Ducato Bypassing the Heater Matrix

Got coolant leaking into your passenger footwell? Then it's quite likely you've got a leaking matrix.

You could spend a day (or pay for 4 hours) to get the whole matrix replaced, or you could simply bypass it from the engine bay.

Of course you won't have any heating in the cab anymore, but then, real men don't need heaters!

The job is actually pretty simple, you just need to be brave about pulling pipes and not worrying they will break

This was done on a 2004 (15) Model - not sure if the others are the same, but anyway, it might give you some idea

What you'll need:

• Pliers
• Angle Pliers (Optional)
• Diagonal Pliers
• Flat blade screwdriver (Optional)
• 6mm Socket Set
• Short length of 15mm copper pipe
• 2 x Jubilee Clips

Not much then, on with the show!

Ok, opening the bonnet - you'll see the following:



You see that big box, that needs to come off - as without doing that, you'll never be able to reach the pipes around the back. So use your socket set to get the two nuts undone - if they won't budge, add a bit of WD40 to losen them



Once undone, you can remove the cover which will enable you to get to the glow plug relay.



Remove the two nuts found at the top of it, then drop it down out of the way.



You can then see the two pipes behind which lead to the heater matrix in the cab.



Now for the fun part - you need to use the diagonal pliers or the flatblade screwdriver to prize the clips on the hoses apart, then flip the metal bit out. When opened up, the clip looks like this:



Starting with the left one, get the clip off, then grip the rubber hose with your pliers and try and rotate it forwards and backwards until the seal breaks. You'll know when it's about to go as fluid will start to drip.



With the seal broken, you can then pull the hose away from the pipe to be left with this:



Now repeat for the pipe on the right

You can make the hoses loser by pouring boiling water over them, or simply doing it when the van has been running for a while. Watch out if you do choose that method though, as the coolant fluid will be boiling hot, so make sure you don't pour it over yourself!

Once you've got the second hose off, you can now pull them out the way - and insert your piece of copper pipe in between the two to join them, using the jubilee clips to tighten them up.



And then there you go, slip the newly connected pipe back over into the back of the engine bay, reverse your steps to put back the glow plug relay and its cover - then go get a cup of tea, you're all done