Un-bypassing my heater matrix - 1998 escort finess.

Bleed the air out.

Think i get the principle of bleeding the air out.. but in practice, from where am i bleeding it? the matrix? won't air make it's way back up to the filler/resevoir?

Afraid I'm a computer person, more used to bleeding crumbs out of my keyboard and mouse than air out of my matrix..

I wouldn't recommend using any kind of rad sealant stuff like radweld unless you are going to flog car in a few months and want a quick bodge to get you through winter. It won't only clog up the heater "matrix" and with luck fill the hole, but attach itself to all the other coolant components like pump internals, temp sensors etc. As for re attaching pipes: You seem to have found the join in the pipes and these are the two ends that attached to the heater and you need to separate them again and fix to heater stub pipes.

There is a simpler way, although you will only get a tiny amount of heat just good enough for demist if lucky. Have a look at these 12 volt heaters on ebay

-- bucket

How about fixing the problem instead of bodging it? All Radweld does is create more problems elsewhere.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com...

kind of rad sealant stuff like radweld unless

I bought one of those heaters from ebay.. And promptly tossed it in the bin.. The cable from the cigar lighter to the heater heated up more than the heater itself..Honestly, the insulation became so soft i could pull it off.. Was alot of cable with it, maybe could have wrapped it around myself..

Seriously though, i know this is a bodge and not a long term 'fix'.. The car just isn't worth what it would cost me to have this done properly and i'm not technical enough to do it myself, not within the timescales i have available. I mean i could probably do it eventually but i gotta get to work meatime..

My choices are attempting to re-attach the heater or going to work cold with the associated and more serious issues of visibility..!!

I would not recommend rad-weld or similar. It usually creates more problems that it solves.

Tim..

If the matrix is leaking, then you will get quite spectacular misting inside the car if you attempt to use the heater.

The matrix is hot all the time the engine is, it works by using an air blend door rather than shutting off the water to the matrix.

Tim..

In news:1P6dndjWML snipped-for-privacy@bt.com, Tim.. wittered on forthwith;

I used some stuff called "Ce-Lit" a couple of years ago in one of the Limos. It cured the mother of all radiator leaks. It's meant to be temporary but it lasted a good 12 months, didn't seem to be any side effects either.

Used radweld in a rad on an old toyota for 18 months until it was scrapped, caused no problems on a car that was on its last legs, and it had a BIG hole in the rad! Wouldnt put it in my celica though.