Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 18:05:24 GMT
Reply-To: Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Heater Cable
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Volks -
It's been warmer in Moscow lately, so when I was coming back from getting
groceries, it was too warm in my '87 Westy. I reached for the heater
control slider, the second down from the top, and tried to move it from the
full right position back to the middle.
There was an instant of resistance, and then then, with a metal-on-metal
dragging feeling, it moved, but felt very strange, not like the normal
smooth slide. The heat didn't change, either.
When I got home, I took the ashtray out, and looked inside. The wire that
hooks to the slide handle was bowed up, pushing the end of the wire that
went through the handle down against the metal plate, which is where the
metal-on-metal feeling was coming from. By holding the wire down with one
hand, and pushing the slide handle with the other, I was able to move it
back and forth. If I didn't hold it down, moving the slider just bent the
wire.
I pulled the spare tire, and looked at the heater valve. The cable looks OK
at that end. I couldn't move the valve by hand with the cable attached, it
did move when I held things in place up top.
Looks like I need a new cable.
Should I check the heater valve before just replacing the cable?
Is this a common failure point? Is there something special about adjusting
it when it is installed? It looks like this cable is set up so there is
more wire exposed than is needed even when the slide handle is pushed all
the way to the left, so I wondered if that had left it open to more strain.
What's the best way to replace it? I can get at things through the ash
tray, and the rear heater control pops out, but I can't seem to get the
cover for the four slide controls off.
On the Bus Depot site, in the Heating and Cooling section, this is the only
thing that looks right -
Heater Cable, 83-92 Vanagon 7.99 251 265 473A
Does that sound like it? They are closed today, or I would ask them.
It's interesting that the other three slider cables aren't listed that I
could see. Is this the only one that commonly breaks?
Thanks for any suggestions. You folks have been a tremendous help over the
last year!
Mike Finkbiner
'87 Westy
Moscow, ID
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