In my quest to drive the 1986 4runner with heat. I found that the previous owner removed the cable from the control valve, to where it meets the in cab lever to open up the velve. Looking at my 89 4runner i see the blue cable case is connected to the bracket with a plastic clip. The clip seems intact on the 86. My question is, does the plastic clip pop out so i can slip the cable case through and then push/lock into place to hold the outer case so the inner cable can move in and out with the lever. I couldnt find it in the FSM so I am kind of at a loss. Once i reconnect the cable, i get heat.

Thanks

 

They do pop out, I managed it once on my 86 4Runner. They are a pain in the ass to do though. I don't know why toyota built them like that...

My cable is frozen along with my heater valve so I'm replacing both at the moment.

 

Make sure the heater valve under hood is not froze up, if it is and you hook up the cable, all that`s going to happen is the cable will bend, and then you will have to remove it and straighten it or replace it.

 

Also if previous owner had the dash out and cross support and reinstalled the cross support with the cable under instead of over it can easily break the plastic holder. Yep, got that tshirt.

 

Well good news is the valve works fine. So that is a sigh of relief. Now to get to the stupid controls and connect the cable. I have given up on the contortionist routine and have started the process of removing the entire dash to get at it. Stuck at the dash pad but i found where the "hidden" bolts are, so i will continue on tomorrow when i have light to work on it. It still seems like i can pop out the whiet hold down piece of plastic that the cable goes throguh but I am jsut scared to really pull on it, cause i will break it, it is inevitable. So hopefully when i have it apart and i can better handle the HVAC controls i can see how the beast works. Boy this is a PIA.

Thanks guys

 

To get the dash pad off there are two hidden nuts and one hidden bolt. The hidden bolt is behind the dash vent on the passenger side, the trick is getting the vent out of the dash with out breaking it. One of the nuts is up under the dash, and you need to remove the glove box and a section of the heater duct to get to it. The other nut is under the gauge cluster trim. Good Luck.

 

OK, so after getting intimate with the dissasembly of the entire dash, i have heat in the truck again. The clip that holds the cable, and the other cables on the HVAC controls, pops though the control bracket from the bottom. To remove it you will need to pop the clip from the top. It is a PIA cause you haveto remove everything but it was better than being a contortionist. Here is a pic of the offending clip

so i pray it doesnt slip out again. thanks for the help!!

 

dang was hoping to see more photos of the progress. Planning on doing this after winter is over as mine as well is either locked up or broke the clip.