elemgee

After keeping my 1998 SC300 for a week, the local Toyota service dept notfiied me that they found the cause of the problem with my heater (the air flow is weak from the floor vents and not real hot). Apparently I have too much money. They said that I need a new heater control valve, and with labor, the cost would be $800 (this is in addition to the $350 already incurred for them to diagnose the problem and flush the cooling system). Thats not a misprint. They also said that there is a chance that the heater control valve may not fix the problem (something about replacing it resulting in a flushing out of the heater core), in which case I would ALSO need a new heater core, at an additional cost of $1,600. Thats not a misprint either. It sounds to me like they really dont know what the problem is.

Fortunately, I've been able to find a heater control valve from a fellow Lexus club member (thanks Ali) at a significantly more reasonable cost which i will purchase. I've also decided to cut my losses and just pick up the car without the dealer doing any additional damage - I mean work = on the car (as an aside, this is why I never take my car to the dealer for repairs. This is the 1st time in about 20 years that I've been to a dealer for a repair and dont plan on doing it again soon. I usually do my own work but this seemed kind of specialized, plus its cold outside. But I digress).

I've read all the posts from SC owners about the heater control valve, bypassing the acuator, maybe flushing the system, replacing the thermostat, all of which I've done. So my question is, has anyone had a similar problem (weak air flow, vent temperature not too hot, takes about 1/2 hour for the interior to get warm) where replacing the heater control valve fixed the problem? Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

Larry

RANDY P

You sure you're not suffering for a stuck thermostat? Makre sure the car is operating at full temp- I'd triple check that before you go any further. If you're not seeing condensation inside the car, you're not losing coolant or any dampness on the floorboards or coolant stink and otherwise the coolant looks I'd leave the heater core alone.

Unless your car is a high miles and neglected car with rust and crap inside the coolant I highly doubt it's the HC...

rjp

elemgee

The Toyota dealer replaced my thermostat, telling me it was bad (even though I had just bought the one they replaced - an aftermarket Stant themostat). I'm guessing they had a boat payment. So I'm assuming the one they put in was ok. I'm not getting any condensation on the interior, no moisture on the floor, and I'm not losing coolant. And the heater does eventually get warm, it just takes about 25 minutes.

LEX_MAN

iTrader: (2)

You can zip tie the VSV on the heater valve and see if that fixes the problem. Its the mushroom looking thing with the metal rod comes out where the stomp is.
So you push the metal stomp inside the mushroom looking thing and zip tie it.

I tried to explain it as easy as possible,lol