Heater control request

[Billybob780]

Hi folks,
Now I have posted this question on A bodies only forum and only had responses to say look at the manual which I have and its useless.
Has anyone got a photo of what the heat/cool temp control cable connects to at the heater box end? My dash is apart at the moment and I would like to fix it. The cable is OK but what ever its supposed to move to control the heat coming in is not. A previous owner has put taps on the heater hoses I guess to control the heat.

[ScottyDave]

Pretty sure it'll be a heater valve with 4 connections in the same place as those 2 taps, it is on my Charger. I'll try to find a photo.

[Billybob780]

Thanks for the reply. The heater control cable isn't that long it is connected to something at the back of the heater box. The Dart does have air con and they is a cable on the lower dash by the air con vents that looks like a Mini choke cable that does go through the bulkhead and connects to nowt ...

[Dave999]

if this is the cable from the slider on the dash
it runs across from one side of the under dash space to the other, across the top of the heater box
mid way across the top of the heater box the cable outer is clamped to a upright tab of metal usings chrysler specific press on cable clamp
if this is missing the slider on the dash will not work.
this is the aire blending control proportion of direct outside air to heated air.


the heater box is kinda in 3 sections, by the off side of the car you have the crotch cooler vent
the mid section is the plenum chamber
and over to the left (in the middle of the car) is the bit with the cardboard and tin foil pipes comeing out to the dash

on the top back of the mid plenum chamber section there will be a lever with a hole in it, on mine literally a rod going down into the depths off the box with a 1/8 inch by 1 inch flat bar welded on to its end to provide a method to rotate the rod.
the end of the heater cable has a z kink in the end and it just hooks through the hole

pull the dash control 1 way check the lever on the heater box does its full travel
if it doesn't adjust the cable caseing position in the clamp on top of the box until it does. then check for full travel the other way
this just opens and closes a flap so that the plenum fills with cold air from the vent or it forces that could air via the route through the heater matrix this is your blending control it controls mix of hot and cold air

if the car has a standard heater it would have had nothing in the pipes or a temperature controlled 3 or 4 outlet themo tap thingy depending on age the idea being with themo tap closed the water comes up 1 pipe and is directed striaghtback down the other as a heater by pass
when warm enough the tap opens and blocks off the return in the tap making the water go through the matrix before it can go back to the pump

but loads of varaiations on this from 60s to 80s you can survive without if you can get the flap working in the heater box

if it was an aircon car the pipes would go to a vacuum operated tap on the inner wing and then on to the heater matrix
if your aircon box is not under vacuum control i can tell you how to fudge it to get heat in the winter and none in the summer
its a bodge.... i'll post that sperate

the choke pulls by the air boxes either side do a full 360 loop back and are clamped to the side of the box usuing the same Chrylser specific cable clamps as mentioned before
they too have a z kink in the end of the cable and all they do is fit into the welded flat rod levers on the sides of the vent boxes to open and close their flaps
this just controls air direct from the front vent below the screen into the car. and the drivers side when closed i think forces air tinto the heater box for blending or not as the case may be

Dave

[Dave999]

Aircon
its a PITA

if you have the push button airtemp control
1) it will be broken
2) never buy a second hand one it will be broken
3) never buy a second hand one it WILL be broken
4) without it working you will have heater on all the time with the air coming out of the bottom of the heater box at the tunnel

the air temp controls come in a number of styles

All have a vacuum pipe, rubber mainfold pressed onto the back and held with a clip that clamps the rubber pipe connector and the rear of the unit
you need the correct number of buttons and the correct shape connector for the vacuum pipes
these connectors are either D shaped or rectangular i.e D shaped has more pipes across the top than the bottom and the rectangual one doesn't

get the right one

you already have a problem because that in line tap makes me think the vaccum tap on the innder wing on your car is missing or siezed up
find the red and white pipes for it and block them off with a screw each
new chrysler taps of certan vintages are unobtanium or are , oz for oz, more expensive than gold
you can fit one off a small chinese truck, or one off an autralian ford falcon, both the same chinese part, neither is cheap

if the rest of the pipes are there, good... you will have a red and white pair of pipes for each vacuum actuator and 1 black pipe
the black pipe goes to a narrow bore brass pipe brased into a drilled through servo brake bung in the inlet (if you don't have a servo) or to a none ported vacuum take off at the carb if you do.

if all are connected and the air temp control isn't broken...ahahah yeah right, (with the inner wing water control tap siezed someone will have been mashing away at the buttons)....!....... then
start car
free rev it and as you press the control buttons for any aicon feature, gently in. allow the throttle to snap closed to give it a good jolt of vacuum,
if creaking and groaning occurs, the vacuum circuits are working and the air flow configuartion of you combined heater and aircon under dash system should over a period of a few minutes change. it may even switch the switch that triggers the aircon pump pulley clutch provided the thermostat in the aircon box is still wired up.

Two have 2 sets of electricals
1 power for the aircin pump clutch via the thermostatic switch
and a couple of wires to a resistor pack mounted in the box to facilitate 2or 3 speeds on the fan motor.

if sucking noises and lumpy running occurs you have a vaccum leak or a disconnected pipe

do not press the airtemp control buttons hard. you will crack the glue in the back of the unit and it will be broken... by all means put it on the second hand market, at this point, to continue the tradition


if you can't be arsed with any of this and you want heat on the screen

1) open your tap
2) check the cardboard/tinfoil pipes from the heater box go up to the vents in the dash (US and UK motor homes use this stuff for forced air heating so you can still buy it in meter lengths in the correct bore or Try VW beetle heater pipe german and swedeish usually have some)
3) get down on the floor of the passneger side of the car and find the steel rod that runs across the botton of the unit to the vaccum actuator
4) it will be in the "pump hot air out of the bottom position" (i.e warming you gear stick), pull it out from the unit as far as it will go and clamp it with a fat cable tie. add a blob of bostic or sealer

heat will flow to screen all the time

come summer pick off the glue cut off the cable tie and open the windows and the crotch cooler vents, don't wear shorts, you don't want a bumble bee or wasp up the leg, only the centre consol will get hot....


Dave

[ScottyDave]

or a temperature controlled 3 or 4 outlet themo tap thingy depending on age the idea being with themo tap closed the water comes up 1 pipe and is directed striaghtback down the other as a heater by pass
when warm enough the tap opens and blocks off the return in the tap making the water go through the matrix before it can go back to the pump

but loads of varaiations on this from 60s to 80s
Dave

I've got the thermo thingy and my heater flaps are vacuum controlled

[Dave999]

OOH so later cars may not use the tap on the inner wing

thats good to know... 1 more rediculsulsy impossble to find part he won't need....good news

[Billybob780]

Cheers for the info... I'll take some photos and post them. Just to see if you agree with the set up in my Dart and ascertain if there are so many bits missing that it's too much of a testicle ache to overcome.

[Billybob780]

Here are some photos of what I have... a mini choke cable that doesn't attached to owt. One heater box one air con box a lot of bizarre vac hoses and a temp control cable that disappears behind the heater box. To be honest I'm not bothered even trying to get the air con working. It'll need converting to an available gas, every seal we be knackered and blow motor is as weak as I was with asthma and only has one speed..

[Stu]

I was convinced when this thread was started, it would be a succession of “just bin the heater”

Been quite a good read, hope you get sorted.

[ScottyDave]

That's the same control levers as my Charger, what year is your Dart?

[Billybob780]

The Dart is a 73

[ScottyDave]

Your heater controls are vacuum and cable operated, I've sent you a PM.

[ScottyDave]

I was convinced when this thread was started, it would be a succession of “just bin the heater”

Been quite a good read, hope you get sorted.

Originally I had thought of not refitting mine but driving it back from Scotland in heavy rain during October, it became one of the first jobs to be done once home.

[Dave999]

Oh thats much newer and more fancy than mine

you have two sliders....is it vacuum controlled?


Dave