Heater control valve cross-reference/improved part?

[jawn101]

Ugh. Long story short Clint and I FINALLY got 2100 back on the road today, thanks to DPI Josh finding me a clutch. Car has been down almost 6 weeks. Everything is running and working great. I hit the road after Clint takes off to enjoy myself, and I suddenly notice the engine bay is filling with steam. Pulled over and the entire compartment is covered in coolant. Everything dripping. Opened the bottle and it's bone dry. Added some water and it just dumps right out the bottom. It's dark now and I can't see anything or get under the car. Tow trucks were called.

I get home, and 30 seconds of triage turns up a heater control valve that has sheared in half. This was a brand new valve (no more than 50 miles?) from a nameless vendor. That's a whole other story.

Is there a common cross reference part for this that Napa or Autozone etc might have? Maybe one that's all metal and not junk plastic that will break after 50 miles?

Good news though: the motor did not overheat, thanks to sheer luck, and no real damage done other than to my pride.



This is a photo of the part I mean. That's my original one which I removed, not the brand new broken one.

[vwdmc16]

So its not the T fitting, it was the valve? It must have blown because we cycled the heater and didnt when we installed weeks ago.

[jawn101]

Yep the valve itself went. I think there might have been stress put on it from the motor tilting back and forth, but the why isn't as important as the what to do next. I didn't like the plastic valve when I first got it and now I guess that apprehension was justified. I'd love something metal instead.

At least it explains the huge cloud of steam I got - the whole bottle's worth of coolant dumped right on the crossover pipe.

[Kevin]

Stevedmc replaced his with a heater valve from a 1980 Ford Bronco, $10 from Autozone.

Conversation starts here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?26...ll=1#post45045

[jawn101]

Stevedmc replaced his with a heater valve from a 1980 Ford Bronco, $10 from Autozone.

Conversation starts here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?26...ll=1#post45045

Aha. I knew I remembered someone having this same problem, figures that it would be Steve. My searches didn't turn anything up so I assumed I had read it on the .com forum.

I found a cross reference this morning as well, but mine was not $10 sadly. I hit O'Reilly first since they're the closest to my house. I ended up with a Murray 74798 out of a 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood, $36.99 (ouch, I know) - http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...4798/02708.oap

It's also plastic on the inlet end, but seems much thicker than the one I had from the unnamed vendor. Problem was that this vendor's assembly came with new hoses as well, and they were slightly smaller diameter than factory. Made fitting the valve a bit of a challenge but it did go in.

[stevedmc]

Stevedmc replaced his with a heater valve from a 1980 Ford Bronco, $10 from Autozone.

Conversation starts here: http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?26...ll=1#post45045

What he said. I've been running it for a while now with zero problems. The part is so cheap that I carry a spare with me. I've had two of the vendor heater control valves fail and zero failures with the Autozone part (knock on wood).

[vwdmc16]

Nice, a decent local cross reference part. have a picture of the failed one Jon?

[DMCMW Dave]

I'm curious - we've probably installed dozens, if not hundreds, of the NOS plastic units (Houston parts) without ever a problem (they are part of the overall cooling hose kit). I've only seen a couple of the originals "bad" on a car, and it is generally a pretty small drip, never a gross failure. Often kind of rusty looking, and maybe one that was stuck so as to be non-functional.

It is very odd to hear about multiple failures on one car.

[jawn101]

Yeah, here are some photos.


Here's all three valves. Far left is the new one from O'Reilly, top one is the original DMC, bottom is the failed piece of junk. Notice that the new one and the original one are very close in size and design, while the one that failed is much smaller. The plastic was a lot thinner as well. No wonder the DMC one lasted 30 some years and the "new" one failed in less than 2 months.


Here's the failed valve. Sheared right in half.

[stevedmc]

I'm curious - we've probably installed dozens, if not hundreds, of the NOS plastic units (Houston parts) without ever a problem (they are part of the overall cooling hose kit). I've only seen a couple of the originals "bad" on a car, and it is generally a pretty small drip, never a gross failure. Often kind of rusty looking, and maybe one that was stuck so as to be non-functional.

It is very odd to hear about multiple failures on one car.

Maybe NOS is better than the cross reference part a certain vendor sold me. Anyway, my Autozone part is still rocking strong. I wish I could fast forward a few years to see if I will still be bragging about it.