How To Rebuild A Heater Valve

[M3M3M3]

I have gone through a few heater valves.  guts break, replace whole valve with another used valve, repeat.  enough.

this time i bought a rebuild kit from BLUNTTECH.  why buy a new valve when the brass part does not wear out, the kit includes EVERYTHING but the brass shell.  rebuild is a VERY simple process.

 

so what do you need for this job?

old valve

rebuild kit

flat blade screwdriver

phillips head screw driver

7mm wrench

small pick

brass cleaner

dremel with wire wheel

 

NOTE - this is just the rebuild of the later "big" heater valves and does not include the removal or install of a valve.

 

the kit and the broken valve

 

remove two screw with flat blade, take cover off.

 

now use 7mm wrench to unbolt control arm from back

 

remove broken guts

 

old and new guts.  new looks much stronger.

 

very important part here.  main reason these valve fail (at least from all the ones i have taken apart) is that the inside of the valve corrodes in one spot becoming rough.  particulary true if the valve sits in one open or closed position for a long time.  the plastic guts then hang up on the corroded area of the shell and break.

 

clean the inside of the brass shell until nice smooth and shiny.  i used some 600grit and a dremel wire wheel to do this, then polished with metal polish like ibis or brasso.

 

now assemble the guts

 

don't forget the o-ring on shaft

 

i used a little teflon grease on all the parts.

 

assemble

 

now grab the cover.  remove old o-ring with pick

 

same cleaning and polish rule applies to cover

 

install new o-ring

 

okay now put cover on the valve.  note the position and alignment of the guts and the arrow on the cover.

 

use the new screws and lock rings to assemble (new parts are phillips heads)

 

put the control arm back on with 7mm wrench.  don't forget the little washer.

 

note position of arm and open/closed valve.  we are looking at the HEATER end of the valve in these picks.

 

 

 

DONE!   

bagged up and ready for install at a later date.

Edited December 15, 2013 by mlytle

[BLUNT]

Very nice Marshall

[Koblenz]

Beautiful!!!

 

I believe this is worthy of inclusion in the Met up in NYC.  A great DIY.  Is it archived?

[dbmw2002]

Two to go, please

[2002Targa]

Very nice.

Edited December 15, 2013 by 2002Targa

[yeewiz]

very nice indeed.  thanks for documenting this.  I've been procrastinating and am now inspired to tackle this job

[M3M3M3]

i just copied this to the articles section of the faq.  didn't notice i could have put it there in the first place!

[cbesing]

Blunt, thanks for the great rebuild kit. I want to make sure that the internal valve is a tight fit and a reasonable amount effort is required to turn the valve.

Btw, I cleaned and used superlube.

Chris

[rdeeble]

Marshall excellent write up thank you - Blunt excellent rebuild kit thank you!

[ric2002]

Marshall thank you very much for documenting the process.

I disassembled the original valve and your pictures helped me assemble it correctly.

 

 

[M3M3M3]

glad it helped!!

[Mike A]

Worthy of a Pulitzer Prize 

[Mjimport]

How NOT to rebuild a heater valve...

Seized up screws.

 

do they make an extractor for broken screw extractors??