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Heater Control Valve


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So, the MJ is about an afternoon from being roadworthy, if all goes well. However, it turns out that a friend of mine accidentally broke the plastic heater control valve in the process of helping me replace heater hoses. Should I bother to replace it or just bypass it, and if I do bypass it, will it make any real difference?

 

 

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Mine was already bypassed when I bought the truck.  About the only thing different is that if I drive with the HVAC set to heat, some hot air will come through the vents.  I slide it to cold, and no problem.

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You can get a new one already attached to the necessary hoses.  When the core pops its cork its nice to have this thing working to prevent unloading the coolant in you MJ...especially when you are out in the middle of nowhere.

 

This is the one and only good i have heard for keeping the heater valve. That being said i have looong since deleted mine and havent looked back. A/C and heat both still work excellent.

 

Besides after 97 the heater valve was axed all together. Snag a set of 97+ cherokee heater hoses and the deleting process is a snap. 

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yea you lucky Cruiser, here in North East Texas it can be 25 or 30 degrees and I still need to drive around and feed. I still need to go around and fix fences. So I need my heater going good. I would hate to be 40 acres in back fixing fence and need to get warm hands with not heater lol

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yea you lucky Cruiser, here in North East Texas it can be 25 or 30 degrees and I still need to drive around and feed. I still need to go around and fix fences. So I need my heater going good. I would hate to be 40 acres in back fixing fence and need to get warm hands with not heater lol

Same here. Gets to 0*F. What's your point? 

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What?????

 

You're okay with telling me this doesn't work when I've done it numerous times?

 

Everything works fine. The heat is controlled by a blend air door, not that valve. 

 

You must have missed some important fact in a post along the way. 

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I think the idea behind the valve is to keep the heat out of the dash as so it would not complete with the AC.

 

 

My valve will go to valve heaven too when I install the new engine.

Correct. It was a redundancy in engineering that was unnecessary. 

 

That said, I live in Arizona and have no ill effects regarding cabin heat in the summer.

 

As long as your blend air door is adjusted properly. .That takes about 22 seconds to test and adjust. 

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This winter my '86 could cook me out of the cab at -10°. The silly heater control valve has been missing for awhile. Sure didn't notice any extra heat coming in the cab a week ago when it was 90° either.

 

A failed heater control valve is why it went went in the trash. On a cold day last year I took the truck for a 2hr drive. 1hr into the drive my heat stopped working. At a rest area I determined the vacuum diaphragm on the valve failed cutting the flow of hot coolant to my heater core. I plugged the vacuum line to the valve to eliminate the vacuum leak and dealt with the cold since I couldn't figure out a good way to wire the valve open for the rest of my trip. Luckily the sun was out.

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This winter my '86 could cook me out of the cab at -10°. The silly heater control valve has been missing for awhile. Sure didn't notice any extra heat coming in the cab a week ago when it was 90° either.

 

A failed heater control valve is why it went went in the trash. On a cold day last year I took the truck for a 2hr drive. 1hr into the drive my heat stopped working. At a rest area I determined the vacuum diaphragm on the valve failed cutting the flow of hot coolant to my heater core. I plugged the vacuum line to the valve to eliminate the vacuum leak and dealt with the cold since I couldn't figure out a good way to wire the valve open for the rest of my trip. Luckily the sun was out.

Interesting. Exactly what I would expect from someone who thinks logically, deals with the facts, and takes action........

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Mine was already bypassed when I bought the truck. About the only thing different is that if I drive with the HVAC set to heat, some hot air will come through the vents. I slide it to cold, and no problem.

This is because you have to slide the selector lever to "OFF" for the fan to stop. Otherwise it runs on low with the speed switch down.

The valve was eliminated in later models as unessecary. I eliminated the valve in my 1988 MJ during my cooling system rebuild 2yrs ago (original rad was literally crumbling). Just copied the layout of my 2000 XJ since the water pump and radiator came from it. Just used two lengths of 5/8" hose, did the same on my XJ, both work flawlessly just like they should. Heater works great when I want it to, and does nothing when I don't want it to.

Only problem now is I only get flow I defrost, but that's usually where I leave it anyway. 5 Min's down the road the cab is toasty enough to warm my toes ... Eventually I'll dive into the dash and sort it out.

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Mine was already bypassed when I bought the truck. About the only thing different is that if I drive with the HVAC set to heat, some hot air will come through the vents. I slide it to cold, and no problem.

This is because you have to slide the selector lever to "OFF" for the fan to stop. Otherwise it runs on low with the speed switch down.

The valve was eliminated in later models as unessecary. I eliminated the valve in my 1988 MJ during my cooling system rebuild 2yrs ago (original rad was literally crumbling). Just copied the layout of my 2000 XJ since the water pump and radiator came from it. Just used two lengths of 5/8" hose, did the same on my XJ, both work flawlessly just like they should. Heater works great when I want it to, and does nothing when I don't want it to.

Only problem now is I only get flow I defrost, but that's usually where I leave it anyway. 5 Min's down the road the cab is toasty enough to warm my toes ... Eventually I'll dive into the dash and sort it out.

 

Dash? It's in the bumper........

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??? The blend door is in the bumper? News to me ... Have you been hanging out with mister triangle gasket guy? Or are we having an app issue and somehow got the vacuum reservoir thread crossed? Honestly, now I'm confused (although it's not so unusual) ... My phone has been acting up the last day.

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??? The blend door is in the bumper? News to me ... Have you been hanging out with mister triangle gasket guy? Or are we having an app issue and somehow got the vacuum reservoir thread crossed? Honestly, now I'm confused (although it's not so unusual) ... My phone has been acting up the last day.

That's hilarious!! If the vac rezzy is FUBAR or the lines to it are the same, the vents will default to Defrost. 

 

And I know you have some new triangle gaskets you're holding out on. On the top shelf in your garage next to your tin foil hat.

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Man, i make some of the best tinfoil hats, all piratey like, with cool coat hanger anti brain-melter ears amd all. My thoughts are my own ... so are my cornered stock of triangle gaskets. I replace them annually.

 

Actually, my reservoir (which is actually relocated to the inner fender in front of the fan) is good and the vacuum lines in the engine bay are good. The vacuum harness and actuator inside the cab ... not so sure about. And from the mess the PO made of the dash harness, fuse panel, and radio install ... pretty sure my problem is behind the dash. Either it's come apart or something stopped doing stuff ... one day I'll deal with it. Likely when I replace the engine (1990 -C101 delete and DRL's) and dash (1988 XJ in mint shape) harnesses ... might as well make it painful.

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