Heater repairs Mk2 GL
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:51 pm
This was a job id been putting off all summer but as it turned out, it was easy enough...
My Capri developed a burning smell. Smelt a bit like clutch burning but it turned out to be only when the heater was on. I managed to pull the wires off the heater resistor so i could ignore it for the rest of the summer
There's a lot of information on the interweb but i thought it might help if i put what i did on here
Firstly you don't need to strip the whole dash out, see photo. Only the lower dash pieces need removing, glove box, ashtray panel, flimsy pedal cover and center console. the hardest part was getting the bracket, holding the red relay, off (single 10mm hex bolt hidden under wiring loom) To remove the heater, drain radiator, remove hoses from bulkhead pipes, flush through heater with clean water to prevent carpet staining. Remove oval bulkhead plate and seal. inside car, disconnect heater cables from side of box, in drivers footwell. They just lever out when outercable is unbolted. remove wires from resistor. then undo the four 10mm nuts fixing heater to the car. with a bit of a wiggle the whole assembly can be lowered and slid out into the passenger footwell
Once out of the car the heater can be split into 2 half's, there's 2 metal clips by the motor, then the rest just levers apart carefully
you can then see the state of the motor, the resistor and the mouldy foam on the flaps. My motor was all melted, the resistor was rusty but complete. I decided to change it anyway
You can buy properly made resistors off the Capri sites, but all you need is a 2.2ohm 10w resistor like this one, eBay item number:262310244799, £2.39 posted. i mounted it on a bit of ally plate and put the wires out through rubber grommets. not exactly concourse or original but if it works i don't care fitted in box, it just clears fan so should get plenty of cooling as i said, the old motor was all melted. a bit of research found that a mercedes sprinter one fitted (bosch part number 0130 007 027) which i found on ebay for £21.50 (eBay item number:172804792531). When it finally arrived (royal mail 48, cough 6 days! delivery) it was exactly the same as the old one! the plastic holder fitted perfect and even the wiring terminals were the same.
i carefully prised the fan off the old motor. sawing the motor apart to gain better access i then put some new bits of foam around the heater matrix and cleaned the flaps. then put it all back together. tested the fan with a battery on both speeds for a while
the refitting is a reverse of removal, as they say in the manuals...
i managed to fix my heater for less than £30, with about 5hrs labour.
i hope this is useful information and helps somebody out
EDIT....
my MK2 has a BEHR plastic heater fitted to it, which i believe is the same as MK3s but different to the earlier metal heaters
My Capri developed a burning smell. Smelt a bit like clutch burning but it turned out to be only when the heater was on. I managed to pull the wires off the heater resistor so i could ignore it for the rest of the summer
There's a lot of information on the interweb but i thought it might help if i put what i did on here
Firstly you don't need to strip the whole dash out, see photo. Only the lower dash pieces need removing, glove box, ashtray panel, flimsy pedal cover and center console. the hardest part was getting the bracket, holding the red relay, off (single 10mm hex bolt hidden under wiring loom) To remove the heater, drain radiator, remove hoses from bulkhead pipes, flush through heater with clean water to prevent carpet staining. Remove oval bulkhead plate and seal. inside car, disconnect heater cables from side of box, in drivers footwell. They just lever out when outercable is unbolted. remove wires from resistor. then undo the four 10mm nuts fixing heater to the car. with a bit of a wiggle the whole assembly can be lowered and slid out into the passenger footwell
Once out of the car the heater can be split into 2 half's, there's 2 metal clips by the motor, then the rest just levers apart carefully
you can then see the state of the motor, the resistor and the mouldy foam on the flaps. My motor was all melted, the resistor was rusty but complete. I decided to change it anyway
You can buy properly made resistors off the Capri sites, but all you need is a 2.2ohm 10w resistor like this one, eBay item number:262310244799, £2.39 posted. i mounted it on a bit of ally plate and put the wires out through rubber grommets. not exactly concourse or original but if it works i don't care fitted in box, it just clears fan so should get plenty of cooling as i said, the old motor was all melted. a bit of research found that a mercedes sprinter one fitted (bosch part number 0130 007 027) which i found on ebay for £21.50 (eBay item number:172804792531). When it finally arrived (royal mail 48, cough 6 days! delivery) it was exactly the same as the old one! the plastic holder fitted perfect and even the wiring terminals were the same.
i carefully prised the fan off the old motor. sawing the motor apart to gain better access i then put some new bits of foam around the heater matrix and cleaned the flaps. then put it all back together. tested the fan with a battery on both speeds for a while
the refitting is a reverse of removal, as they say in the manuals...
i managed to fix my heater for less than £30, with about 5hrs labour.
i hope this is useful information and helps somebody out
EDIT....
my MK2 has a BEHR plastic heater fitted to it, which i believe is the same as MK3s but different to the earlier metal heaters