Re: heat all the time

[Kneale Brownson <knotnook@traverse.com>]

There's a control valve for water going to the heater, Paul, and the cable
from the lever in the dash that adjusts heater output is failing to shut
off the water flow completely.  The valve is plumbed into the water hoses
in the engine compartment, sort of behind and below the distributor.  The
cable comes through the firewall on the driver side and crosses in front
of/below the brake master cylinder, etc.  If you look in the valve area
with the adjustment lever set for cold, you'll see a shiny bit of solid
wire sticking out of the end of a cable.  There's probably a slight bow in
it, which means the control lever is not closed totally.  You probably will
see that the control lever is not quite up against a stop in the top of the
valve housing.  If you push on the shiny wire to reduce the bow, or just
push on the lever arm to close the gap at the stop, the hot water will stop
going to the heater core.  Next time you need heat, however, you'll
probably get the same thing resuiting.  I'm guessing the valve is a bit
sticky and the wire in the cable is a bit tired.  Seems that way on mine,
anyway.  The fix probably is to replace the valve and then, if it still
won't close properly, replace the cable.  My fix is to close the valve
manually for the summer.  The rest of the adjustments work well enough for
the winter.

Good luck, Kneale. 



At 10:19 AM 6/29/99 -0400, Paul Quick wrote:
>My 85 4k quattro blow heat all the time through the lower vents.  Since
>I am already without air conditioning, this makes for a most
>uncomfortable ride on hot days.  Does anybody know a quick fix for this?
>
>
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Paul
>