Eek. Think my Matrix has gone......

[Essexgary]

Hi All

There I was happily driving down the road when I noticed that my temp gauge was shooting up to the top.... Hang on. i been driving for 2 mins and it normaly takes an age (well not that long) to get warm. but then it went
down and sort of stayed there... going up and down all the time but never to the top. and never staying there.

Kept an eye on the water level and the gauge over the next day and all seemed ok. Tha was untill today, when the gauge shot up and stayed up. balls. I was 1 mile from home, so pulled over and topped up with water and got home ok.

Racked my brain as to what the faulty could be. I not long ago changed the thermostat out, so sort of ruled that out. but then I thought I would check the mat on the passengers side... lifted it and hey ho. it was wet. not a puddle but just damp/wet......

So. before I start panicing and pulling the dash apart is there anything I could do to fix (rad weld stuff) this or should I be looking for another poss fault.....

Cheers Gary

 

[96terrano]

I suppose you could try rad weld, I changed my matrix just latst week as I had the dash out for modifying, they aren't the hardest thing to change, just fiddly and time consuming, I have taken pics of the dash out if you want them emailed

 

[Essexgary]

Update

Hi Everyone

Just a short info update........

Just went and started the car (as had to move it out of way) and the noise.... Sounded like it was from mid to bottom engine. A right rattle for about 10-15 seconds then normal engine sounds.

Has got me worried a bit..... might this be something else apart from the Matrix? On thinking about it the passenger floor is not mega wet. no pool of water....

Anyone got any ideas?

CHeers Gary

 

[briggie]

water pump ?

 

[stinka]

Impeller has fallen off the water pump

 

[Essexgary]

water pump ?

I was begining to think this.......

 

[Essexgary]

Impeller has fallen off the water pump

Is this bad.... Well, I know it not good. but is it just going to be a case of replacing the water pump or is more drastic than that....... fingers crossed.

 

[rustic]

Is this bad.... Well, I know it not good. but is it just going to be a case of replacing the water pump or is more drastic than that....... fingers crossed.

Press some white kitchen towel into the wet carpet, what colour is it, what does it smell of?

A comon fault for a damp passenger foot well is a leaking cover plate, accessible by removing the skuttle plate or what ever, remove the windscreen wiper arms, then the plastic trim.
On right hand side is a cover plate held on with 4 screws.

The lower right screw lets water in.
Remove plate, use sealant, pay attention to lower right screw.
This will sort if it is a leak.
To check, place a rubber mat or plastic sheet in the passenger footwell, if it is this, then water will be on top of the sheet.

Hope it helps.

best regards.

Rustic

 

[96terrano]

Press some white kitchen towel into the wet carpet, what colour is it, what does it smell of?

A comon fault for a damp passenger foot well is a leaking cover plate, accessible by removing the skuttle plate or what ever, remove the windscreen wiper arms, then the plastic trim.
On right hand side is a cover plate held on with 4 screws.

The lower right screw lets water in.
Remove plate, use sealant, pay attention to lower right screw.
This will sort if it is a leak.
To check, place a rubber mat or plastic sheet in the passenger footwell, if it is this, then water will be on top of the sheet.

Hope it helps.

best regards.

Rustic

I made a YouTube vid ages ago on this fix, have a look through my YouTube account:thumb2

 

[Essexgary]

Cheers Guys. will check the youtube thing out and have a look. Just wondering about the waterpump thing.... If the impeller has come off, would it be floating around the engine... or would it be caught on the spindle and come out with the pump.......

Sorry if this all sound totally untechnical, but it really is getting a bit beyond me......

Cheers Gary

 

[Midlander]

Cheers Guys. will check the youtube thing out and have a look. Just wondering about the waterpump thing.... If the impeller has come off, would it be floating around the engine... or would it be caught on the spindle and come out with the pump.......

Sorry if this all sound totally untechnical, but it really is getting a bit beyond me......

Cheers Gary

I've just changed my water pump on my TDI...if your block is similar to mine the impeller sits in a recess in the block with 2 waterways coming into/out of it, so theoretically it should be just sitting there when you take the pump off.

TBH if the impeller has come off i think there should be some way of telling by how quickly the top hose on the rad warms up as without the pump you've only got convection to move the heated water around so would take quite a while for it to get warm as its not being circulated mechanically.

I've also done the front scuttle plate repair as the passenger footwell carpet got wet.

 

[Essexgary]

Sod it. Im off to get a waterpump this morning.... At least it gets the ball rolling. Wheres best to source one from... Ebay or a motor factors......

 

[Midlander]

I got mine from a local motor factors....you could get one from ebay a bit cheaper, but you'd be waiting for it to be delivered.