We are leaving next week to drive to CA from OK. I was changing the coolant and the flush said to turn the heater on. Well, no heat front or rear. So I took the heater control valve off and flushed the heater core and a bunch of flakes came out of it.

My question is: Do I have a bad heater control valve? With the valve out of the vehicle water was not able to run from the front out to the back or down. My understanding is that the valve should be always open except with max a/c. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

Bought a heater control valve at O'reilly's. I bought a Murray (Murrary $35 vs Motocraft $55). When I put the water hose up to the inlet water came out of both outlets as I expected. Like I said above when I put water in the linlet of the old valve no water came out of the outlet. The vacuum port is on the otherside of the valve on the Murray. Not a big deal since there is plenty of vacuum line available.

So after install, good heat. Of note, when I first took delivery in Dec. 1999, there was no heat either. I assumed it was the heater control valve they replaced but I don't know.

 

Well the good news is once you get out here you won't need your heater anyway.

 

Yes, always open except with max ac so you could just eliminate it.