I have a 1983 F150 with the hi output heater and I need the temperature control cable. I did a search on here but found one old topic on it that was too old to still be valid for in stock on it. The number on the cable is E3TH18d3066AA and has HHM and 1BB on the cable as well. I have checked all the local wrecking yards and every single truck in them has air conditioning and no matching cable. Mine sadly is completely seized and repeated soaking in penetrating oils have not made any difference. Hopefully someone has some insite where I can get another used one or maybe a new old stock one.

Thanks in advance.

 

Make one out of a lawnmower cable? I have done that before.

 

E3TZ-18518-B .. Heater Temperature Cable / Obsolete

1983 F100/350 & Bronco w/heater only, hi-output makes no difference.

NOS PARTS SOURCE in Olathe KS has 1 = 913-220-5746.

KAMA OBSOLETE PARTS in East Bethel MN has 1 = 763-434-0123.

NOTE: E3TZ-18518-A is for 1983/88 Ranger & 1984/88 Bronco II .. There's one on ebay, but the clueless seller listed it for 1983/86 F100/350 = WRONG PART, WRONG APPLICATIONS!

 

I did this to my truck to bring my seized cables back:

Soak in a rust remover
Rinse with water
Rinse with isopropyl alcohol
Feed bike cable lube into housing while moving cable in and out

I used Evaporust. It is a quick working nontoxic rust remover you can get at Wally-world for relatively cheap. And it's reusable so its a good investment for your old truck. It also doesn't damage plastics so its good at bringing old rusty switches back to life. It'll derust the contacts without corroding the plastic. And again, nontoxic, you don't need gloves like you do with other rust removers. And it rinses off with water, and is safe to pour down a drain. The isopropyl alcohol is to make sure it won't rust again, and will make sure everything gets nice and dry before lubricating the cable. A wax based mountain bike brake/gear cable lubricant works really well on any cable within a housing. Make sure to shake it up before feeding it in. The wax gets suspended in the liquid to help it seep and then the liquid will dry leaving behind the slick wax to help the cable glide.

I did this to my seized vent control cable and it worked like a charm. Of course I had all of these already laying around as well, but its still pretty cheap for reusable materials. I have them as part of my "Fix All" kit. Along with the duct tape and WD-40.

Evaporust - $17 for a gallon at Walmart
Rock N Roll Cable Magic - $6.50 on Amazon

 

What does this cable look like?

 

 

Well NumberDummy I appreciate the two numbers, I did call both, and both have sold that 1 each still lists. So sadly they are not available anywhere at the moment

 

Don't reckon the one from my donor truck would be a match either. looks like yours is longer than stretch armstrong and runs through the firewall? Mine does neither of those things. It's about 43" long, coil on one end, crook on the other. You could try dripping a penetrating fluid on it. Hang up vertically, and I'd probably use a plastic bottle with a hole drilled in the lid and a rope stuffed down to the bottom of it, then hung down and wrapped around the end of the cable so it wicks up the rope and onto the cable and down into said cable. I'd probably just use diesel as well, but I have it on hand and it's quite a bit cheaper than my favorite libation.

 

We were just using the rust penetrating WD 40 and after 4 days of repeated soaking and today really working the cable it finally broke free. Now we need to flush the WD40 out and lube the cable. I'm very glad it finally worked it free as everywhere I was calling the only ones who had cables were all seized or broken.

 

I found a couple that were mis-shelved at ebay. That would probably work, depending on how different the 70's models were. One more looked just like it, just without the retainers and the grommet. Yours wouldn't happen to be 62" long would it? Found one more, NOS still in the plastic, hard to look at it, but I have a good feeling about it, depending on if the seller gets back with me. I don't know if his eyes are any better than mine, but he can get his closer. If it is, or pretty close, I'll post it here. It was like $18 shipped if I'm remembering right, I did look at a lot of them though, so can't be sure.

 

Okay thanks, I don't know the length of the cable as it's at my parents place right now

 

After a lot of ongoing struggles the cable did free up, and after cleaning it up inside we were able to lube it properly and it is working again. Thank you so much for everyone who offered help and advice, these cables really are a pain to try and track down though.