Climate controls

Good evening everyone. Almost embarrassed to ask this one, what the heck, here goes. My 1982 did not come with an owners manual, soooooo, here is my million dollar question. What is each of the 3 climate control levers do exactly? The first one is for defrost, I get that one. The second one has a white triangle symbol, what is it for? The third one is a blue triangle and I imagine that is heat, but which way? The reason it is so difficult for me to figure out is that my heat is on no matter which one I move. May be someone can also let me know how to fix that. Thanks in advance and cheers,

Damien




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Easy...

The top one opens the flap on the bottom of heater box allows heated air out into the footwells when you slide away from the defrost symbol. When you slide toward defrost it shuts flap forcing more air up through vent center dash. The red triangle controls heater valve, located lower RT corner of heater box in passenger footwell this side of pond. Push toward wide end = more open small end = less open to shut. The bottom one opens a fresh air flap which allows air in through the void in front of windscreen... same as the heat/red toward wide part for open toward point for shut. They are in no way connected so you can have all heat no fresh air or all heat and all fresh air or any combination. Everything is controlled by cables and if they get wet and rust the levers are hard to slide to the point they may break. Last part of the climate control system are the vents on the outside corners of dash slide to green box is open away is shut... allows fresh air in. I have had all sorts of problems the older the car gets for example the heater valve will freeze open or shut and not move or right now mine is shut and the slider will move to no effect. The fresh air flap though not exposed to direct elements is under the vents between hood and windscreen and water does go there so it has been a problem on many of my cars. Hope this helps...
Regards

Heater cable or lever issue

Rocco covered the controls. :thumbsup:

The always on (or off) heat isn't uncommon. The valve can get stuck, which is indicated by the "red triangle" lever not moving. If the lever moves freely, but with no affect.... then the cable is broke/detached or worst case the lever itself is broken.

The good news about a stuck lever is that the cable and lever are still intact. If the lever is stuck, then you need to replace the valve to gain control of the heat again. The heater valve is accessed from the passenger foot well. It is not a fun job, but patience is the key.

If the lever moves easily and does nothing, I would think this indicates that the valve is stuck and someone tried to un-jam the valve by yanking the lever. If you are lucky, the cable just popped off the valve. It is held to the valve with a small screw. If you do get this lucky, reattach the cable... then go buy a Powerball ticket.

If the cable is attached to the valve, then it might have fallen out of the loop at the end of the lever, but more likely, the lever is broken. Either way, you will probably be in for some dash disassembly.

If you aren't in the mood for all this and just want a little control of the heat, measure the heater hose ID and find a ball valve to fit. Insert the ball valve in the heater hose in the engine bay and you can turn the heat off or on... inconveniently, but it's better than no control.

FWIW, the lowest lever, the one that opens or closes the scuttle inlet, I always have it open, if closed, there's no airflow and nothing does much.

Thanks guys. I was a little nervous to open up the responses today. Lol. Thanks for all the great info. Now I guess I have some work to do. Cheers,

PS - my triangle must to faded on the second lever, it is not red but white. Go figure.

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my triangle had also turned white, I used a permanent marker to "redden" it up , from the backside, when I was in there for something else, if you want it illuminated put the equivalent LED bulb in place of the other. It's hard to get to so another "while you're in there" thing
I have a sticky heater valve so my heat is always on, at least a little, which is a PITA in the summer heat, too lazy to throw in a ball valve so my bad. I had a brand new heater valve and gaskets in hand but thought I had fixed it so passed them on, dork.

jvandyke said:

my triangle had also turned white, I used a permanent marker to "redden" it up , from the backside, when I was in there for something else, if you want it illuminated put the equivalent LED bulb in place of the other. It's hard to get to so another "while you're in there" thing
I have a sticky heater valve so my heat is always on, at least a little, which is a PITA in the summer heat, too lazy to throw in a ball valve so my bad. I had a brand new heater valve and gaskets in hand but thought I had fixed it so passed them on, dork.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification, I will definitely colour it, from behind right? much appreciated. Just wondering how much coolant will exit out of the valve when replacing? Small Catch can maybe? When cold of coarse. Thanks again,


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Be prepared

Crusader said:

Thanks for the clarification, I will definitely colour it, from behind right? much appreciated. Just wondering how much coolant will exit out of the valve when replacing? Small Catch can maybe? When cold of coarse. Thanks again,


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Click to expand...

The hose connected to the valve comes from the head of the engine. You will get whatever coolant is above the heater core heading you way. The second time I did one of these valves I lined the PS floor with plastic and had an old towel on hand to mop up. The first time.... :tomato:

I may have siphoned coolant from the res tank as well, but I can't remember I did that for this valve or some other task.

JimD said:

The hose connected to the valve comes from the head of the engine. You will get whatever coolant is above the heater core heading you way. The second time I did one of these valves I lined the PS floor with plastic and had an old towel on hand to mop up. The first time.... :tomato:



I may have siphoned coolant from the res tank as well, but I can't remember I did that for this valve or some other task.

Click to expand...

Thanks Jim. Much appreciated. I am now getting to the smaller stuff on the restoration. Although frustrating, it is also very gratifying. Cheers,


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Before you go too far

if the heater valve is stuck try spraying some oil or lube of some sort on the valve itself. I know this sounds weird but mine was stuck about two years ago and this worked for me. Haven't had any issues since.

artz1731 said:

if the heater valve is stuck try spraying some oil or lube of some sort on the valve itself. I know this sounds weird but mine was stuck about two years ago and this worked for me. Haven't had any issues since.

Click to expand...

I will definitely give it a shot. Thanks again,


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Lens coloring; yes, backside as I recall but that was a while ago.
You can drain the head via the petcock under the exhaust manifold, hard to get to and maybe frozen shut and will break and make you mad but it's there for that reason I guess.
My stuck valve also free'd up after douses of PB Blaster and many weeks, now is very stiff again, should rehit it.

jvandyke said:

Lens coloring; yes, backside as I recall but that was a while ago.

You can drain the head via the petcock under the exhaust manifold, hard to get to and maybe frozen shut and will break and make you mad but it's there for that reason I guess.

My stuck valve also free'd up after douses of PB Blaster and many weeks, now is very stiff again, should rehit it.

Click to expand...

I am hoping that will free mine up too. The lever moves freely, so I guess I will need to see if it is broken or disconnected. I better start doing some stretch exercises as I am pretty sure you need to be a contortionist to get under there. Lol. Thanks again,


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I just learned something new. Always wondered why my heat related slider triangle was white. Apparently mine is faded too. Will have to color it red!

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Well, the verdict is in. Good news, bad news. The lever and cable are fine, however the heater valve is totally rusted and seized. Ordered a new one with gasket and O ring from Bayless. Also WD-40'd the upper flap and it is now smooth as butter. Thanks again for all the info. Cheers,


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Good evening everyone. Here are a couple of pics that may be helpful. The back side of the climate control panel shows red repainted areas. Cheers,




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Further up date. In the disassembly process I managed to break 2 lever knobs. In desperation as Bayless is out of stock, I tried Gorilla glue. I was not expecting any good outcome, however, they are on there solid. Time will tell if they last, so far I have punish tested them more the 30 times and holding beautifully. Will update as time goes on. Cheers,


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Yes those slider knobs were designed under the assumption that the flexibility of the plastic would overcome the fact that you have to bend the rear "fork" parts pretty far apart to get them off the inner levers.

30+ years later, plastic not so flexible!!!

I have seen it posted by others that heating them up a bit with a hair dryer helps them flex, especially if this job is being done in cold weather.


Henk Martens usually has them in-stock.
http://www.x19partsholland.nl/CATALOGUS/tabid/2470/ProdID/4674/CatID/654/language/en-US/Default.aspx

If you still have the faceplate off, try getting some glossy white model paint and paint the inner surface of the area surrounding the illuminating bulb....it will help "smooth out" the backlighting of the fan and temp ideogram.

Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:

Yes those slider knobs were designed under the assumption that the flexibility of the plastic would overcome the fact that you have to bend the rear "fork" parts pretty far apart to get them off the inner levers.



30+ years later, plastic not so flexible!!!



I have seen it posted by others that heating them up a bit with a hair dryer helps them flex, especially if this job is being done in cold weather.





Henk Martens usually has them in-stock.

http://www.x19partsholland.nl/CATALOGUS/tabid/2470/ProdID/4674/CatID/654/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Click to expand...

Thanks Dan. I will order a couple just in case. Cheers,


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