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Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:43 am

Does anyone know how to fix/replace the heater valve in a vanagon? This thing is frying my feet and it isn't even summer yet!

Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:47 am

if you remove the spare. Gaze up into the tunnel above where it sat. You will see the heater valve. The easiest fix is to ensure it is actually closing all the way. They come out of adjustment, and the wire cable sheath get gunkey with age. spay it down with LPS2 or Triflow to lubricate it. You can reach up and manually push it to the fully closed position. You can adjust the cable position to ensure it goes into the closed position on either end you loosening the clamp and extending the sheath out a bit.

Just making sure you get it to the closed position will make most of the problem go away. While you are down there put some stick on foam/aluminum insulation on the tunnel side near your foot. A lot of heat comes through the metal from the hot air rushing down the tunnel from the radiator. VW actually released a Service Bulletin to insulate that tunnel from the heat.

Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:38 am

The cable often gets bent nearly double right where it connects to the control lever and you can not shut the heater valve because of it. If this is your problem you need to pull the lever cluster out from the dash to work on it. If you shorten the inner wire some and move the sheath over a bit it will work better.

This is how it comes from the factory, note that on this rig the wire has previously been bent and straightened.

This is the same rig with the inner wire shortened so that the sheath sticks out further giving more support to the wire. You may want to bend the bracket where the clamp is to make the cable run smoother as well. The tab where the wire connect was also bent up slightly to give clearance for the sheath.

.

Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:06 am

Also, do check out the heater valve cable reataining clip at the vale.
They are known to rust out, or don't hold the cable very well and shutting the valve down is impossible.

Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:22 pm

Thanks for such a quick response. This forum is great. I'll do what you suggested and let you know how it works

Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:50 am

just wanted to add my $0.02 to this discussion. i did this repair yesterday...maybe it was because of the state of mind i was in, i don't know - but this was one of the few repair jobs i've done so far on my westy that made me want to weep.

nothing like being under the van, head resting on the spare tire, coolant falling on my face and running down my arms, reaching two hands into an impossibly small space, trying to unhook and redo heater hoses and a stupidly designed spring clip on a stupidly designed cable on a stupidly placed valve.

it led me to think - if it ever goes out again, i'm going to find a longer length of similar cable, and move the whole valve down on the hose to somewhere reachable.

well. thanks for letting me vent.

Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:26 am

iiigoiii wrote:
nothing like being under the van, head resting on the spare tire, coolant falling on my face and running down my arms, reaching two hands into an impossibly small space, trying to unhook and redo heater hoses and a stupidly designed spring clip on a stupidly designed cable on a stupidly placed valve.

it led me to think - if it ever goes out again, i'm going to find a longer length of similar cable, and move the whole valve down on the hose to somewhere reachable.

well. thanks for letting me vent.

Just a thought (albeit late for you ;) )

If you hadn't done this, a clamp on each of the heater hoses might have helped :)

I converted from air cooled to water cooled. I haven't connected the old "air cooled" cable to the heater valve, and haven't thoroughly thought it through, but I figure I might run a small steel rod from valve lever up through the heater core hose hole, to just under the dash. A bit kludgy to use, but a "straight line". No cables.

Cheers,

Neil.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:33 am

I have a nice set of hose clamp pliers that I install on the heater hose under the dash. When winter comes, then I remove them. These are the nice friction fit no-damage pliers. All the vanagons I have had always let enough water through even closed, to make that area blow warm air.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:01 am

iiigoiii wrote: just wanted to add my $0.02 to this discussion. i did this repair yesterday...maybe it was because of the state of mind i was in, i don't know - but this was one of the few repair jobs i've done so far on my westy that made me want to weep.

nothing like being under the van, head resting on the spare tire, coolant falling on my face and running down my arms, reaching two hands into an impossibly small space, trying to unhook and redo heater hoses and a stupidly designed spring clip on a stupidly designed cable on a stupidly placed valve.

it led me to think - if it ever goes out again, i'm going to find a longer length of similar cable, and move the whole valve down on the hose to somewhere reachable.

well. thanks for letting me vent.
I've had 8 water cooled Vanagons. I know what you mean about hard to reach, but I've only actually changed one of the seven that is a water boxer. The eighth one is a diesel from 1982 and it is completely different. the valve is inside, just below the heater core itself. Sweet, you don't really even need the cable hooked up at all, I can easily reach it with my hand while driving. And I can SEE if it is completely off. I heard they went through this change to make it safer, but it's hard to believe the early setup is very unsafe. Just an example of how some IMPROVEMENTS aren't.
Al