Need to remove the matrix and have read the heater box needs removing , after removing the fixing bolts does it just pull forward and will i have to disconnect anything else behind or in the box to do this ? .

Alan .

Has nobody on this forum ever taken out the heater mattrix ?

Alan .

system between cinq and sei is rather similar,haynes should cover this, facing the front of the car the matrix should pull out to the left, very rare these get changed as theyre hidden from most forms damage

Si

Never done it. Anything useful in the Seicento Technical Manual (the factory manual, free, in the downloads section here)?

ALAN4 said:

Need to remove the matrix and have read the heater box needs removing , after removing the fixing bolts does it just pull forward and will i have to disconnect anything else behind or in the box to do this ? .

Alan .

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I found the service manual very helpful which is in the downloads area. The only snag I found was that I had to remove the windscreen wipers and motor assembly to be able to pull the heater gubbins forward over the engine. There's a plate on the heater assembly which fouls the centre windscreen wiper crank etc.

Overall it's not a difficult job. I had to do this as a result of heater control cable being kinked. I just straightened it out!!

I actually thought the Cinquecento used flaps to control temperature, but could be wrong?

Yep.

But I'm guessing this one has just sprung a leak.

Battery out. Remove both fire walls (the bleed pipe has to come off the matrix to remove the large one). Sqeeze metal springy things on the pipe connectors to pull off. Remove cable clip to valve. Remove the four M5 flange nuts holding the heater box on. The whole heater box should move forward enough to get to the pozidrive screws holding the matrix in. Remove the screws and the matrix will slide out.

Thanks for the replies , suffering from only luke warm heat . Have changed thermostat to play safe still no joy , managed to remove matrix and cock today , checked out the cock which seems to move ok to all positions . The matrix when re-fitted up outside the heater box for testing only gets scorching hot on the top half so presuming the bottom half is blocked up , tried to flush it but still no joy , does this sound familiar for these cars .

Alan .

I would not say it's the norm, but any thing is possible without knowing how the car has been treated in the past.

ALAN4 said:

Thanks for the replies , suffering from only luke warm heat . Have changed thermostat to play safe still no joy , managed to remove matrix and cock today , checked out the cock which seems to move ok to all positions . The matrix when re-fitted up outside the heater box for testing only gets scorching hot on the top half so presuming the bottom half is blocked up , tried to flush it but still no joy , does this sound familiar for these cars .

Alan .

Click to expand...

The thermostat would only need replacing if the engine was staying cold. The fact that the top of the matrix was getting scorching hot suggests the thermostat is now fine.

Did you try and blow through the matrix (using your lungs)? Was there much resistance? When you tried flushing, was there much resistance to water in/water out?

I thought the valve is removable if you want to isolate the valve from being an issue? Are you sure the lever is moving to each of the end stops?

You might try filling the accursed thing with kettle descaler and water as hot as you can get it. Leave overnight, reverse flush.

I will try the descaler at the weekend to see if this helps . The valve/cock works and moves to all positions I can see this clearly once removed .

Alan .