon 1.6tdi. Got coolant overflow on reservoir. Last week garage changed waterpump and crankbelt, did t solved the problem. Read on forum that heater matrix possibly is the problem. How long does this job takes? And have you emptied the whole cooling system before changing the heater matrix?
Hi mate. Only takes a few hour (poor access) if you have changed the coolant already then just clamp the hoses where it goes into the bulkhead. I did another not long after this on an Audi A3 1.6TDI and it was exactly the same fault. Dont forget to remove the bag out of the reservoir
Thanks for the reply! Did you flush the whole system too? And is it easy to drain the system? And I’ve got a left hand drive car with knee airbag, is it easy to disconnect this system to remove it?
@@Gixxer19522Not sure how hard it will be on a left hand drive to be honest. Yeah you can either drain the radiator with the drain or pull the bottom hose off. I pulled the hose off as its better to get all the granules out that way
Ah yes anything lifetime sealed by vw is bad such as the dsg 7 dry boxes. They would notoriously destroy clutches with as low as 20k miles on them, mine went at 60k, being a sealed for life box is no good
When the engine is warm/hot the pipes should ve a similar temp. You will find the return is usually cooler as the fan will cool it down. If it is blocked one will be hot and the other cold as its not circulating.
Hello sir! Do I have to clear the installation of antifreeze liquid before removing the heater matrix? How to do it? And after I complete the switch and add antifreeze liquid back, what are the VCDS steps to complete the operation?
Any suggestions on how to get pipes off heater matrix from bulkhead to flushes water thr the silver pipes as mine looks blocked, any tips much appreciated bud 🫣
How do you flush the whole coolant system after removing the bag? Would you just hook up a garden hose with the old heat core in place? How can I make sure the granular are flush out?
It’s been cold the last few days I have the 2L diesel the temperature gauge has not moved changed the temperature sensor still nothing the blower is lukewarm not hot but the gauge has not moved also put a new thermostat in still nothing
Could be your water pump. If that has failed it wont be circulating coolant around the engine therefore giving you cold heaters and incorrect readings. Remove the return pipe from the header tank and start the engine. If you have water flowing out then it is working. If no water is coming out then you either have a blockage or the water pump has failed.
Thats usually early signs the matrix is starting to block. When it warms up put the fans on full speed and it it goes cold then its a deffinately the matrix.
I replaced my matrix but failed to flush the pipes from the bottle down to the heater and the same fault occurred again. granules still in the system contaminated the new matrix with no heating again...so now l am on to my 3rd matrix
Hi try this heater matrix the cores on the original and replacements are to narrow see this video this will not block again as the core in this one is a lot wider giving coolant a lot more room and will allow granules to pass through and not get jammed, My 2019 seat Leon 2.0 fr 88k miles is partly blocked so I'm buying one of these so less chance of blocking again if some granules get left in after flushing, ive took king size tea bag out of the coolant reservoir yesterday no splits but you can feel granules coming through micro mesh.
You will be able to hear bubbles at first as thats the air been pumped out of the system. Open the heaters to high temp, Remove the cap and top up. Start the engine and let warm up at about 2000 rpm. When its starts to get warm make sure the coolant level is ok and refit the cap. Let the engine warm up until the thermostat opens (keep checking and topping up coolant level) Once the thermostat has opened let the engine idle for 5 minutes before turning off. Turn the engine off and let it cool down. Once cooled remove the cap and top up to max level. Thats the cooling system bleed procedure.
@@lifes.projects My 1.6 tdi 14 plate leon ST blows hot air only on the passengers side and cold on the driver side I also hear bubbles is it possible that it wasn't bleed well?
@@Webster200x This is the first sign that the matrix is starting to block up. Because coolant cannot get to the driver side this is why the heater blows cold. You could try flushing it out but if that doesn't work the matrix would need replacing
@@lifes.projects I shall give it a go and come back with the results as I need to look into it further as I only owned Mercedes/Alpha Romeo never had a VAG group car. Can you recommend a parts catalogue/workshop manual for VAG cars?
Hi buddy. Where are you based? The same thing has happened to me in my 2013 (63) 2.0 150 Leon FR and I've had a diagnosis and quote for either £1100 or £1800 😱😭 it's freezing now and windows bearly demist
Hi Chris. I am based near Pontefract West Yorkshire. Currently working full time for someone else while recovering from surgery but happy to advise. If you have instagram its easier to message me on there.
A sign of this is a sound of water flowing behind the dash when the water pump is running. Sounds like air in a radiator. This is a sign the matrix is blocking and not flowing water correctly. Awful design
If you are loosing coolant then you have a leak somewhere. If youve checked around your engine and cant find anything then check this. It maybe cracked. If the matrix is leaking usually you can smell it and your carpets will be wet
@@akbarhussain7274 Sorry just seen this. Thats a strange one if the garage has had the pressure tester on and cannot find anything. Thats suggesting it could be loosing/burning it internal like Egr cooler/headgasket etc but I wouldnt jump on doing that as its not 100% gauranteed to solve it. If I was you I would run till it gets worse then you have more chance of diagnosing it correctly.
They done this to sell heater cores no doubt,I changed my matrix and took that silicone teabag out flushed car a few times and on last flush noticed minute granules in bucket ,anyway put all the bits together and was getting heat again ,unfortunately some must of got left somewhere in the water channels somewhere and in a month my matrix blocked again ffs ,ordered a new one and will do flushes with the old one in place before I replace and make sure no granules are in coolant
Thank you. Reason is because the coolant enters from the passenger side and as the matrix get blocked warm coolant is only circulating through the passenger side therefore only warming the passenger side until it is blocked completely.
For any one with this reoccurring problem!!!!! I had my heater matrix replaced for the problem stated in the video in 2020. However the heating has been blowing nothing but cold for the past month. Thought it was the same problem so took my car to local independent VAG group specialist. Just got my car back. My heater matrix isn’t blocked like it was before and like alot of people on here are messaging. They suspect its the actual internal heater box. Whether the flaps inside are seized or the motors are knackered. Either way it is literally a full dashboard out job and advise around a 12-16 hour labour job. At £85+vat per hour labour plus parts its looking at £2k Looks like i’ll be driving with no heating for the foreseeable🤬😭
I've got the same problem. Throws up a code saying "Air distribution blend door actuator jammed". Air con works well with cold but heat only gives me slightly above 20c warm.
Great video man! This is my model of car and year and same issue, although heat from passenger side and not as hot on the drivers. Was thinking of giving it a go myself. Only issue I think I might have is, how to flush out the system before fitting the new matrix. Can someone point me in the right direction or list the summary steps to do this?
@@lifes.projects I have to admit I'm the same dude We only ever tend to see vauxhall corsa c and vag group vehicles with blocked matrix And then your usual culprits with leaking matrix units !
Just changed the header tank on my Skoda as the bag is within a 2 walled design so you can't pull it out. I'm sleeping soundly now but WHAT A STUPID DESIGN!
@@chrissulliivan Yes there are two designs, single and double walled, single you can see the bag but double you can't get the bugger out, only £25 so still better than a new matrix.