Question for those who have worked on their automatic heating control...

LeeH · 01-24-2002, 07:56 PM

I love this bulletin board! No heat in cabin. Do research. Learn about system. Trouble shoot system. Fix system. Lots of heat!

One hour researching and one hour working and it's all better. The problem was that the rod had come off of the actuator in the heater control box next to the parking brake. When I took everything apart I could barely move the lever that controls the heater box cables. It was very stiff. After working the cable lever back and forth I sprayed WD40 on everything that moved inside and underneath the car.

After working the rod back and forth it was much easier to move. However, it still seemed stiff to me. Can anyone tell me how much effort is needed to move the cable on a healthy system. The actuator is able to close the heater boxes now, but I don't want to damage it should the system need more work (like new cables).

wckrause · wckrause's Garage

The springs on the flapper boxes are pretty stiff. If you're pulling on the cables by hand (without a lever), I'd say they're pretty hard to move. The actuator inside the auto unit has a lot of strength so I don't think you'll have any problems.

Roy M · 01-24-2002, 11:28 PM

Not sure if I've got right what you are doing but have you tried taking the cable off the heater control valves (the things the cables are attached to) to see how free they are - mine are very easy to move by hand. This is the only area I can think of (except for cable problems) which could cause any stiffness.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Bill is correct; cables are stiff when working as they should.

Jorgeman · Jorgeman's Garage

LeeH--I just recently had mine apart. Similar problem to yours. My pullrod had failed--pulled the threads off one end. I also cleaned and lubed the cables and heater box slide valves and found the lever to be pretty hard to move even after everything was oiled. Repaired the pullrod and it has been working fine since. As someone said, those are pretty hefty return springs! I had done without heat for about six years and finally bit the bullit and fixed it.

george 86T

Siena911 · 01-25-2002, 03:10 AM

Hi

glad to see I am not the only one trying to get the heating sorted out. I have got my heater control box (from between seats) off and the actuator arm has come off. I have cleaned it all up and repaired the two switches, position 0 and DEF.

Can anyone tell me if they can move their actuator arm by hand. It seems to be fairly heavily geared (obviously to open and close the flapper boxes). So I think thats ok.

Anyway I took her out this morning to work and there is definitely more heat than before I started, so I am halfway there, mine is very stiff and I need to look underneath to check that both flapper boxes are OK, I have a suspicion that one of them is not opening, jammed, rusted or all three.

Anyway

Here's to heat

Jakes

LeeH · 01-25-2002, 06:20 AM

I don't think you'd be able to move the actuator arm by hand if it's hooked up the the servo. Heck, I could barely move it when the servo end was free! It almost felt hydraulic... ie a lot of effort resulted in slow, steady movement.

From everything I read I bet your heater box doors just need adjusting. Mine still do, but they're impossible to reach without jacking up the car. I say mine need adjusting simply because they didn't close all the way, but it got uncomfortable warm in my car pretty quick so I'll probably deem the problem solved.

alexhay · 07-16-2004, 09:02 AM

My passenger side heat won't turn off on my 88 carerra. wat do you recommend I do?

Rondinone · 07-16-2004, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alexhay
My passenger side heat won't turn off on my 88 carerra. wat do you recommend I do?

Your heater flapper box is stuck shut. It's just in front of your right rear tire, up against the body. Some light oil (not wd-40, but real oil) might free it up. It works by opening up a circular valve which dumps heat at the back of the car rather than piping it up front.

alexhay · 07-16-2004, 09:39 AM

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll take a look at it this weekend. I have another quick question for you, my third brake light (mounted on the lower rear window does not work. Where does the wire connect to (left or right side brake light?)

Wil Ferch · 07-16-2004, 09:45 AM

BTDT..same question on force required.

See here:

Auto heat troubleshooting

--Wil

Rondinone · 07-16-2004, 04:34 PM

Can't help you, my car's a 79! Post that as a new topic, somebody will know.

Quote:

Originally posted by alexhay
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll take a look at it this weekend. I have another quick question for you, my third brake light (mounted on the lower rear window does not work. Where does the wire connect to (left or right side brake light?)

alexhay · 07-17-2004, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rondinone
Your heater flapper box is stuck shut. It's just in front of your right rear tire, up against the body. Some light oil (not wd-40, but real oil) might free it up. It works by opening up a circular valve which dumps heat at the back of the car rather than piping it up front.

I checked both flapper boxes and they open & close correctly. Could it be the motor on the passenger side footwell?

lparker · 07-17-2004, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alexhay
I checked both flapper boxes and they open & close correctly. Could it be the motor on the passenger side footwell?

I just went through this a few months ago. For mine, the springs on the flapper boxes were a bit rusty. After applying generous amounts of WD40 and separating the rusty parts with a flathead screwdriver, i was able to get the boxes to open and close freely. Check to see that your flapper boxes close fairly easily. If they do then it is either the motor or the wire which leads to the flapper box. It's easy to check to see if the motor works. Just turn on the accessories and turn the climate control knob all the way up and see if the arm starts moving. Also, you should be able to hear that motor whirring.

alexhay · 07-17-2004, 12:31 PM

I did clean up the boxes and they opened and closed very easily. I know there's a fuse on the motor on the motor inside the car and that seems fine as well. my a/c is not working so as you can imagine, having a slight steady flow of hot air coming out here in Los Angeles SUCKS!

lparker · 07-17-2004, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alexhay
I did clean up the boxes and they opened and closed very easily. I know there's a fuse on the motor on the motor inside the car and that seems fine as well. my a/c is not working so as you can imagine, having a slight steady flow of hot air coming out here in Los Angeles SUCKS!

Why not just close the flapper boxes for the Summer. You could just detach the motor arm and push that metal lever towards the front of the car. Assuming the wire is connected to the flappers then that should do it.

alexhay · 07-17-2004, 07:25 PM

The problem with that is the heat comes out with the boxes closed.

lparker · 07-17-2004, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alexhay
The problem with that is the heat comes out with the boxes closed.

Right...oops...i meant keep them open.

alexhay · 07-18-2004, 03:52 PM

I took the fuse out of the motor behind the footwell and moved the red lver all the way to the right and the heat has stopped. I guess I'm not going to second guess why that worked, I'll just enjoy it!