First of all, it took me two weeks to find that i had a leak coming from my heater control valve. The hose that goes from it to the head blew up on a trip to college world (i managed to fix that one on the road and make it the additional 100 miles without any engine damage or further overheating). Needless to say, the car continued to leak water even after my fix and it took me some good drives and some hose squeezings to find the error at hand.

So, to the point. My heater control valve is busted. I don't know how or what is excatly wrong with it, all i know is that it is leaking water from the top part (directly above the vacuum hose fitting). What is this part for?
Now that i have to wait till thursday for the new one to come in (i'll talk about that in a bit), if it does completely blow can i jury-rig a hose from the head directly to the upper heater core connector? I figured this would just constantly give me hot air during my drives and that it probably take a bit longer for my car to heat up (am i right?).

And about this new part...It took me forever to find out what the this was called because it looks so different from the part i have to order. My part seems to have the valve itself and the vacuum part all within the overall part. The new part has the vacuum part almost seperated from the valve. One of the hose couplings (the one going into the heater core) connects about 3/4 of an inch above the other, while the new part has them right across from each other. Mine is also all plastic and the vacuum hose is a great deal smaller than the one on the new part. Whats up with this???

I figure my current piece of crap is far different than the original because it was assemblemed in Ol`Mexico. Strange. Anyway, i hope i can drive the school each day before the leak becomes to great. I'll carry additional water supplies just incase i need to.

If you can, answer any of the questions i posed. Thanks.

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-Brandon at FSU '88 744ti 147k miles