How To Fit My New Heater Matrix?

[B7TRO]

hey guys just got my new heater matrix becos the old 1 is leaking steam on the windscreen........do i really have to have the whole dash out to change the heater matrix?????am i best goin dealers or any garage?????

[rig-pig]

never had to change one on a lex. any that i have done when i work'd in the garage was a dash out job. if you do it yourself mind and have lots of boxes for bits,nuts,bolts,screws ect and mark all wires. you could use a camera, take pics when taking off to help when you put it back together

[The_Stig]

Hi there B7TRO,

I can say from experience that this is almost definately going to be a complete dashboard out job to achieve. Not done one on my IS, but had the pleasure (or not), of doing one on a Citroen ZX diesel I had when I was at University. The heater-matrix is one of the first things that they bolt into the interior of the car when they start putting it together.

To give you some idea what was involved in that job...see the link below:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.carroll2/MatrixGallery.htm

But basically you get from this....

stripped down to this...

As I took everything to bits I labelled it stage by stage and took photos of each component and how it went together. I also had the HBOL (Haynes Book of Lies) handy to work-through as well. The IS has allot my electronics than my ZX did, and you will need to use caution when removing the steering wheel/airbag to get the dash out.

Good Luck!

Stig

[B7TRO]

hey stig thanx for the advice.....dosent the job look great.....ive heard i mite get away with replacing it under the dash take carpet out n get to it that way...is that true? replacing 1 without taking the dash out?????

[loggyboy]

Take how complicated that citroen looks and then treble it for the lexus, couple that with there not being a haynes manual available. The wiring on the lexus is ENORMOUS, just click off the panel thats in the drivers foot/kick well, thats just the tip of the iceberg.

Unless you are supremely confident in your mechanical skills i wouldnt dream of touching that job.

Even i dont think id touch that and theres not much I havent done to a car over the past 10 years.

[rig-pig]

and you have the air bags to deal with mind thay use explosives to inflate

[B7TRO]

it sounds crazy...damm what has the world brought to me and my baby lol....wen it warms up the car, steam starts coming out the vents like the end ov a kettle lol.....never mind it'll all be done 4 summer......im gonna take it to a dealer hav the confience it go wrong then i know i can always take it back

[Kiriyama]

Same thing happened to my Audi 80. It was a very low spec car with hardly anything on the dash and no air bags yet the garage had to keep it in over night even though I dropped it off at 10am! To be fair, he'd never done one on that model but still, it's not a job I would consider trying, especially with no Haynes manual. Let us know what kind of quote you get, I suspect it's going to cost you a fair bit

[B7TRO]

ive been quoeted dealer priceshould be 90 a hour....but iknow som1 4 50 a hour mite go main dealer tho

[rig-pig]

if your going to the main dealer it might be worth going gold

[Monster-Mat]

i can change it in about 1 to 1.5 hours.

its simple if you know how, and yes, the dash needs to come out

[B7TRO]

i can change it in about 1 to 1.5 hours.

its simple if you know how, and yes, the dash needs to come out

hey chairman lol......u living down south how can i get you to do my matrix lol

1.5hours sounds nice.....ive been quoted 3-4 hours...

is there no way of gettin the matrix out under the dash