Hey guys, how hard is it to swap out a heater control valve on a 94 SC300? My heat doesn't work anymore and it just blows ice cold air out and its freezing here so I need to get this fixed. I ordered a heater control valve, which my mechanic said is why the heat is blowing cold air when turned on. To save a few bucks, I was wondering how quickly I can swap out the broken one for the replacement one? I've worked on my car quite a bit so I know what I'm doing for the most part. Anyone ever switch out one of these before? Thanks in advance.

 

Shouldnt be hard. Just remove the heater hoses from it and unplug the wires. Might have to take off the bracket.

 

It's a 10 min job so super easy.

 

These valves are $200 up... Save a few bucks? Unless you know where to get one new for cheap. I got mines out a pick n pull junkyard, $26.

But yea, 10 minute fix. Need an extension, ratchet and a 10mm I believe. And pliers to remove the hose. Do be cautious, the old rubber will have memory and make leak. Just replace the hose clamps and tighten it.

 

I have a great working one in the fs section if needed 40 shipped if you are looking for one?

 

Just ordered a new one from aliga, so I should be good to go. Hopefully the part works good and I can have heat again. Also, to what TheAzn said, what do you mean it might leak and to be cautious? Is there anything that can injure you while doing this repair swap?

 

No, nothing that will injure you.

The two rubber hoses are likely old. So when you disconnect them from the heater valve assembly, they'll have memory (like a tire having a flat spot when it has been sitting for so long). The shape of the tube the hose slide onto will have molded the inside of the rubber hose to the same form ("memory"). So, by replacing the hose clamps with new ones, you can avoid having a leak from the hose connection. Unless you want to replace the hoses, too.

 

Oh okay, I understand what you mean now. Yeah, I'll check it out to see what condition the hoses are in when I get the replacement part. Thanks for your guys help.

 

well if you cant find it you can alway use a tie down to tie open it

 

believe it or not mine didn't work , I went to the auto yard got a heater Control Valve from a 91 Toyota Cressida
went home disconnected hoses by firewall (abit of coolant spilled) plug it on and bam Nice hot heater! 2$ fix!

 

^^^ LOL, now that is great. Was it the same exact heater valve as the SC300? If so, I would of did that instead of buying a $50 used one. Hopefully the one I just put in lasts long, I was told it came out of a 80K mileage SC300, so hopefully I don't have to replace it again!

I finally have heat again though, just literally got done replacing the old with the new. Wasn't too hard, but to the person above who said it takes 10 minutes to do, they lied lol! It took me a good hour or two to swap everything out. Although, I guess if you've done it before and know how it all comes apart, then it probably would take you 10 minutes lol.

Anyway, the only problem I had was getting the one 10mm bolt to the right of the bracket, it just wouldn't go back in. I got the other ones on though with little issue, I'll just put the other one back on another time, as its freezing cold with strong winds outside with no daylight right now. Maybe when I can see what I'm doing I'll be able to get it back in there, not that it matters since the rest of the bolts are holding it on good enough, its not going anywhere. The only other problem I had was the bottom vacuum line clamp with the pin in it wouldn't go back on, I pretty much destroyed it trying to get it off. But I double checked after driving around a little bit, and the vacuum lines aren't going anywhere, they're nice and snug. So, I guess all that matters is my heat works again and I won't get frostbite driving my SC anytime soon!