Heater Valve question

[zipptie]

Last part of the heater box rebuild on my '76 is putting the heater valve back on. I did not take good detailed pictures before removing it so this is what I get.

Putting the valve back on with the lever it seems that the valve stays close more often than open. With the lever slid all the way to "HEAT" there is a plastic door that seals the hole. When the lever is half way between "HEAT" and "COLD" the valve is open the most (with the small plastic door blocking the bottom. and the lever at "COLD" the black plastic door is closed.

I have pictures that are not the greatest to show this. My question is WTF?????? is this really the design of this valve or (more than likely) am I just not getting this right?

The pictures go as follows:

Lever at "HEAT"

Lever in between "HEAT" and "COLD"

Lever at "COLD"

[cthtii]

In regard to your pics...(If I remember correctly)

Lever set to "HEAT"= Valve full open to allow coolant (warm) to reach heater core in order to create warmest air inside car.

Lever set in between= valve partially open allowing some coolant flow into heater core=less heated air than at fully open position.

Lever set to "COOL"=Valve fully closed not allowing any coolant to flow into heater core=Cool (ambient) air flow into interior.

[Chris_B]

Looks like you may have the valve mounted upside down. Observe the arrow on the outside of the valve. It should be pointing toward the rear of the box (in the direction of coolant flow...).

[Mike Self]

mounted correctly. If you have it the wrong way, you'll have hot air when the lever is set to cold and cold air when it's set to hot. If you're not sure which way the lever goes, look at another car, or a pix in the shop manual...Ask me how I learned this!

mike

PS--on the late cars, the heater valve has a tiny hole in the black plastic control valve to allow a little coolant flow even when the valve is turned off--this keeps coolant circulating in the heater during the summer....

[TobyB]

And it's possible to mount the lever 90 degrees off, turning it past 'closed' to

'wide open' again.

As it goes from 'hot' to 'cold' it should meter the

water closed, until there's just a little slot passing water through.

I don't think you should ever see that flat cutoff- looking bit...

t

[PeterVarga]

i took apart a broken heater valve and the inner valve member

and the outer valve member had delaminated. resulted in

no flow ie. closed most of the time. if you can, remove the

brass screws on the housing and make sure that the inner vanes

are moving in sync. then make sure your activator arm is

coordinated with the inner workings of the valve.