Rear Heater Pipes...

[Beau]

Hi guys,

Recently did the annual paint job underneath the car, so its looking brand new again

However the coolant pipes that enter the rear heater matrix were quite rusty at some points, and after scrapping the rust off them, a small leak appeared. Gradually got worse and worse so I have now looped the line in the engine bay where they feed down so the rear matrix is blanked off.

I'm just glad I found this out before it got worse, and failed on me on a long trip...

I've heard this is quite a common problem with the rust eating them away.

Anyway, I'm not too bothered about the rear heaters but it is a nice thing to have in the winter. What do people normally do to fix them, replace them with brand new ones? I reckon Toyota would want a lot.... Is there any custom mod where I could replace them with better hoses/pipes?

Any help appreciated! Thanks

 

[silvercruiser]

Im not sure what diameter the pipes are but you could get a coil of copper pipe and some compression fittings so make a repair.

Joe

 

[adrianr]

or run some heater hose straight down from engine bay bypassing the pesky pipes.

 

[chadr]

There was a good write-up on the "other" side. I think you need some 8mm and 10mm heater hose and some 8mm/10mm inter-connectors. The "engine side hoses are 10mm and the "matrix" side ones are 8mm. The interconnects are at the matrix end. So you need something like 4m of 10mm and 1m of 8mm, and 2 X 8/10mm connectors. Just route the new hoses in place of the old pipes.

I had a leak, like yours and thankfully picked it up very quickly. I simply blanked off the pipes in the engine bay and haven't bothered with replacing the pipes. Never used the rear heater even when we were in the Highlands in Winter - so didn't see the point.

 

[Beau]

There was a good write-up on the "other" side. I think you need some 8mm and 10mm heater hose and some 8mm/10mm inter-connectors. The "engine side hoses are 10mm and the "matrix" side ones are 8mm. The interconnects are at the matrix end. So you need something like 4m of 10mm and 1m of 8mm, and 2 X 8/10mm connectors. Just route the new hoses in place of the old pipes.

I had a leak, like yours and thankfully picked it up very quickly. I simply blanked off the pipes in the engine bay and haven't bothered with replacing the pipes. Never used the rear heater even when we were in the Highlands in Winter - so didn't see the point.

Thanks, I reckon I'll pick up some scrap coolant hoses and make it work. I doubt I'll get round to it until next year as the weather has turned bad. I dont often use the rear heaters so they wont be missed. The front ones are powerful enough.

One thing I noticed, is that coolant is always being circulated to the rear no matter what the settings inside? Is this normal?

 

[chadr]

Yes, I think so - the water will circulate through the "circuit" so to speak but will enter the rear heater matrix once you set the rear heater to warm/hot. If left on cold water will bypass the matrix but still circulate round. *At tleast that is my understanding*

I did buy all the stuff off eBay around 18 months back to do this fix but now probably won't bother. I just bought (Goodyear) rubber heater hoses and brass connectors - all came to around £30. (and I probably bought a metre or two more than I needed to be safe).

 

[chadr]

Yes, I think so - the water will circulate through the "circuit" so to speak but will enter the rear heater matrix once you set the rear heater to warm/hot. If left on cold, the coolant will bypass the matrix but still circulate round. *At least that is my understanding*

I did buy all the stuff off eBay around 18 months back to do this fix but now probably won't bother. I just bought (Goodyear) rubber heater hoses and brass connectors - all came to around £30. (and I probably bought a metre or two more than I needed to be safe).

 

[munster]

You might as well do it if youve got the parts, i did mine earlyer this year just bought the heater hose few quid as had bits in the garage to make up the rest
didnt take long to do maybe just over an hour cut out about 90% of the old tubeing.