re: cold feet

[Rodney Tidwell <rodneygt@domain.elided>]

Hal wrote:

> What does it mean when I'm cruising along with the top down and the
> stream of warm air that's been keeping my feet all toasty warm for the
>
> last twenty minutes suddenly turns tepid?  The car was well warmed up,
>
> all gauges reading normal, 175=BA F on the coolant gauge, fan blowing
> hig=
> h
> (and continuing to blow the tepid air).  I tried monkeying with the
> sliders to na avail.  The warmth did seem to kick in again for just a
> minute or two at one point, then disappeared again.  Heat has always
> worked GREAT on this car, 'till now.
>

Hal,

This sounds similar to when the heater valve on my former 84 spider
began to die.  I posted the procedure in December for repairing the
valve which necessarily included the procedures for replacement.  It is
set forth below.  It may be slightly different for your '86 as there
were some interior changes in 86.

Rodney
McComb, MS


> Last week I posted about a problem with my spider where the heat worked
>   somewhat until the car was completely warmed up.  But, then, the hot air
>   would cool.
>
>   Warren Howard reminded me of some earlier digests that had discussed a
>   "rubber gasket in
>   the valve control [which when] aged, . . . would swell up.  Then the
>   natural heat expansion from turning on the heater would cause the gasket
>   to swell [even more] choking off the supply of water going to the heater
>   core."
>
>   Bruce Giller posted also telling me that it was likely my heater valve
>   was shot.  Bruce also provided me with some great advice for testing,
>   locating and removing the heater valve.
>
>   Others also offered me advice.  I appreciate that all of you took the
>   time to respond.
>
>   Now, let's get to the subject line.  Last Thursday or Friday after
>   receiving Bruce's & Warren's replies, it was too late for me to order a
>   valve and have it before the weekend (I always get a kick when someone
>   tells me to go to my local alfa dealer as if such an entity existed - in
>   my case, a  700 to 1000 mile round trip).  Anyway, I wrote Bruce (off
>   digest) inquiring as to whether or not I would be able to use a
>   "universal" heater valve (you know, basically, a little pipe with an
>   opening and closing door - like in a milano).  He said no and explained
>   why.
>
>   Basically, the spider heater valve is a very compact device designed to
>   fit in a small area.  The fittings form a right angle, but, while one is
>   for a heater hose, the other bolts to the heater core. It is plastic and
>   works via diaphragm opened and closed by a spiraled rod connected with a
>   piece of rigid linkage to a bar operated by the heater cable.  BTW, on
>   the spider, the heater valve controls how much coolant exits the heater
>   core.
>
>   I understand that the valve may be a bear to remove on '86+ spiders with
>   air (there were interior changes in '86, including the little shelf
>   below the steering column - don't know how much, if any, difficulty this
>   adds).  It was not that difficult (if you're a contortionist :-) ) to
>   remove on my '84 spider which has a/c .  I removed the valve from my
>   spider twice this weekend (2nd time to adjust linkage) and found the
>   minimum items that can be removed to complete the task
>
>   Procedure for removal:
>   1)Place an old towel under the accelerator covering about the top right
>   1/4 of the driver's side floorboard (this will catch the few ounces of
>   coolant you will lose)
>   2)Put a drop light, 10mm wrench, 10 mm socket, 6mm (I think) socket,
>   ratchet wrenches, various extensions, a u-joint for the 10mm socket and
>   a standard screwdriver on the driver's side (U.S.) floorboard.
>   3)Locate the heater housing (move the defrost/floor vent cable up & down
>   - you'll be able to see the floor vent open and close)
>   4)Remove the driver's side defrost duct from the heater housing (just
>   above the floor vent, you'll see a black plastic piece of duct work
>   attached to the heater housing - remove the two small bolts at the
>   bottom - I believe the bolts have 6mm heads, you'll have to check - the
>   top of the defroster duct is not bolted, it is held under a lip, just
>   pull)
>   5)Remove the rigid plastic duct from the rubber duct (the duct work you
>   removed from the heater housing in step 4 is connected to the defrost
>   vent with a piece of flexible rubber ducting)
>   6)Locate the heater valve (you'll probably have to get on your back
>   under the steering column - The heater valve protrudes from the heater
>   housing just above the piece of plastic duct you removed in step 4)
>   7)Remove the heater hose from the heater valve (use your screwdriver to
>   loosen the heater hose clamp, then pull the heater hose from the outlet
>   on the heater valve)
>   8)Free the linkage on the heater valve (the heater lever located on the
>   console is connected to a lever on the side of the heater housing via
>   cable, the lever is connected to the heater control valve with a piece
>   of rigid linkage, the leg bone's connected to the thighbone. . .anyway,
>   there is a little spring keeper which holds the rigid linkage on the
>   lever - pull the spring off to free the rigid linkage -the screwdriver
>   may come in handy here)
>   9)Remove the heater valve from the heater housing (two 10mm nuts secure
>   the heater valve - remove them - you'll probably be able to use the
>   socket on the outside nut - you'll probably only be able to use the
>   wrench on the inside nut - you'll now be able to work the valve off of
>   the two studs)
>   10)If you have a new valve, reverse the procedures to install.  If you
>   don't, read on.
>
>   If your valve will not open enough to allow easy flow, it may be
>   possible to repair it (at least temporarily).
>
>   Procedure to possibly repair the valve (it has worked for me):
>
>   1)Drill out the four rivets (when you inspect the valve you'll see that
>   the two halves are held together with four copper rivets)
>   2)Seperate the two halves (it just pops apart)
>   3)inspect the diaphragm ( the problem with mine was that the rubber had
>   began to disintegrate - a layer of the rubber diaphragm had become
>   porous much like a sponge - if you've ever had a leaky toilet that
>   needed a new flapper valve, you'll know what I'm talking about - the
>   diaphragm was taking up more space within the housing than it used to,
>   thus, cutting off coolant flow even when "open")
>    4)Remove the bad layer of rubber from the diaphragm (use 220 grit
>   sandpaper or finer until you reach a "good" layer of rubber)
>   5)Put the valve back together (use four 6/32x1/2 bolts and nuts in place
>   of the old copper rivets - if you can blow through it now, you're
>   probably in good shape)
>
>   Well, maybe someone can use the procedure sometime.
>
>   Thanks all,
>
>   Rodney G. Tidwell
>   McComb, MS
>
>

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