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Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:05 pm

1981 Air-Cooled Vanagon
4 Speed Manual, 2.0L FI

My vanagon has been doing great driving in the snow, but I can't seem to stop the cold air coming to my feet. No matter what configuration I put my heater levers in, it still comes. From what I've read on other searches, this air is fresh air coming in from the front grill. Is that correct? I'm thinking about simply blocking the grill off somehow. Would that fix my problem. I still get warm air from the defroster, but only cold near my feet. Help!!!

Also, one of my heater box cables broke last week when my Uncle and I changed my transmission. I want to lock the heater box to always let hot air in. Do I force the lever on the heater box to face towards the driver's seat, or towards the back of the van? I think my cables are hooked up wrong as well, because from everything I've read both of the heater boxes should be connected to the second lever, and I believe my left heater box (the broken cable one) is connected to the third lever?

Any help would be much appreciated. I think my feet may fall off if I don't fix this soon ;)

Thanks all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:13 pm

Put foam in the fresh air ducts. Get a couple of pieces of soft foam and jam it in the ducts, you can remove it when it warms up

Saftey wire the heaterboxes open, fix everything when it warms up

Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:34 pm

Are the fresh air ducts right under the plastic cover in front of the shifter? How do I know which ones they are?

Also, I would like to make the heater boxes open, but I'm not entirely sure how. Is it just an adjustment of the little lever where the cables connect to the heater boxes under the rear of the vehicle? If so, do I want the levers to be held towards the front of the vehicle (driver's seat), or let them fall to their natural position towards the rear of the vehicle (rear bumber)?

Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:06 pm

I know that this represents a real problem to you in this chilly weather. It's 'refreshing' (pun intended) as we so often (me too) hear about our burning feet in water cooled! There is a thread somewhere that explains the heat flow for an air cooled 'somewhere' in here. Solution Battery Socks. sorry couldn't resist.

Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:14 pm

I saw some of the threads that explained these things, but I'm still confused about the couple of questions I made in my last post :)

Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:29 pm

The natural posisition is closed , so tie them open at the heaterbox itself.
The hoses you want to seal are the tubes that run out of the heater box to the vents facing you on the end of the dash. Right above the fresh air hose on the heaterbox is the warm air distribitor lever, move that until your heat is where you want it

Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:34 pm

I think I know what you are referring to, but would it be possible to see some pictures if anyone has them in their gallery. I thought the hoses coming off of the heater boxes were what brought the heat to the front of the vehicle?

Thanks for clarifying what position I need to lock the heater box lever in.

Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:00 pm

hi. There are several threads about heat in A/C and I know they would help you clearly. All that I can recall (and I may be wrong!) is that the heat comes from the main salon on an air cooled and not the front vents which are just air vents. But again I may be wrong. Do you have a Bentley.

Perhaps in another day or two you will get some clear answers, everyone in the States is probably gobbling Turkey and watching football. I have a water cooled diesel. But its a vague memory!

Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:28 pm

Heat comes from a single tube at the bottom into the heaterbox, He was asking about stopping the cold air coming in from the fresh air vents.
Daizee read the whole post not just the last one and throwing in your 2 cents.

Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:43 pm

Back when I had my '82 and had to try to drive it through the Canadian winter the suggestion I got was to remove the front grill and stuff the foam in the fresh air scoop at the top of the grill opening. Very simple to get to.

Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:48 pm

Yeah, I've been finding blocking the air intake behind the grill to be a common choice... My concern with that is that from what I've read, the fan for the defroster uses the fresh air. Thus if I block it, no defroster...

Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:26 am

Without going to absurd lengths, you won't be able to block it completely enough to prevent the fan from pulling in some fresh air, but it's easy to block it enough to keep air from being rammed into the intake by forward movement. Just take off the plastic "screen" behind the upper grille, I cut small pieces of aluminum flashing roll that tuck into the recesses in the frame of the "screen". I've been blocking that screen as a matter of course for a couple years now, it doesn't diminish overall ventilation when you want it because it doesn't completely cover the vent opening, but lets you have some control over the ventilation instead of air always being forced thru the system when the van is rolling.

For the well-meaning commentors, my airboxes have vent flaps that close tight and the foam is in good repair. It's just that this system scoops up so much ram air that it easily overwhelms the ability of the flaps to block it at road speeds, and when all flaps are closed the noise level in the van goes up instead. So the solution is to stop the problem at the source. The aircooled engine version is somewhat different but it should benefit even more by limiting the ingress of ram air overwhelming the feeble feed of warmed air from the engine.

Fri Nov 26, 2010 1:15 pm

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:29 am

I shouldn't have chuckelled at you. Now my front heater blower fan has quit! I'll be using two 12 V oscillation fans and a 12V heated seat/back cushion. Hope you get your problem straightened out or that you can inovate something that works.

Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:49 am

DAIZEE wrote: I shouldn't have chuckelled at you. Now my front heater blower fan has quit! I'll be using two 12 V oscillation fans and a 12V heated seat/back cushion. Hope you get your problem straightened out or that you can inovate something that works.

Do you honestly think its a good idea to run all this 12V stuff. Your wiring system is questionable to say the least. Even a short blast of a 12V heater could be enough to tax your system beyond repair.

As much as you like your Van, your going to fuck it up way beyond any wizards ability to ever be able to fix it again. Sell everything you dont need...get a part time job stuffing envelopes and save up the money to have it fixed properly. Get it!!!!!!

Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:38 pm

No it is not my intent to run all at once. I'd use the fans IF I needed the windshield cleared and I wouldn't use the heated seat/back unless I needed it. I dress warmly and like my environment coolish and I don't expect to be using it much depends on the snow. But yes I will watch my useage. Have new wired in 12V outlet which I believe goes straight to the newly properly wired battery. Thanks for the heads up.

Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:45 pm

One of the benefits of the un-aerodynamic shape of the vanagon is that a lot of air can get pushed through the air intake and through the heater core without the need of a fan. At any speed over about 10km/h there is adequate flow to keep the windshield clear and heat circulating. I don't drive my vdubaru n the winter unless the roads are absolutely dry, but on the times I have, just a warm jacket and the heat coming through from the heater core keeps us warm as long as we're moving. I don't think I've ever turned my front blower motor on. If a bit more circulation is needed to keep a windshield clear EG. I just open the driver's wing window a bit.