Heater Control Valve

[Jungle_Jim]

Resurrecting this thread again...

I am looking at replacing this heater valve...

From a bit of searching around - here in 2022 - this is what I'm finding...

(Firstly - this is referring to the later plastic valve)

It seems that genuine parts are available - well over £120 (eg Skandix). Then there's a few listed on ebay for around £40-50 which are non-gen. Can't see them for sale - gen or non-gen - from a UK seller at the moment. The non-gen ones seem to get bad reports of leaking or not lasting very long (correct me if you know otherwise).

Given that this is more-or-less a generic part - which would cost about £3-£4 to make - it's hard to justify spending over £120 on it - a tenner is more like it!

Then there's this article from 2016 by Fridazadilak on this forum - https://volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=243456 - which uses a Febi-Bilstein branded VW part - (Febi # 15920) currently available for under £10 on ebay. These heater values are in many VW models from 1975-1997 - so are obviously credible parts.

Fridazadilak indicates that the throw of the swing arm might need adjusting so the extent of the slider opens and closes the valve properly.

There are also generic metal valves on ebay for under £10 which might work as well but the cable mounting needs rotating 90deg - and they may be cheap parts or not work properly.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383890336...3ABFBM3Nr5vPlg

I am thinking of getting one of the VW parts - and will post the results here.

Or has anybody got another suggestion for this?

[Bugjam1999]

It’s not an endorsement as such as I haven’t tried one, but if I was looking I’d probably try one from here

The days of being able to wander into a scrapyard and get a replacement from another 240 are long gone unfortunately

Cheers

[Othen]

Cool. I've just read the post by Fridazadilak. I'd certainly have a go at the VW valve solution if I owned the problem; what could possibly go wrong! The VW valves only cost about a fiver.

:-)

PS. I did find this 'how to' guide on the Skandix site:

https://www.skandix.de/en/documents/...e-kit/3000005/

... what a crappy little job. Saying that, what the valve does is a pretty simple function (open and close, nothing else) so I'd fit the VW one for a fiver. I would drain the coolant from the motor first though; I wouldn't trust a couple of hose clamps to stop a gallon of rusty water and alcohol getting inside my motor car :-).

[Jungle_Jim]

I just ordered one of the VW heater valves - will post about how it works out.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

I just ordered one of the VW heater valves - will post about how it works out.

You will have that heater valve fixed by Sunday :-)

[Jungle_Jim]

Hi all
Just to report back:

I got the Febi-Bilstein VW heater valve - and - it was a bit of mucking around, but I have it installed and working well.

I had to drill a new hole in the arm to match the swing radius of the Volvo part, and reposition the mount on it where the cable sheath is fixed to it - which involved some improvising with plastic, superglue and a small metal plate screwed in. And there were a few other small alterations. But it wasn't too hard to make it so the VW one operated exactly the same as the Volvo one - albeit turned 90deg.

The VW valve was much stiffer than the Volvo one - which I worried would put too much pressure on the cable and its mounting - but this doesn't seem to be a problem.

Soon I will upload pictures of how I adapted this part.

But to conclude - it's £8-9 and a couple of hours of fettling - as opposed to £40-50 for the pattern-part one - much more for genuine - but I think it's a viable lasting alternative.

John

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

Hi all
Just to report back:

I got the Febi-Bilstein VW heater valve - and - it was a bit of mucking around, but I have it installed and working well.

I had to drill a new hole in the arm to match the swing radius of the Volvo part, and reposition the mount on it where the cable sheath is fixed to it - which involved some improvising with plastic, superglue and a small metal plate screwed in. And there were a few other small alterations. But it wasn't too hard to make it so the VW one operated exactly the same as the Volvo one - albeit turned 90deg.

The VW valve was much stiffer than the Volvo one - which I worried would put too much pressure on the cable and its mounting - but this doesn't seem to be a problem.

Soon I will upload pictures of how I adapted this part.

But to conclude - it's £8-9 and a couple of hours of fettling - as opposed to £40-50 for the pattern-part one - much more for genuine - but I think it's a viable lasting alternative.

John

Wonderful John, well done!

A few words and photos might be useful as a guide for folk in the future.

I recall doing something similar for the anti-dieseling solenoid on a 244; the Volvo part was expansive (about £100), the VW Beetle one as cheap as chips (£18.25) and it was (as far as I could tell) an identical part:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...postcount=2281

:-)