Christie365

Thanks all, replaced it the other day and now have heat back finally. If anyone else is doing theirs I’d maybe suggest disconnecting the battery as well to avoid getting a safety system fault with unplugging the airbag, hopefully get lend of an OBD11 to clear it.

Having the same problem getting the core attached to the pipes. How did you manage in the end? Thanks

How did you remove the drain plug? Just using a flathead screwdriver? I’m worried in case I break mine. In the middle of doing mine now

I’m back. I had mine flushed last year and it worked for a while but now I’m back to barely any heat so have ordered the core and fitting kit and going to try tackle it myself thanks to everyone’s guides so far. One question I do have is how did people refill the coolant? Did you do it the old school/self bleed way or use vcds or vacuum fill? My plan was to drain coolant from bleed screw, replace the core, then fill with coolant and self bleed topping up as required. Any/all advice appreciated. Thanks

Hi Vytas, Thanks for providing such a detailed step-by-step. I’m planning on tackling mine soon. I was wondering if you could explain the process you went through for the coolant flush you did prior to swapping the matrix, I’ve seen people do different things. Are you heaters still working good? Thanks

How did you get on in the end? Having the same problem.

Glad to hear you have heat again. With that core you bought, did you have to buy anything extra like the foam or o-rings? Or did it come with everything you needed for the job.

A step to video would have been great!! So the first mechanic I asked said he’s done a few and not interested in tackling it as it’s just himself and can be a bit of a nightmare apparently. He said it’s due to the silica bag rupturing and blocking the core. Now, I have read about that and aware of it but I don’t think my car has a silica bag? Did yours Squish? Did any contaminants come out when you flushed yours?

Thanks for the prompt response! I'm not sure if they did run any diagnostics on the actuators if I'm honest, didn't get a chance to speak directly to the mechanic. I appreciated your in-depth instructions you posted and was thinking about trying to replace it myself, but I'm not much of a mechanic so might see about another garage replacing the core. Getting increasingly frustrated with having no heat, this morning the inside of the windscreen was frozen! I thought my heat was weak last winter but thought nothing of it, until this winter when I've had none.

Hi Josh, just wondering what model your car is? I've got a 2016 A4 B9 2.0 tdi with heat problems and I'm leaning towards trying to flush the heater core first. The garage reckons the heater matrix needs renewed and quoting £330 for the part and 5-8 hours labour. Hoping a flush might do the trick. Glad you got yours sorted!