Changing heater rad in 2000 Passat.

dooroy

A friend has a 2000 Passat 1.9 Tdi with air con and the heater rad (heat exchanger) in the dash has begun to leak - coolant level level dropping , fogged up windows , smell of coolant etc and some dampness in carpets.
I changed them in the older VWs and it was not a nice job - but this one looks much more difficult.
Anyone on the forum have experience of this ?
does dash have to come out ?
does air con have to be discharged ?
Any help appreciated .

porsche boy

Dash out. Allow a full day if you've not done one before. Some of the screws are near impossible to find.

Stoolbend

Are you sure it’s coolant that’s leaking into the car?

They were very prone to rain water leaking in.

dooroy

Thanks for replies.
Pretty sure it's leaking - coolant level dropping and no sign of any leak in the engine compartment , smell of coolant , windscreen fogging up badly etc.
I changed a few in the past in the older Golfs/Jettas but not done any of the 'newer' (to me) stuff.

Cass

dooroy wrote: »

Anyone on the forum have experience of this ?

Just finished my own today. Its the B5.5 model but i believe its pretty much the same as the B5.

does dash have to come out ?

Yes. Either in whole or by stripping it back, piece at a time. My advice would be to go the "all at once" method. It saves times, effort, and reduces the risk of breaking plastic trim.

does air con have to be discharged ?

Yes. No matter how you do it i believe the aircon has to be discharged. If you remove the entire dash it definitely has to be, and if stripping back you still have evacuate it to remove the HVAC unit.

I got it done for €20, and the recharge was priced at €60. Going for that tomorrow.


I'm not even close to an expert and what i done was from reading the Hayes manual and watching videos. Speaking of which here are a couple that i found very helpful. One is 4 minutes or so and misses a lot. Combine the process of the 4 minute video with the detail of the 30 minute one and you won't go wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J40bceY8mF0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzX727_Zh9M

dooroy

Thanks for all that info cass. Brilliant
A big job - and no easy way around it .
As they say a pic is worth a thousand words - great to have some idea of what's involved before starting out

Cass

You don't actually have to take a huge amount of stuff out in terms of bolts/nuts. However there is a still some work so make sure you bag the screws/nuts from each part and label them so you know where they're from and don't leave anything out. You'll also need a second person as the dash weighs a lot. A two man job taking it out, but definitely two man job putting it back in.

All the connectors are colour coded and easy to unplug and plug back in. Just make sure to disconnect the battery before disconnecting the ECU and connectors.

dooroy

Thanks for your help - couldn't find anything on others forums.
Had a chat with the owner and told him whats involved so will have to consider when it can be done etc .

Cass

A quick step by step buide if its any further help. I'll outline the steps and the videos above will show you which ones exactly to remove.

Engine bay work

• Have the aircon evacuated/discharged.
• Remove the cap from the header tank.
• You can either flush out the system or not, i did.
• Remove rubber seal around firewall/battery area and take off rainguard/battery cover.
• Disconnect the battery.
• Remove the torx bolt in the aircon pipes leading from engine bay through firewall (you will get a small bit of a "hiss") and then pull pipes back to break the seal.
• Disconnect both pipes to the heater core. Use light air pressure or a vacuum to remove as much water from the old heater core.
• Remove both wiper arms, taking care not to break/crack the windscreen.
• Remove rainguard at bottom of the windscreen.
• Remove the four/five screws from the ECU box and remove the lid.
• Disconnect the restrainig bar, ECU (they have slide clips) and all connectors under the ECU.
• Behind the ECU box and "under" the windscreen (where you just removed the rainguard) is a single 10mm bolt/screw (its not even 1/2" long). Remove this, and take care the washer comes with it, or stays put, but don't loose it. You may need a mirror to see it.

Interior

• There is no need to remove the entire centre console, but you can if you wish.
• Pull up gear stick gaiter.
• Pry apart the metal crimp ring. Drop it down the gear stick.
• Pull down the rubber grommet, and lift off the gear knob and gaiter.
• Remove plastic covers on both sides of the centre console where the front piece and back piece meet, and remove the small bolts/screws. There is only one on each side.
• Place your hand inside the console at the gear stick and push out the centre console.
• Pry up the front piece and pull backwards (towards the back seat).
• Disconnect the connector for the cigarette lighter/ashtray. Place the trim somewhere safe.

Driver side trim

• Pry of the fuse box on both the driver side and passenger side.
• On the dirvers side push in and slightly turn the light control and push from teh back with your hand to remove the light switch. Disconnect it.
• Under the driver side trim (at your knee) there are four torx screws. Remove all four and remove the trim carefully.
• There are two or three (depending on model) plugs. One for the lgith which you've removed, and one for the dimmer switch for the dash lights.
• My diagnostic port is under the dash, but on some models it's under the handbrake or ashtray. In any case disconnect all plugs.
• Still on the driver's side remove the kick trim at the bonnet pull handle (mine is on the driver side). There is a block of connectors there. Disconnect all of them.
• Under the steering wheel is a row of wires. Remove all wires that feed back into the engine bay through the firewall. For me it was the earth on the first terminal (10mm nut), one red wire on the second terminal (10mm nut), leave the third terminal alone, and both red wires on the fourth terminal (13mm nut).
• Mounted to the side are three earth wires. Two on one nut and two on the other. Remove them all. 10mm nuts.
• A tip, replace all the nuts so as not to loose them or forget where they go.
• Time to get on your back.
• At the pedals there will be three connectors into the pedals. Remove all three. Again they're colour coded, just take care not to break the clips.
• If you look up, while on your back, with you head against the pedals you'll three torx head bolts. Two are on the sterring column but one is separate from the rest and slightly higher up "in" the dash. Remove this one.
• Now to the steering column. There is a trick to this.
• The steering column has an eccentric bolt. Its torx on one side and a 16mm nut on the other side. You only need to work on the nut. Make sure the steering wheel is central and both wheels are facing forward. Have the key in the ignition at this point so the steering lock is OFF.
• Turn the steering wheel slowly until you can get at the 16mm nut with a rachet. Remove the nut. Now slowly and carefully turn the steering wheel until it is once again central and both wheels facing forward.
• The eccentric nut might actually fall out, don't worry about it.
• When the steering wheel is central remove the key and lock the steering wheel.
• Back under and at the joint. Tap and pull the joint until it slides up/off the steering rack "stub".

Onto the passenger side.

• Remove the kick trim like on the driver's side and reveal the connectors. Disconnect them all. Again they're all colour coded so pull away.

Onto the centre console

• There may or may not be (model dependent) two small pieces (3" square) of trim on either side of the now exposed centre console. There is a torx head screw in each side. Remove the screw and the bit of trim.
• This exposes two bolts on both the dirver and passenger side of the centre console. They are 13mm bolts. Remove them (four in total).

Dash removal.

• At this point you have everything disconnected and only need to remove the final three bolts.
• There are two on the drivers side behind the fuse box trim you remove and one on the passenger side behind the fuse box trim. All of them 16mm.

The fun bit.

Now its time to remove the dash. Have someone on one side and you on the other. At first you need to pull back while also wiggling it up and down. The dash weighs a nice bit (approx 15 - 18 stone and its top heavy so it'll want to tip over as soon as it's clear of the bolts. Pull the dash with a bit of force as you have rubber seals from the various hoses to come through the firewall.

Once free place the dash on both seat with someone keeping it from tipping over and allow the seat to bear the weight.

The heater core has two philips screws on its top. there is no lid as the top of the heater core is the "lid". Remove them. It also has two plastic tabs that need, GENTLY, pulled back and avoid breaking as they are brittle. Once free pull the heater core up. Mind the windscreen and also mind for drips/spillage from the heater core. You might need to pry the edge of the dash to clear the heater core from it's holder.

When free make sure to clean out the compartment. Wear gloves and make to sure to not only absorb all the water/coolant but any dirt/debris too.

That's it. Just do everything in reverse to reinstall.

dooroy

That's perfect - on these kind of jobs I find that doing things in the proper order saves a lot of time and frustration.
Much appreciated - had posted on the Car Mechanics forum some time ago and got no replies , so was losing hope.