[mylesm]

I finaly decided to fix my heater, took out the entire dash... didn't even take me that long...


anyway, I traced the problem to the water control valve.... it had completely coroded apart.... after a few phone calls, I realized they were quite expensive... so I decided to just run a by-pass... but before I Did, I flushed out my heater core... with city water pressure, I let the water flow for 10 mins and the water comming out of the core was still brown and chunky.... god only knows how long that stale water's been in there.....


well after I did everything, I was expecting ONLY my heat to work... but.. to my surprise the AC still works.... I guess that when the AC's on the air bypasses the core... which makes me wonder what the real point of that water control valve was, other than the auto temp control...

anyway.. my heater and AC works flawlessly now, and it didn't cost me a dime... so for those of you debaiting on just running a bypass around that valve, go for it! your not gona loose much!

 

[escanlon]

Myles;

Only thing to remember is that with the heater control valve bypassed you are ALWAYS heating the air that flows through it. As a result you may not get the cooling effect that your AC would normally give. Granted the valves are expensive, NEW, but you might check ZBarn, or some of the other boneyards around here and see what a replacement one would cost.

Granted this didn't cost you anything to fix, but fixing it RIGHT might give you years more enjoyment.

FWIW

 

[LovemyZ]

Question,
I just yesterday had to remove the cable to the valve your refering to.
This car has not been driven in 15yrs.
My valve is nasty looking, Can you tell me what the valve I felt in the back was for?
I lubed the thing up and it could feel a lever in the back, I could not see it.,
Also I remove the box and moved the air condensior out of the way, I cant see how to get the heater core out? Were are the screws that hold it in. I have the
blower out and its housing.
You could install A valve on the heater hose under the hood and in the summer
open it and the winter close it.....
Just a brain fart.
Terry

 

[escanlon]

Re: Water Control Valve

The main Heater Control Box sits on top of the transmission hump. On it's right hand side is the entry for the hoses leading to the heater core. There are two hoses, one goes directly back to the engine compartment and the other one goes to the water control valve, and then a second small hose connects the valve to the heater core.

The cable you disconnected connects to the lever and pulls / pushes the lever to allow the heated coolant to flow through the heater core. I'm not aware of a second valve back there, but since you had A/C there might be something needed for that that I'm not aware of.

To remove the main heater box, I found it easier to remove the dash and all the hoses connected to the box. Then there are a couple bolts to the firewall and two to the hump. Now that the box is out, you can disassemble the right hand side cover. There are several sheet metal screws going around the covers lip. Before you will be able to get the cover off, you'll have to disconnect the arm connected to the room heat door on the passenger side. By the way, be careful removing the plastic tube connecting the fan housing to the heater box, this one is EXTREMELY THIN plastic and as old as it is WILL be BRITTLE / FRAGILE.

Once you can get the cover off, you'll be able to slide the core out. It may be stuck in there, the core has foam padding glued to it that may have melted / fused to the housing. It is a tight fit even without the foam insulation so don't despair, just DON'T yank on the tubes. If really stuck, use a flat 1" to 1.5" spatula on the sides of the core and gently push it in and break away the insulation to free the core. Once you can pull it out, you can either replace it, or take it to a radiator shop and have them do their thing.

Hope this helped.

OH; heh heh, Installation is the reversal of removal.
(I've always "loved" that line in the Haynes manual as if that answered everything.)