Heater Electric On/Off Valve

[rogbrit]

Does anyone know what vehicle the heater on/off valve in a 95 Griff 500 is from, as I need to get a replacement? Part of it is marked VW, but I suspect it might be TVR modified. Thanks

[david beer]

Iam not sure of cross references, however i replaced mine last year from a TVR dealer and it was hardly expensive! Ok, you can save a few bob, but in this case go to your dealer.

[RichardSteel]

If my heater feels like it is heating all the time, is that because I need a new on/off valve? I thought that was just TVR quirkiness. The heater makes whirry noises when I turn the heat control.

Yours baffled
Richard

[MrMidlife]

There are three electric motors associated with the heat/vent on my '95 Grif. One behind the glovebox which I think controls air direction to the screen or footwell, one behind the carpeted panel, to the left of the battery which probably selects fresh or recirculation via a linkage into the inner wing and one operating a valve plumbed into the hot water pipes running at high level in the passenger footwell which controls the temperature. All the motors and microswitches appear to be the same but connected to different things!
Its the last one you're interested in but IMHO yours works as you can hear the motor running as you twiddle the control (opening and closing the valve - increasing or decreasing the flow of hot water to the heating matrix). Maybe you dont notice the effect cos one of the other motors doesn't work and, for example, the air is directed to the screen - what you feel is TVR heatsoak! You could check it by getting a little nearer to listen/watch as you twiddle!
On my Grif the only one which works is the temperature control! ANYONE OUT THERE WITH A WIRING DIAG FOR THESE - as the one in Steves excellent 'bible' doesn't seem to apply.

Cheers - Graham

[rogbrit]

Thanks all for the info'. I've taken the valve out and although it's opening and closing correctly it is still leaking air (or water) when closed. Also, reading the TVR Owners Handbook it says that and I quote 'To set the temperature to hot, rotate the switch fully clockwise. To set the temperature to cold rotate the switch fully anti-clockwise'. When looking at the valve, these instructions are rubbish, all the time I've thought I had the valve closed, it was open and vice-versa - maybe it's just my Griff? Having said all that, I've been driving around with the heater by-passed and the car is still incredibly hot, so I wonder whether replacing the valve is worth doing?

[L500v8]

I tried twiddling the heater controls, whilst engine off, and found that there is no noise at all from the heat recirculation control, although temperature setting and fascia/footwell controls whirr nicely. Presumably, this could be stuck on recirculate and account for my inability to get anything other than red-hot air, irrespective of heater settings, from the blower?

I really hate having hot feet, and decided to invest in a fan override switch so I can switch the fans on before the high temperature cut-in, and hopefully moderate the in car heat build-up in traffic. Is this a good idea?

All the best,
Richard

[david beer]

If the hot water valve is closing correctly it works ok. They are a little tricky to set up, there is a variable resistor attatched that tells the controller where it is,ie hot or cold. The valve can do a full 360 rotation so on cold you may have just gone past closed and letting hot through. Mine has a white painted mark to show where closed is, adjusting the variable resistor adjusts it properly.
David

[richb]

I once heard (may even heve been you David) that as the valve can rotate through 360 deg., it can get mis-aligned and allow hot-water past in both the on and off positions, is this what you are talking about? If so how do you re-position it?

Went out in the Griff yestaerday and the main topic of conversation was how to cure the almost intolerable heat in the cabin with the roof up. It was a damp drizzly day so the top was on but it wasn't particulaly cold so I had the heater off (joke) I know there is heat-soak from the engine but at 90-100 (oops did I say that) it must be possible to get some colder air inside?

Having now got decent radio reception thanks to a www.mod-www.com gizmo' I am going to make it my mission to cure the hot cabin problem. Rich...

[RichardSteel]

Thanks, David. I'll try intermediate positions on the heat control. How quickly would you expect the air flow to cool down when the right position is hit?

Rich - I'll share your mission. I'm prepared to put-up with a lot, but I hate hot feet!

[david beer]

Um, quite a while to cool down. I have just sent an email to RichB hopefully helping. I will have a look in the morn to see if there is a guide mark we can go by, maybe the grub screw on the motor drive. Got to do the washing up now.

[marco]

quote:

I tried twiddling the heater controls, whilst engine off, and found that there is no noise at all from the heat recirculation control,

I have exactly the same problem in my '98 Griff, nothin from the re-circ knob. I have two trips to the Med planned in the next 3 months and am dreading them because of my perpetual heater!

Does everybody else's recirc control work and if so does it make any difference to the heat of the air?

(My old pre-cat model just vaguely breezed out luke warm air so perhaps I should be grateful that *something* is happening!)


Cheers


Marco

[david beer]

I have set up my valve corrctly and it does in fact stop"hot water". After sitting in traffic for a while the air will become warmer due to the heat exchange from the engine bay.I have insulated the inner wing where the air is sourced and there is temperature benifit. Today on the M25 in traffic i had cool air blowing, of course not air conditioned, but at least it was slightly lower than outside air temp, due to science!