How do you replace heater matrix in a peugeot 206?

Answer 1

[size=12 ]My heater matrix started leaking all over my passenger foot well so I got online and researched what people were saying about replacing it. Lots of people are of the idea that you need to do a full facsia removal to get at it. I set about finding an online workshop manual for free and bingo! I read the parts concerned with the removal and replacement of the matrix and indeed it went on and on with the procedure for removing the facsia in order to get at the matrix. Bummer!! This is gonna be a ball ache according to the manual and all the posts on the forums. What with all the airbag switches and centre consol etc.

So i remove the two coolant pipes in the engine bay (no water comes out coz it's already all in the passenger footwell) and i remove the glove box door and then the glove box compartment. I can now see what i'm up against. I undo the coolant pipe retaining bolt ( the one that holds the pipes to the blower/matrix housing) and undo the bolts that hold the pipes to the matrix. I bend back the tags and give the matrix a pull. It moves!... but then hits the facsia which I haven't removed yet. So I decide that seeing as how the matrix is pretty much definately leaking I am gonna force the matrix out while pulling on the facsia...The matrix comes out but not without interfering with the housing et al. Replacing it using this method is not an option I decide coz I don't want to stress the new matrix. I decide to have a think about it and test the old matrix.

I fill the matrix and pressurise it with a couple of demi-john corks and a foot pump. Sure enough it's leaking pretty badly. I order a new one from the internet. Two days later it arrives and they are forcasting snow for our area the following day so I have to jump to it and fit it pronto.

The up shot of the story folks is that rather than dismantle the interior of the car for two days I get my electric heat gun (the kind you strip paint with) and I gently heat the facsia until it becomes maliable and just gently pull it out. The matrix slides in perfectly! (you have to put the coolant pipes in the holes before you push the matrix into the housing). I let the facsia go and it returns to it's normal position. I replace the glove box and door, the coolant pipes in the engine bay. The total time i psent putting the new matrix in and doing it all back up was about 20mins to half an hour. Simples!!![/size] copied from iawnski