Heater Probs...New owner....

[Throttlechop]

Just fixed mine today. Thank you to this site for making this thread.

My car no heater problems fixes:

1) Burped radiator, yes, air inside.

2) Tore apart glovebox/kick/and also removed stereo panel with HVAC dials.

3) RED CABLE =

a) Was disconnected at knob (dial). Could access easy thru stereo hole. At the end of the cable is a small coiled section of the cable. Had to "pinch" down the coil to let it fit snug on the dial "knub" that it slides onto. In standard coil, it would just fall off, as "knub" was worn smaller.

b) After messing with dial-end of the cable, I went after the other end (yellow lever). It was un-clipped fron the plenum box. Re-clipped, drilled a .025" hole right thru the yellow sheath clip, and threaded a PK screw right thru the yellow clip and the plenum box. Good.

c) Re-attached the metal lever/cable clip to the yellow plenum arm. Cycled 50 or so times, no problems.

Now = HEAT!!! Thank you!!!


It was a very easy job, the hardest part is removing the 3 legged floor diffuser duct, which is a pain. Everything else was very simple.

You should stick a self tapping screw into the yellow sheath stop no matter what when you are in there.

[PHL]

Any hints on getting the 3 legged floor diffuser duct back in? The back end of the next to the bowden cable gets caught on the lip of the air duct and I can not pull the diffuser duct any lower. Do I have to remove the entire dash?

[redhottaudrey]

PHL, good luck with that. It took forever to get it back in place but I didn't have to remove the dash.

For anyone else that's having problems with the yellow tab: I fixed mine by securing the cable in place with thin wire.

Sorry, the pic is fuzzy but hopefully that will help.

[IMG][/IMG]

[PHL]

Thanks, I did eventually get that air duct back in without removing the dash. Make sure you check your vent control knob before buttoning everything up. I didn't and could only turn the knob 180 degrees. But the heat must have softened up the plastic and the offending edge popped back into its rightful place.

Check my album for the heater fix photos.

[budget76]

I'm another posting up that the cable was disconnected. Drove up to northern VT , 8hr trip, with ZERO heat. The windows froze over INSIDE the car. NOW I HAVE HEAT AGAIN!!! THANKS GUYS.

I had planned on pulling and flushing the heater core/valves. Can't believe it was something this simple

[briansol]

just did this...

my switch/cable is functioning fine unfortunately

car gets to near 12 oclock on the thermo when parked and heat is 'warm' but not hot... but once moving, it drops to 10oclock and the heat goes with it from warm to luke warm.

i topped off the coolant (was about a cup low) and bled it out... no difference.


as for the plastic hose- what a PITA. spent nearly an hour trying to get that back on. It worked best to get on when the selector was straight down (feet/vent blend).

[budget76]

Hmm, sorry to hear it wasn't the easy cable. Next step I'd take is throwing a new thermostat in.

As for the hose, am I the only one that had NO problem getting it back in? It took me literally 30 seconds. I just popped it right back. Can't be too gentile, it's not a fragile piece

[Criswell]

I just bled my cooling system, b/c im having basically the same issue. "barely warm at idle, fairly warm at cruising speeds."

Bleeding mine seemed to help, but i still want to take apart my dash to check things out in there.

I removed all the screws in the glove box, save for the bottom left corner. I couldnt get at it with a screwdriver.

I wasnt sure if i pressed down on the back side of the plastic "archs" (that keep the lid from dropping flat against the knee bolster) if it would allow me to flip the glove box lid all the way down so it would all be easy to get at or not. I tried a little bit, but i didnt want to get to forceful and end up breaking soemthing by doing soemthing i should have (maybe) never tried in the first place.

So, my question is, is that the correct way to do it or not ?

(pressing down on plastic arch's to get the lid to come out of its "fixed" open position and flip it down the rest of the way.)

Also, what are all the plastic "buttons" for. Theres one between the door and the far right of the dash, and theres 2 on the bottom side. 1 is right by the screw in the lower left corner, and theres another on the right side opposite the left one.

[budget76]

cris, maybe try a stubby screwdriver? I was able to get at the bottom screws with one.

Also, those plugs sound like where I have screws? It sounds like that's just how the dash is held on. Good luck

[briansol]

go in by the radio on an angle.
/
i guess

its the eaiest way to get that screw out.

the buttons are just cosmetic screw caps to hide the screws.

[briansol]

go in by the radio on an angle.
/
i guess

its the eaiest way to get that screw out.

the buttons are just cosmetic screw caps to hide the screws.

[Will'sBimmer]

Just fixed mine for good. I had gone back there twice before and just put the clip back in. But after a few turns it just keeps popping back out. So I went in there today for the third or fourth time to fix this thing for good. So I tried to drill a hole first but the drill bit couldn't reach. I tried to drill a screw in by hand but it broke part of the yellow clip. So with the clip in place I zip-tied the cable to the same metal bracket that redhotaudrey used. Worked the cable back and forth about 40 times and the clip never did come out of place. So problem solved and hopefully I will never have to go back there again. Going to sit back in the car today and enjoy the warmth.

[Criswell]

Originally Posted by briansol

go in by the radio on an angle.
/
i guess

its the eaiest way to get that screw out.

the buttons are just cosmetic screw caps to hide the screws.

I forgot to repost my update. All I needed a screwdriver with a longer shank, then i was fine. My handle kept bumping it when i tried it before. I still havnt had a chance to pull the box off, but i pulled out the glove box and reinforcement bar as a trial run to see what it was all about (did that when i installed my alpine deck, to run the ipod cable ... )

[XxKEITHxX]

Good thing I searched this thread!!! I had the same problem! That silver clip came off, probably when i got the aux cables for my deck. Well took me like 30 mins to fix it. THanks to all the people that contributed to this thread!!

[DLag]

YES!!I finally got heat in my car!! thanks for info guys!