Took the car out for the first long-ish drive of the spring last weekend and started smelling my old nemesis: coolant leaking When I had an X1/9, I used to drive around with 12L of pre-mix and enough spare hose to repair any two of the 4 main hoses, so I'm very familiar with the smell...
My heater control valve started leaking, so I'm going to need to replace it. I've read a number of posts about the replacement, but I could not find one that addresses how to hook up the control lever.
I have a "new style" control valve from the PO (ordered from Bayless in 1995). I'll need to order gaskets. The AR website talks about carefully bending the pipe to fit the new valve. Has anybody tried this without breaking it? Otherwise, I'll probably go the route of cutting it and connecting the two ends with a short length of hose.
I would really appreciate if somebody who has done this replacement could post a picture of how they hooked up the wire from the console control lever to the new valve. It seems like the new valve needs to be pushed open (and pretty hard, too) rather than pulled and I'm concerned the wire from the control lever will buckle.
Here's a picture of the valve I've got.
The replacement one looks just like the one on every parts suppliers website. For example:
https://autoricambi.us/collections/cool ... trol-valve
Also any advice on how to remove the valve from the heater core without ripping the stud off the heater core would be helpful.
Many thanks,
Tom
Heater Control Valve Replacement
- OttawaTom
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:49 am
- Your car is a: 1976 Fiat 124 Spider
- Location: Ottawa, ON
Re: Heater Control Valve Replacement
you can't bend that pipe without kinking it. I had new pipes made with the correct angle. I carry them as does AR
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- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2017 8:14 am
- Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000
Re: Heater Control Valve Replacement
We just went through this very issue of bending the pipe. I don't have any pics but we were successful at bending it without breaking it or linking it. Takes a lot of patience and a bit of heat from a torch and a vice. If you try this method be very careful not to bend the flange.
Recommendation...buy the one from Mark and keep your stress to a minimum. This was not easy to get the bends right so it fit properly.
Good luck.
Recommendation...buy the one from Mark and keep your stress to a minimum. This was not easy to get the bends right so it fit properly.
Good luck.
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- Posts: 550
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:45 am
- Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
- Location: Arvada, Colorado
Re: Heater Control Valve Replacement
I gave up on trying to bend the pipe on mine and got a nice new one from Mark. I don't recall having any issues with fitting the cable to the new valve. The new style valves turn on and off in the same direction as the original. In your original post it sounded like you were concerned the direction had changed?
Kirk
Kirk
- OttawaTom
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:49 am
- Your car is a: 1976 Fiat 124 Spider
- Location: Ottawa, ON
Re: Heater Control Valve Replacement
Thanks for the replies! I guess I'll go with a new pipe.
Kirk, do you think you could take a snap of your installation?
Thanks,
Tom
Kirk, do you think you could take a snap of your installation?
Thanks,
Tom