Date: Tue, 20 Sep 94 20:44:02 EDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: dcarment@ccs.carleton.ca (David Carment)
Subject: Re: vent question
Martha asked if it is normal to have hot air out the side defroster vents
all the time. No it is not normal, and i bet you are also getting hot air out
the
passenger footwell area when you have the top lever fully left. This means
that you will have to adjust both heat exchangers. Fortunately there is an
easy way to do this. Unfortunately it entails lying on your back....for a
few hours. Both heat exchangers have a lever attached to cables running to
the
front. Set your dash heat control (on my 82 fully left on the lever 2nd
from the top) to the cold air position. Then loosen the adjusting nuts for
both heater cables on both heat exchangers so that they come to a closed
position.
They are spring loaded and should close themselves. Retighten the nuts in
this new position. (want more info? e-mail me) . If your cables are way
loose some fiddling is in order.
Now there is a second possibility. Each heat exhanger has a silicone rubber
disk/valve which fits snuggly in the vent of the exchanger elbow.
Unfortunately
with time these flexible orange disks break down and become brittle -
intense heat speeds the process. If no amount of fiddling leads to a
reduction of heat then one or more of these disks is shot. We replaced
both when the engine was out but had to get them from the wreckers. My
guess is that you could get them from VW for cheap. Replacing is a
different matter because you will have to remove and dissassemble the elbow.
Fine if not too much rust. If you think you may never need or want heat just
plug or
disconnect the big tube running to the front of the van at the point of
intake by removing the front grill (not something I would do).
Good luck - DC
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David Carment
School of International Affairs
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5B6
voice - (613) 788-2600-6662
fax - (613) 788-2889
Email address: dcarment@ccs.carleton.ca
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