i done a silly thing back when we had the big freeze, i had very little or no anti frezze in the system. i managed to defrost the radiator but i had no warm air in the inside of the car so i can prosumed the matrix was frozen. i have left it for a month and been out there tonight to start the car up but yet again no warm air, its cold again and the windscreen is frozen slightly so maybe its frozen again. i bypassed the to inlet/outlet valves to the matrix with some s/s pipe and still no warm air. the pipe going into the matrix is hot but coldish on the other any ideas? thanks tom
I assume you've checked for wet carpets? If it froze, ice generally swells and may have split matrix? Any water loss?
its all good mate thanks i managed to get it flowing, it must of been frozen the other night. another question now, i removed the valve going in n out of the matrix, put stainless steel pipe in its place. can this be left how it is? ta.
not 100% sure mate, i'm assuming its the bypass valve you've removed? mine hasn't got it but i'm just about to fit one along with a ne matrix. if its a mk2 matrix it may have the bypass valve fitted. apparetnly this stops pressure build up and matrix blowing. a lot of people put in the mk3 matrix and no valve as these are supposed to be better. the valve is like a dog leg shape if that helps. Search on here for matrix's and there is a few bits about how to fix/ change/ repair!
some people leave the valves on and some people bin them i dont think it makes much difference really. as for the matrix the mk2 and mk3 are the same as vw superceeded them
i still have no warm air in the car, hoses in and out of matrix are hot. the warm/cold flap is opening, im thinking its partually blocked?? i did put in rad weld back in the winter after the leaky core plug issue, maybe thats killed it.
Mine is the same, i have had 3 mk2's over the years and none of them had any better than luke warm air at best. the latest one had the bypass valve fitted which apparently were fitted as a recall, mine was stuck so it was bypassing the matrix completely, so i removed it and now i get a hint of warm if i hold it at about 3000RPM lol, both pipes boiling, i think the problem is that my coolant was very rusty coloured and it leaves a layer of rust / limescale inside the radiator, which then affects the hot water transfering heat to the metal on the outside? thats my theory anyway lol im going to put a new mk3 one in mine
If both hoses are hot and there is no by-pass then the matrix is working as it should (assuming you're not getting puddles in the car). That only leaves the silly Hot/Cold air flap that sometimes disintegrates so you get no hot air at all. There were a couple of big threads about it not too long ago, one by I think neil_kaye and the other I think by genetic material. Trawl through the MK2 section.
