Matrix or other?

[JMallows]

Hi, i have a bit of a problem (another one!)

Basically i have no heat in the car at all... which is annoying now its so cold!

Had no heat for a while, but had a knackered head gasket, and was told the two were related, so left it. Have now had the h/g done, and there is still no heat

The top and bottom hoses are hot (bottom stays cold, then gets hot).

The two pipes going through the bulkhead are BOTH warm.

I have never had the recall for the bypass fitted, so no bypass valves either.

I have taken off the lower dash panels/centre console, and can see the cable moving when i adjust the hot/cold slider, cant see what it does though... I can hear a flapping sound, and what sounds like metal hitting metal if i move the flap fast to either end of the controls.

I do have a steamed up interior on sunny days (very wet windscreen), but it feels nice and dry on the carpets etc. Not losing any water either.

Not sure what the problem is?! Some symptoms suggest matrix is blocked, but both pipes are hot, and apparatnly when they changed the h/g, i asked them to flush the matrix, and they said it looked clean and clear. Other syptoms suggest the flap doesnt work, but i can hear it moving, and can see the cable moving something.

Dont really fancy taking the matrix out to find its not that, as i've heard/read its a bit of a pita job to do!

Any suggestions/advice please?

Thanks

[Benrevs]

I take it the fans work?  If it was a flap problem you would still have heat coming out one way or another.  If it is the matrix at fault I wouldn't worry too much as its not that difficult.  I just did mine and will advise you that if you do take on the job make sure you take the foam surround off from the new matrix if it has one!!!

[rob.043]

Its fiddly and takes time but aint too bad. There is no way the garage could really test your matrix, sounds like they just looked at the end of the pipes!

You said Hot for the rad hoses and warm for the matrix feed hoses- they should all be 'hot' (or f**king hot depending how much you grasp them!) once the engine has heated up. I did my matrix and removed the bypass valve that my car had at the same time, so dont know what was more at fault. When it works propoerly its amazing, you could just about scald yourself holding a hand over the windscreen vents!

you should get a good quality matrix for under £40, or have a go at flushing the old one, but I cant see that doing much. As you may be aware, there are guides in the ,maintinance section which are quite useful.

[molegti]

I now have the same problem after draining the coolant. I did a search and suspect an airlock in the matrix. Might be worth bleeding the system and see if that fixes it.

[dubber36]

I've got no heat in the car either.

Could it be as simple as the bypass valve blocked? If I take that out and run it without one, will I run the risk of an exploding matrix after time?

[gixer1400]

have you checked the condition of the heater flaps ?? 

take out the center vents and shine a torch  then move the control to see if there is anything left of the

 foam on them if not cover them up with something 

i put a new matrix in and still had no heat until i 'repaired' the flaps now its all toasty 

[JMallows]

I take it the fans work?  If it was a flap problem you would still have heat coming out one way or another.  If it is the matrix at fault I wouldn't worry too much as its not that difficult.  I just did mine and will advise you that if you do take on the job make sure you take the foam surround off from the new matrix if it has one!!!

Yeah, the fans work well.

Its fiddly and takes time but aint too bad. There is no way the garage could really test your matrix, sounds like they just looked at the end of the pipes!

You said Hot for the rad hoses and warm for the matrix feed hoses- they should all be 'hot' (or f**king hot depending how much you grasp them!) once the engine has heated up. I did my matrix and removed the bypass valve that my car had at the same time, so dont know what was more at fault. When it works propoerly its amazing, you could just about scald yourself holding a hand over the windscreen vents!

you should get a good quality matrix for under £40, or have a go at flushing the old one, but I cant see that doing much. As you may be aware, there are guides in the ,maintinance section which are quite useful.

True, the rad pipes are hot, and the matrix pipes are both hot too, very hot!

All the garage did was put a hose on the pipe and flush it through (they said they did this, but not sure if they are lieing as they were pretty useless generally)

have you checked the condition of the heater flaps ?? 

take out the center vents and shine a torch  then move the control to see if there is anything left of the

 foam on them if not cover them up with something 

i put a new matrix in and still had no heat until i 'repaired' the flaps now its all toasty 

What heater flaps do you mean? I think this is what i was trying to say in the forst post with the flaps not doing anything? I'm assuming that because i can hear metal hitting metal, the foam has all disintegrated, and there is no seal left. WIll have a look with the torch, but how did you fix it?

Thanks for all the help

[gixer1400]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=mk2+golf+heater+flaps&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&biw=1024&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=8tPttfxAOSHbBM:&imgrefurl=http://www.vwgolf-mk2.com/e1107vwgolfmk2_2.html&docid=0ZocfKYeJOxOFM&imgurl=http://www.vwgolf-mk2.com/diary/1107heater_core/0001.jpg&w=600&h=450&ei=EeihTuvaGoWX8QPn-ZnyBQ&zoom=1

click on this and you will see the flaps before and after repair hope it helps 

p.s. they can be done without taking the whole heater box out 

[JMallows]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=mk2+golf+heater+flaps&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&biw=1024&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=8tPttfxAOSHbBM:&imgrefurl=http://www.vwgolf-mk2.com/e1107vwgolfmk2_2.html&docid=0ZocfKYeJOxOFM&imgurl=http://www.vwgolf-mk2.com/diary/1107heater_core/0001.jpg&w=600&h=450&ei=EeihTuvaGoWX8QPn-ZnyBQ&zoom=1

click on this and you will see the flaps before and after repair hope it helps 

p.s. they can be done without taking the whole heater box out 

Thanks for that, will have a try

[rob.043]

I've got no heat in the car either.

Could it be as simple as the bypass valve blocked? If I take that out and run it without one, will I run the risk of an exploding matrix after time?

yes and yes. its quicker and easier to try removing the bypass valve and see if you get heat, but like you say, you run the risk of the matrix failing. You could remove the valve and try cleaning it out, soaking it in WD40 or similar, maybe a cheap place to start!