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Best method for cleaning a heater valve

Old 11-24-2008, 10:59 AM
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Best method for cleaning a heater valve

this is on an 89 22re.
Old 11-24-2008, 11:30 AM
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never done it, but maybe vinegar or CLR would remove deposits from inside.
Old 11-24-2008, 01:07 PM
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I'm think'n mine's clogged up too; I hope that's what it is and not my heater core anyway...

she'll blow warm, barely... not quite like a heater should though...

I'd like to see what you find on this and how it works out!

unless I get to mine before you do, then I'll let you know, lol
Old 11-24-2008, 01:21 PM
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I will let you know tomorrow or possibly tonight. I am going to go in some order to see if I can pinpoint it. I forgot to close a panel in the heater duct, so I am going to try that first, then I am going to pop the heater valve off and clean it and if it is broke I am just going to modify it to where it stays open the whole time, if that doesnt work I will do a new t-stat just to cover all that crap. So, one of those three should work, if not I am going start using this truck for target practice.

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Old 11-24-2008, 02:35 PM
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well supposely it's quite common for these heater valves to gunk up and clog, so that's just where I'm going to start, and while the hoses are off I'm also going to back-flush the heater core, just to be certain
Old 11-24-2008, 03:20 PM
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I've never had the valve clog,but the core will.Either way I hooked up a garden hose to several and hosed it all out!Try it.It works.
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Old 11-24-2008, 03:37 PM
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Originally Posted by 3yotys
...I hooked up a garden hose to several and hosed it all out!Try it.It works...
have done it twice myself to other cars in the past; some of the crap that comes out is amazing, lol

granted one of them blew a HG in the past (my Isuzu) and left a LOT of deposites in the core; the other was just old (my 82 Monte Carlo)
Old 11-24-2008, 05:16 PM
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I will need to include this in my quest to get a hot heater! Mine blows pretty warm and slow. Motor is workin overtime though!

Hope I can tear it all apart and clean out all the gunk..
Old 11-24-2008, 06:35 PM
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Jjust as a note, be easy with it; I wouldn't turn the hose on full blast in there. You obviously want enough force to get the crap out, but if it's an old core I've seen it make them spring leaks before. I think that's been mentioned here on YT before too...
Old 11-24-2008, 06:53 PM
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Why don`t you guys upgrade to the later style plastic heater valve, its very easy to do and you will never have to worry about it rusting through and leaking or siezing up, ive done this to a couple of trucks ive owned and never had any more problems with the heater valve.
Old 11-24-2008, 06:55 PM
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the plastic heater valve is about 50 from autozone. so to some making the old one work is worth the effort.
Old 11-24-2008, 07:38 PM
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mine is plastic
Old 11-24-2008, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by abecedarian
the plastic heater valve is about 50 from autozone. so to some making the old one work is worth the effort.
The two that i replaced i got from pic n pull, alot cheaper and they havn`t given me any problems yet.
Old 11-24-2008, 08:24 PM
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so even finding one at the salvage yard is worth it to some.

for me, a trip to the pick-and-pull yard is about a 60 mile trip (each way), so hardly worth it in gas, even if I could put the valve in my pocket.
Old 11-24-2008, 09:13 PM
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Originally Posted by abecedarian
so even finding one at the salvage yard is worth it to some.

for me, a trip to the pick-and-pull yard is about a 60 mile trip (each way), so hardly worth it in gas, even if I could put the valve in my pocket.

I guess im lucky, i have 3 pic n pulls near me (well almost) one is about a mile away from me and the other two are fifty plus miles from me, and i go there almost every weekend.
Old 11-24-2008, 09:26 PM
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Lucky guy. We have quite a few yards. But there is one yard in particular, Alpi's. They have hundreds of these trucks and only sell parts for a premium. It seems they buy up all the trashed trucks and stock pile them!

I wish the local pick a part would get another yota in. Last time they had a 3rd gen it was stripped to the frame in days..
Old 11-25-2008, 05:12 AM
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Problem Solved

I really need to quit drinking keystones while doing this crap. Ok, first thing first, the heater valve was stuck letting only about 1/4 of heat in, so modified the lever and this made the air A TAD bit warmer, basically for winter I took the cable off of it and just opened it wide open. Sot would be Full heat all the time!

Burpe it again since the core takes up alot of air, but the problem was i forgot to hook the black cable on the cold to hot lever, so I wasnt opening the flap by the heatercore. This was obviously a keystone light crisis.

thats about it, and ebay has a heater valve and pipes going for 5.99 as of yesterday.

now my heat blows hard and hotter than hell.
Old 11-25-2008, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by 89whitetoyota
now my heat blows hard and hotter than hell.
pun intended, or no?


I still haven't looked at mine yet, but I'm leaving work early tomorrow (gotta love the Holidays), so maybe I'll muck with it and see what's up with it...
Old 11-25-2008, 02:07 PM
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mine does the same but im just going to by-pass it all together and let it run full heat all the time
Old 11-25-2008, 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by just a 22re
mine does the same but im just going to by-pass it all together and let it run full heat all the time
that's what I was thining about, but why not just get a $5 manual metal valve from the parts store?

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