Noticed the coolant dropping again... seems this time the radiator/thermostat bypass hose (the one that Ts from the top hose to the stat) has a hole in it that must be opening up as it softens, annnnnnd the heater core o-rings are leaking too. I swear the heater core leaking is like a rite of passage on a P38.

Three P38s, and by the time I'm done, all three would have had Audi heater cores... well technically one has it already... soon to be removed before it gets cubed!

What with water ingress, if it isn't leaking into the car, its leaking out of it...

What I think is a designflaw is that the heater pipes/hoses have no support at all between heatercore and rockercover so all engine vibes go directly to that one tiny little screw that holds the two pipes against the core.

Shouldn't there be a firm support where the pipes go through the bulkhead?

There is a plastic support at the rear of the heater box that kinda supports them, but the whole thing is still a bit crap. As you say, any movement on the engine bay side still moves the other end of the pipe and disturbs the seal. I've done the o-rings once and it lasted a while before. As I wanted to remove the heater box to fix the binding flaps, when it then started leaking again I wasn't missing the opportunity to stick an Audi core in.

As both my new P38 and parents P38 have binding flaps and/or dodgy blend motors, and leaking o-rings.... I'm just going to strip both dashboards out and do it once and for all.

Sounds like fun....

The new Audi heater cores i'm using in my kits have slightly larger hose pipe connections, so they don't need reducer fittings like the older ones do ;) at leas on Thor models. It's a tight fit between the 19mm hose and the hose connections on the replacement core, but makes it highly unlikely to try and leak again!!

I know my O rings are fine but I suspect that my heater core is starting to show signs of age. The coolant loss is minimal but if parked when it's cold the windscreen is steamed up from the bottom when I go back to the car. Now it might just be rain getting in and dribbling down onto the matrix and it isn't leaking at all, but I'll only find out when the time comes. Noticing this thread http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/7-range-rover-mark-ii-p38/231346-heater-matrix-fyi-cheap-source.html on the other forum (yes, I know, but I still go on there just to see what stupid tricks the Yanks are doing this time, honest) and checked the link. Now it's showing £30, but a couple of days ago it said there was only one left, at £7.50..... So, if you saw it and thought, "that's cheap" and have now found the price has gone up, blame me, because I bought it. Before pulling things apart to fit it, I need to get an original one to confirm that it really is identical (from pictures I can find online, it does look like it is). I'll be doing it by slackening the steering column. Marty tells me it's a pain and he normally takes the whole dash out but as dash removal is 3 pages in RAVE and dropping the steering column is half a page, I'm doing it that way.

I saw that one at £7.50 and assumed it was a miss-print! Could be the absolute bargain of the century. <br>
On the other hand, swapping it out twice might make it less of a bargain. Good luck with it- keep us posted

I use Nissens for the Audi heater core replacement kits. They seem to be a fairly big brand in aftermarket heater matrixes..

I did see £7.50 price tag and thought it had to be a mis-print... the Nissens units seem to be pretty solidly built from the Audi units I've had in.

Yes, Rave does have a pretty long process for getting the dash out, but it is the process to take the WHOLE dash out, metal framework and all. The version I use is just removing the top of the dash and leaving the metal framework intact. You then just need to remove 4 bolts to get the centre retaining bar out that's in front of the heater box, unbolt the heater box itself and remove one screw that holds the front half to the A/C back half and the whole box comes out.

The biggest advantage to doing the dash out, is that you can then obviously clean the heater box, and split it in half to give all the flaps a clean and lube (and shave if they have been binding up or hard to move).

Interested to hear about taking the steering column out though - take a few pictures when you do it to post up! Damn LHD vehicles getting it easy on that task!!

Ha, nice work on the £7.50 core! I think I paid £20 for the one in my old car, seemed reasonable enough in quality. Might have to try and get hold of one of these ones with bigger hose barbs Marty has mentioned.

Taking the dash out wasn't all that difficult that I recall, though this time I think I'll take the front seats out just to give a bit more room without risking damaging them. I think the most irritating bit was actually the glovebox mechanism... it was just really fiddly to get it to play ball last time. Just all time consuming - but being able to get the heater box out leaving the A/C evaporator behind and sort the flaps out is handy.

Nissens 70230 is the part number of the one with the bigger hose connectors from memory... they measure up to about 20mm so fitting 19mm hose on is TIGHT... but it means it won't come off in a hurry!

Nissens 70220 is another one I have in the garage and that fits 19mm hose nicely - it's a smooth fit, and the hose clamp will probably actually have to do something on them...

Don't tell everyone though or I'll never sell any kits :p Though the Thor ones are easy enough, and GEMS are just a slightly longer run of pipe... the diesels however are a PITA as they use 21mm hose from the engine, so again need reducers... and finding 21mm-19mm reducers can be a pain! And I feel in the long run may be more hassle than it's worth!

Googling the Nissen partnumber shows up Citroën and Peugeot.
In France they offer for € 23,85 (Richard?)
https://www.oscaro.com/radiateur-de-chauffage-nissens-71145-801096-467-p

Sounds about right - the HEVAC system was designed and built by Valeo in France, and I've heard that the blend motors used in the P38 are also used in some Peugeot vehicles aswell, so it almost makes sense the heater core was used in other vehicles too...

Also somewhere I saw that the blower motors in the P38 are shared with some models of citroen aswell.

Makes me wonder if any citroen or pugs suffer the same problem with the flaps sticking in their heater boxes...

Blend motors are the same as Peugeot 406 but I suspect most 406's of a similar age to our P38's were scrapped years ago so nobody would notice if the flaps were sticking.

Not sure if the £7.50 heater matrix is going to materialise. Had an email from Amazon today that says:

_We're still trying to obtain the following item[s] you ordered on April 17 2016 (Order# 202-1742936-5929129).

"Nissens 71145 Heat Exchanger, interior heating"

We're awaiting a revised estimate from our supplier, and will email you as soon as we receive this information.

If you'd prefer to cancel the item, please visit Your Account on the link below:

_

Typical! If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

But from Amazon? Surely if they offer something for sale at an advertised price, then they should honour it?

I guess it depends on whether it was from Amazon directly or being sold by one of their market place traders or whatever they are called.

I've had a couple of items previously where I've bought them and then had to wait longer than Amazon reckoned, but it was because it was sold through one of their other sellers - but on the Amazon site.

It's taken it's time, 4 months in fact, but a box from Amazon arrived on Monday containing a Nissens heater matrix complete with new foam strips. I've since had an email from Amazon saying that as it has now been delivered, they have debited my account with £7.50. It certainly looks to be correct but I need to put it next to one from a P38 to confirm before I attempt to change it. If I even do, or maybe it just goes on the shelf for the day I do need one.

I think I'm going to have to order one soon... just finished changing my rocker cover gaskets and couldn't help nudging the heater pipes a couple of times while trying to clean the rocker cover and gasket surface (no way in hell that cover was coming out of the bay with that much LPG in the way). Had a couple of drops of coolant on the carpet... it has stopped so hopefully it will hold on for now.

In other news... Bosch/Thor with LPG rocker cover gasket jobs... what an arse. Still, degreased the sides of the engine once it was back together and its all sparkly again, hopefully it stays that way and I stop losing oil!

Sloth wrote:

In other news... Bosch/Thor with LPG rocker cover gasket jobs...

Unless you have the pipes installed according the 'through banana' method.

I can lift the inlethousing either side just a few centimeters to take off the rockercovers.

If only! Mine appear from the back and the gaps at the front between the throttle body and bananas.

As it all works nicely as is, I'm not that bothered about changing it. Hopefully won't have to pull it off for any reason again any time soon.

I do need to get some of that 8mm silicone hose to replace the line between the inlet manifold and header tank, bypassing the throttle body heater plate. The bit of pipe between the manifold and heater plate looks like its on the verge of going pop, and the heater plate itself is or has been weeping a bit... Should be able to do that by unbolting the A/C compressor and lifting it to the side I think to get to the hose barb.