Heater o-ring replacement full procedure & new shortcuts

[glaesemann]

Well, I did the job in two parts without removing the vent duct (LHD). The first hour I took everything apart and worked out a way to get at the screw. Then I went inside to get over my anger with a glass of wine (well okay, 3). Had a nice diner made by my 13 year old daughter! YUMM! Back out the next morning with new positive attitude and it went very quick. Drained coolant, backed out screw, cleaned pipes, soaked new rings in coolant, put rings on hoses, tightened screw back down, checked pipes for play, filled with water and coolant / water came pouring out the passenger side door and drain!!! WHAT A MESS! Cleaned it up as best I could to protect computer as much as possible. Backed out screw again, checked rings, retightened the screw, added (less) water and no leak! Not sure what happened the first time so be very careful that the screw is threaded correctly and add water slowly with someone watching for first sign of a leak.

The best tip in the process is to use water for testing. I would have had a nightmare if I had put coolant back in to test.

Now any suggestions as to the best way to clean up coolant laced water soaked carpet?

Tim

[paul.adshead]

Now any suggestions as to the best way to clean up coolant laced water soaked carpet?

Old towels under the carpet. Change every couple of days for a week or two. Try and leave it parked in the sun with the windows open an inch or so. Either throw the towels away afterwards, or wash them away from other garments - you don't want that stuff on your skin/clothes (- if it gets in your blood it destroys your liver)...

I've been there a couple of times with previous cars when the matrix blew...

[glaesemann]

Though I did not have to remove the HVAC duct, I did notice that it was not even close to being connected to the duct that feeds the right vents. My truck is left hand drive and the ducts under the right side are a ***** even with the glove box removed. I don't see how in gods green earth a person can get them joined up and taped together. I can't get them anywhere near touching let alone properly joined. They are about 6 inches apart. Anyone else have this problem with a left hand drive?

TIA

Tim

[paul.adshead]

I can't get them anywhere near touching let alone properly joined. They are about 6 inches apart.

The "T" pipe (that causes all of the issues) is about 6" wide at the top. Are you sure it is present in your vehicle? Do you have rear-passenger face vents on your car? If you shine a torch into the far right hand side 'dash vent' (just right of the SRS on a LHD), do you see wires and 'behind dash bits' or the inside of the pipe?

See the 3rd and 11th pic , from my original post in this thread, to see pics 'in-situ' and removed, of what the pipe looks like, that connects to the right hand side of the HEVAC box.

[onetime]

Hi Guys, did mine this using the guide, no problems i think someone has been at it somethink before in that area as the air vent was not screwed back in, and a little bit of advice, i found it alot easier to just cut the pastic cover that covers the air vent screws as you get more access later too, it can be put back on with other screw holes and then it covered any way. The only problem i had was the need to drill out the o ring screw and it was so tight, then had to get some heat (gas cooker) on the retainer, afterv taking all the pipes out. If any body does this follow the guide and make your own short cuts as needed, also remember you could well be back in this areas again so make it easy on your self. The biggest thing is that a steeler would have charged £600+ for this job, ps i got the o rings from motor factors cost 50p each.
cheers
Onetime.

[shaunmac2002]

I have done this on a LHD RR and the afore mentioned description is the best i've seen, pictures and all. The only diference in a LHD is the removal of the glovebox, passenger side airbag and one cut to the lower frame just in front of the heater core. This cut makes it possible to remove the heater core and replace the new one with no damage to the fins. It also allows greater acces to remove the duct without cutting it. I am doing one of these tommorrow and will include pictures.
Good luck in al your projects!

Shaun

[PaulP38A]

I can now count myself a member of this esteemed collective too and had the distinct pleasure of doing it the hard way.

I've had a slight leak in the o-rings since I got the car last year, but not enough to worry about in a hurry. Then I recently rebuilt the top end of the engine and replaced all the hoses. That's when the o-ring leak became real nasty. Fair enough I thought, what's another day off the road? wishful thinking...

Followed the guide on this site... excellent, thanks fellas... then couldn't remove the screw/bolt in the clamp, probably due to a previous replacement attempt and likely use of loctite to hold the screw in...


So I ended up removing the dash fascia completely, again using the guide at this site.

I was then able to get sufficient access to the screw so I could drill it out and remove it. Replaced it with an allen key head M5 bolt. So far so good.


I'm still soaking up all the old coolant from under the carpet, and will be for a while I think.

Many more photos of this sorry story at http://paulp38a.com/gallery/v/99RR/heaterorings/
The moderators of this site are welcome to use any of them for the purpose of updating the guide.

A tip for avoiding excess coolant spillage on the carpet when removing the pipes at the heater core (apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere):

• drain the cooling system;
  in the engine bay, disconnect one of the heater hoses from the coolant rail (at the engine side) and blow hard in to the hose;
  this should flush most of the coolant out of the pipes and heater core.

Cheers, Paul.

[The boss]

I wrote the directions for a new guy down and in big letters said DONT REMOVE THE SCREW.

he thanked me cause that was the most important part of the whole repair.

[drains]

yes, here's what you do. take a hole saw, and cut the plastic directly next to the radio. if you do this, then you will get access in a straight line if you take a really long screwdriver (see my pictures at http://rangerovers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35645 ). i borrowed one from napa, the guys there had it. it was great and i did the same thing where I battled for an hour. got the screwdriver, it came out without ANY issues.

I did the same - cut the hole with a largish hole saw. Popped to the shop and bought the longest scredriver I could find. I removed the instrument panel and disconnected the duct. Top and bottom but did not remove it. It was just a case of a little brute force to move it out of the way to get access.

The pipes dropped out nicely. What I didn't realise that they had swopped places with the top becoming the bottom. They seemed to go back in OK and it was only after complete reassembly that I discovered this.

Second time I did not remove the instrument panel. Just disconnected the rear ac duct at the bottom which allowed enough movement to redo things with the pipes in the correct places. The second time took 15 minutes.

It just needed conviction that I could replace the pipes by feel after undoing the screw.

[richardmurphy2]

All
As usual thanks to such a great forum and its contributors I was able to get this job done.

My model is a LHD model!

I followed the procedure referenced here which is to basically remove the AC Controller, and go in through the top RHS of this unit. I also removed the glove box to get access to the side of the o-ring joint.

http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetail ... oring.html

Some tips:
1. Access: The way in through the AC unit was simple for me....if you dont mind taking apart the panels to remove the AC Unit. I figured it was good to learn this anyway.
2. Phillips Head screw driver. I used a 16" long with a 4 inch handle. Was the perfect length
3. Use a bit of WD40 on the screw before hand. It opened easily...I guess I was one of the luck ones.
4. When you open the glove box, you will see the black vent blocking your view of the o-ring joint. In my case it was already cut (someone was in there before me!). However I am confident that as others have said, you can simply move it back and up and the o-ring joint will be revealed...ie possibly no need to cut it. However if you cut it obviously watch for wires; it is easy to duct tape together afterwards
5. Spill containment. I drained the radiator. I did not bother to open the coolant lines on the engine side to further drain it..was afraid of un-doing a perfectly good joint. I set up a good overlap of plastic underneath the o-ring joint and in the RHS footwell. When the joints opened I had about a 1/2 pint of fluid which the plastic easily contained.
6. Leak test: I did not leak test with water....probably should have done so but my joint held
7. Re-filling the radiator. Since this was my first time to do this...I simply closed the radiator drain and refilled coolant system. However I think it was airlocked as engine nearly overheated when I ran it for a few minutes. After cooling down it was fine on re--start. I think it burped it itself!
8. AC Issue: Also I noticed that the AC unit was showing a -40F external temperature and would not run AC. However after a brief panic and checking this forum, I see that this will simply go away after a few minutes of driving. As it did!
9. Repair is hopefully done and I am down using cat-litter to dry up the residual from carpet.

Does anybody know the best way to completely remove the smell from the carpet?

[TheBoss]

I just finished doing mine, and used the method of going through the side panel of the center stack next to the radio. I cut a v shaped opening pointed directly at the screw in the side of the panel and pushed the heater duct all of the way down - without removing it. I had the HVAC controls and the radio removed, but realized later it wasn't necessary.

I used my Ryobi impact gun and an Irwin 90112 locking extension. This was just long enough so that my screw gun could lay on the passenger seat without pulling the screw out of the matrix. I used the space freed up by removing the glove box to slide the pipes back, clean off the connections and install the new O-Rings, then put it back in place, reversed the drill and screwed it back together.

Like everything else - its "Easy" now that I've done it.

[The boss]

The easiest method is pull out the hvac module, the radio and use a 16 inch number two philips screwdriver. take off the lower instrument panel, both side covers and the duct vent on the bottom. Then just slide your hands up to the pipes and feel the job. If you got fat fingers you might have to take out the glovebox.

It takes less then fifteen minutes to change the orings. you just feel where everything is and you will be fine.

I change change them and pressure test the system for leaks in under thirty minutes.