Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 02:49:32 EDT
Reply-To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Hot air from the dash? (how to fix it)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I couldn't sleep tonight so I wrote this up for folks. I will be posting it
to me website tomorrow. Any input/criticism welcomed.
How-to stop heat from coming out of the lower vents- by Ken Wilford
You just bought your van and you are ready for a great summer of fun. Your
A/C is recharged or you are ready to crank down those windows and use the
2-60 A/C (2 windows at 60 mph :) when you feel that something isn't quite
right. You head is cool but your feet are warm, no downright hot! Hot air is
coming out of the lower vents in your 82-91 watercooled Vanagon (diesel
included). What do you do?
Your problem could be:
1. Your heater valve isn't closing all the way (linkage is broken or out of
adjustment).
2. Your heater valve is leaking (it is closed but you are still getting hot
air).
The first step is to see what is going on. Put the heater valve in the full
closed position (2nd lever down, and move it all the way to the left). Now
check the position of the lever on the valve. The diesel Vanagons have the
valve conveniently located behind the glove box. Simply open the glove box
and allow it to flop to the floor and you will see it. The waterboxer
Vanagons have this valve less conveniently located under the van over the
spare tire. Remove the spare tire and crawl under on your back. Now look up.
See it?
The lever should be all the way at the end of its travel. Try to move the
lever with your hand. If it moves some more then your linkage is either out
of adjustment or bent (happens alot). If it feels like it could move more but
the cable is holding it back then the linkage is out of adjustment. You can
temporarily move the valve to the shut off position and if this stops the
heat then you will not have heat until the next time you move the lever and
then the heat will remain on again. This is a temporary fix as you don't want
to have to crawl around under the van every time you want to shut off the
heat.
How do you adjust your linkage? Remove the instrument cluster. You will see a
screw holding a clip which in turn holds the cable that goes to your heater.
Put the heater valve at full closed. Loosen the screw and move the cable
housing (black rubber) until you take up the slack in the cable (may take
some experimenting to get this right) and retighten the screw. Now move the
slider to full heat and back again. Did your valve move to full closed? If so
then you have fixed your problem. If not then try again and if you cannot fix
it then your cable is probably bad (bent in the past).
If you see that your cable is bent then this is obviously your problem and
you should stop fooling around and buy a new cable as the bent one will never
be right again.
If everything seems to be moving and closing properly, and you still have
heat, then the valve is leaking internally and must be replaced. Use a couple
of small wood clamps and some pieces of plastic or wood to clamp the hose
before and after the valve (to keep coolant loss to a minimum). Now remove
the old valve and put in the new one (hook the linkage before you install the
valve on the hoses as this is easier).
Test linkage and adjust if neccessary. Voila, c'est fini!
Now you can happily drive across the US without your toe hair becoming singed
:)
I have the parts to do this work available:
Heater valve is PN 171819809E and costs $7
Heater valve control cable is PN 251265473A and costs $10
Buy these parts at our on-line store or by calling us.
I hope this is helpful to folks!
Ken Wilford
Van-Again
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Office: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242
