S2 Dash Removal & Heater Fix

S2 Dash Removal & Heater Fix

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Bobhon

Original Poster:

1,057 posts

178 months

Saturday 23rd January 2010
quotequote all
A few people have been posting about heaters not working, so as I stripped mine out over Xmas and managed to fix it I thought that I would post a how to thread. Here goes...

If the problem is with your heater then I would strongly recommend checking out the feed and earth wires before stripping out the dash. I wish that I had. There’s a 4 way connector on a flying lead off the heater motor itself which you should check for continuity. You can get to this connector through the left hand removable dash panel. With this panel swung down or removed (and the fusebox cover dropped down) you can see the plastic heater box, just behind all of the switches and dials.


This picture shows the heater connector. Just to the right of the centre of the picture. A black multi way connector with 2 red lucar connectors on the top and 2 clear lucar connectors underneath.

The heater motor is on the front (bulkhead side) of this box, on the left. You can fish your hand in to feel the wires attached to it and follow them back to the connector. There is a resistor in the motor wires which does the twin speed control. Don’t confuse this with the connector. The resistor is about 15mm diameter and 40mm long.

If you can confirm that there’s power to the motor and an earth away from it then it’ll be a dash strip out to get the motor out for refurb/replacement. This is a fairly easy job but you will HAVE TO write down every wire colour and connection that you remove if you want to have any chance of putting it back together again.

Firstly disconnect the battery. Some of the wires you are going to remove are permanent battery fed live, e.g. the window lift wires.

Mechanically the dash is held in place by 2 screws at the back of the centre console portion, one on either side. You will have to tilt the seats forwards to get to them. They are hidden beneath black screw covers which you will have to carefully prise off. At the dash end there is an angle bracket at either side of the dash which you will have to remove. These are held in place by a stud and nut on the dash itself with another bolt going through the A pillar. There is another black screw cover in the door shut area which is the other end of the bolt.
You will probably find it easier to pull the fresh air tubes off the back of the bulls eye vents and ease the vents out of the dash. If you do this then you can see the bracket and fixings. Makes life a bit easier.


Just to the right of the fresh air duct you can see the steel angle bracket holding the dash into the car.


Just to the left of the fresh air duct you can see the steel angle bracket holding the dash into the car.

Then you will have to remove the upper and lower steering column shrouds. The upper one is held in place with 1 screw and the lower one by 3 screws. It’s easiest to lie on your back on the driver seat to get to the screws on the lower one.

Next take the steering wheel off. Make a note of its position so that you can put it back on straight later.

Now you’ve got to take out and disconnect the 3 rotary switches, Fan, dash lights and fogs. At the back of each switch are 2 tangs which you will have to squeeze in while carefully removing the switches forwards out of the dash. Make a note of the colours of each wire and which terminal they are connected to and wrap a ‘flag’ of masking tape around each switch set of wire and write their respective function on the tape flag, e.g. heater.

Then it’s the two window lift switches. Ease them out forwards and do the same thing with the wires again.

Now there are 3 electrical connectors to disconnect. On mine there was a multi way connector on the drivers side which fed the dash harness, i.e. up to the warning lights and gauges. Also there was a red/red 3 way connector on the left hand side which fed the clock (I think) and a black/white 3 way connector which also fed something on the dash.

Now you are ready to ease the dash forwards. But only by about 5cm as you haven’t disconnected the heater controls yet. The heater controls are held in place by 2 U shaped strap brackets. With the dash eased forwards you can get to the central nut on each of these brackets and undo them and remove the brackets.
Then pull the heater controls towards you out of the dash. It won’t move far as it’s connected to the control cables. Once you have it clear of the dash hole then turn it on its side (trough 90 degrees) so that it will fit back through the dash hole.

The only things holding in the dash now should be the wires to the speedo and tacho. The tacho just connects to a red/red 3 way connector somewhere in the mass of dash wiring, you will have to trace it back by running your hand along the cable. The speedo has a similar red\red 3 way connector and an earth lucar on the back of it which need to be disconnected. You don’t have to remove any of the lights in the back of these gauges as they are part of the dash harness which will come out with the dash.
It's probable that both the speedo and tacho wires are threaded through and around other wires, pipes, etc. You will have to free them out to remove the dash.

Best to have the roof down now to ease the lift out of the dash.

You will now be looking at the plastic heater casing with a plastic air inlet cover at the left hand end. If you ease around this cover with a Stanley knife (carefully please) then it will come off giving you access to the fan and motor. The motor is held in place by a steel clamp bracket with 2 posidrive screws. If you remove the screws and bracket and have already disconnected the electrical connector then you can pull the motor and fan assembly out through the air inlet, i.e. back into the passenger area of the car.

If you want to pull the heater itself back into the car to get to the front of it then you will have to take off the 2 footwell air duct tubes. Then the heater is held in place by 4 screws, 2 either side on the heater top flange going up into the dash topper. This will give enough flexibility to move the heater backwards without having to undo the heater water hoses.


You can see the 2 footwell heater duct tubes fixed to either end of the horizontal white plastic piece of waste pipe.

If you want to take the fan off the motor then place the unit, fan downwards, into a saucepan of boiling water for a few minutes. Then pull the fan off the motor.

Re-assembly is the reverse of removal, as they say in the manuals. Enjoy.

If this doesn't cover what you want then please PM me and I will try to help you out further.

HTH

Bob

Bobhon

Original Poster:

1,057 posts

178 months

Saturday 23rd January 2010
quotequote all
Sorry I forgot to ask, can the powers that be make this a sticky please, if you think that it's a useful resource.

Bob

Gerald-TVR

4,896 posts

196 months

Sunday 24th January 2010
quotequote all
Hi Bob

Very interesting a useful resource, you might want to offer it to TVRGit for Sprint magazine.

If you want to make a topic 'sticky' or an FAQ you click on the report button just above a reply and ask the moderators. This generates an alert direct as they would probably miss a comment in a reply.

I have done this and asked that the topic is added to the FAQs

Bobhon

Original Poster:

1,057 posts

178 months

Sunday 24th January 2010
quotequote all
Gerald-TVR said:
Hi Bob

Very interesting a useful resource, you might want to offer it to TVRGit for Sprint magazine.

If you want to make a topic 'sticky' or an FAQ you click on the report button just above a reply and ask the moderators. This generates an alert direct as they would probably miss a comment in a reply.

I have done this and asked that the topic is added to the FAQs
Norman, thanks for the help with the sticky thing. I presumed that report was to identify something nasty. smile

Bob

Gerald-TVR

4,896 posts

196 months

Tuesday 26th January 2010
quotequote all
That as well

Barry S1

1,709 posts

188 months

Tuesday 26th January 2010
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My S1 heater is very noisy and burning smells come from
it but i think it will have to stay like that for now
taking the dash out looks a nightmare summer will soon be
here

Barry

The Stiglet

2,062 posts

193 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
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How much would you guys knock off the price of a car if the heater is broken?

Gerald-TVR

4,896 posts

196 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
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Gerald-TVR said:
Good guidance but that is an S2 the S3 dash is completly different -

Firstly look at this

http://www.gbsportscar.com/Dashboard%20Removal.htm

and these pics might help










mep12345

2,061 posts

200 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
quotequote all
Norm,

Could you email me those pics in full size please and I'll add them to my site with the S2 strip to show the S3 arrangement. Also send any others you think may help

Thanks

Mark

Gerald-TVR

4,896 posts

196 months

Thursday 15th April 2010
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Will do Mark

Top Gear TVR

2,244 posts

153 months

Monday 3rd October 2011
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you may also want to add these gems

1. easy way to drain the water out of the matrix


2. getting the matrix out of the box 1


3. getting the matrix out of the box 2