Replacement heater valve issues

[Malcolmr]

Andy. When you fit the new valve and set it up, it is not sufficent to just have the ignition on. You need to have the engine running as well. With the ignition on, and the temp set to lo, the valve actuator motor will turn clockwise when viewed from the left hand side of the car (which is actually opening the valve). If you turn the ATC control to hi, the valve will rotate 90 degrees anticlockwise (which is turning the valve off). But.... if you do exactly the same thing with the engine running, it will do the reverse. You may find that the reason it is not turning now is because it can't turn any further.

By the time I worked this out, I had completely lost the plot with where the actuator settings were, so I ended up taking the actuator off the valve and putting 12v over the motor pins until I was happy with where it was. I also marked off and on on the drive disc so I didn't forget next time.

I'm still playing with mine as the car is not cold enough in the summer and sometimes is still blowing hot air despite a lo setting.

Malcolm

[WNJ516]

I agree with Malcoms theory and have experienced a similiar "fault" ,and changed motors and valves to get over it, i think i have read on this forum that indeed you do need the engine running and set it up as malcom suggests and all should be OK

[Klaus]

Andy. When you fit the new valve and set it up, it is not sufficent to just have the ignition on. You need to have the engine running as well. With the ignition on, and the temp set to lo, the valve actuator motor will turn clockwise when viewed from the left hand side of the car (which is actually opening the valve). If you turn the ATC control to hi, the valve will rotate 90 degrees anticlockwise (which is turning the valve off). But.... if you do exactly the same thing with the engine running, it will do the reverse. You may find that the reason it is not turning now is because it can't turn any further.

By the time I worked this out, I had completely lost the plot with where the actuator settings were, so I ended up taking the actuator off the valve and putting 12v over the motor pins until I was happy with where it was. I also marked off and on on the drive disc so I didn't forget next time.

I'm still playing with mine as the car is not cold enough in the summer and sometimes is still blowing hot air despite a lo setting.

Malcolm

Same pain to me. After having fitted the new valve and checked working ok, it´s blowing hot air despite LO on panel. Battery off during my car in workshops for weeks brought no gain.

[Malcolmr]

Same pain to me. After having fitted the new valve and checked working ok, it´s blowing hot air despite LO on panel. Battery off during my car in workshops for weeks brought no gain.

Peter - during the hot Aussie summer, I find the best solution is to clamp off the bottom heater hose in the plennum (or better still, fit a manual tap so you can close off any flow of coolant into the heater matrix. It is the bottom hose which takes the hot coolant into the matrix when the three way valve is opened. Clamping it is the only sure way of keeping hot coolant out of the heater itself. You could clamp the middle hose, the one that comes from the right hand head on the engine, but you then restrict coolant flow to the other head which may have adverse consequences.

When autumn comes, I take off the clamp and let the ATC unit do what it thinks is best! In winter I also turn off the aircon compressor.

I am still working on seeing if I can move all the pipe work and the heater tap to somewhere outside the plennum to help keep the car cool in summer. There is a lot of very hot rubber pipe and metal work in the plennum which must add a few degrees to the incoming air! One of the collective recommended lagging it all, and in the end, that might be the easiest solution.

[Herman]

Not sure the pipe work is the issue in the summer.
The engine generates a lot of heat and that has to go somewhere.
Also the changed tunnel which puts the bell-housing almost in the cabin is not a big help.

I'm sure you'll get a bit of improvement insulating the pipes (or re-routing) but doubt whether it will sort the problem.

Let us know how you get on............

[WNJ516]

I think it's a design problem, i have fitted a new valve the heater hose from the valve was next to cold and I still had heat from the vents, i then fitted an internal non-return valve to the heater matrix return line, before it joins the valve bypass hose , this makes some diffrence but i still get slightly warm air which is a good improvement to as it was.
I have just had the aircon regassed and now i get cold air. but i have it in mind to change the valve position and type of valve, but i don't think it will get much better.
The air temp after regassing struggles to get lower than 3.9C but was better than 8.0C before, so the system is too small and the reasons that VMax 1000 gave, but every little improvement helps.

[Malcolmr]

Wow! 3.9C - that's very cold. Is that from the face level vents? Mine struggles to get below about 12C there! I might revisit the regassing process. I assume the Viseton FS10 unit that comes with the engine is good enough for all its Ford applications, so what is it about our cars that makes it "struggle"? Even with the car design issues that Herman points out, the input to the cabin from the aircon should be industry standard cold to begin with.

[Herman]

Wow! 3.9C - that's very cold. Is that from the face level vents? Mine struggles to get below about 12C there! I might revisit the regassing process. I assume the Viseton FS10 unit that comes with the engine is good enough for all its Ford applications, so what is it about our cars that makes it "struggle"? Even with the car design issues that Herman points out, the input to the cabin from the aircon should be industry standard cold to begin with.

Lots of engine heat, slightly leaking valve, water based HVAC, smaller condensor unit..............where to start?

I don't think industry standard applies

Malcolm, down under clamping the heater hose might just be the best thing