Community Forums:

March 2004: above is the kit that arrived from FCP Groton (great place). I used all the parts except for the smaller of the two hoses (the one to the left).

I didn't use the instructions either. I'm not sure what they were written for, but it wasn't for installing this valve! Perhaps I should have suspected there were going to be problems when the first sentence began "Open up the motorhood and sqeeze the hoses with hosetongs or likewise."

Okay, I didn't photograph everything, so you can figure out the small details like removing kick panels, draining coolant, etc.

The original heater valve has a capillary tube that runs up inside the fan housing. Remove the rubber sealing grommet and then pull the tube out of the fan housing when removing the valve.

Replace the grommet in the fan housing (you can see it in the mirror). This will keep all the air from spilling on your feet.

The two screws in the above photo stick out about 1/2" and made it difficult to remove the hose clamps. After I got the hoses off, I cut off the points with a moto-tool. There is a plastic cover over the gas pedal arm that removes with three screws and gives you much better access to the hose clamps.

The original valve bracket pulls out to the left. I had to give it quite a tug, holding it with a visegrip.

Start assembling the new valve by connecting the cable. I found out that the cable tube needed to be positioned close to the clip. This was necessary in order for the other end of the cable tube to be properly positioned at the heater slide control on the center console.

Here's the assembled valve ready to install in the car. The included instructions give absolutely no idea how the parts go together. I would have given anything for this picture when I started! The sheet metal screw holding the white nylon hose clamp had a torx head. Use another screw if you don't have a torx driver.

I elected to replace the cabin heater hoses at this time. Take the radio out (mine was mounted high) and remove the speaker grille to gain access to the clamps on the heater core.

Here the valve is almost in position, but it needs to be pushed further in (towards the right side of the car). You can see the brace that needs to come out for the valve to go in.

Behind the brace is an "ear". I was able to slide the cable under it and push the valve into place. If it's tight, you might need to bend the "ear" slightly to get clearance.

I made sure when I connected the cable to the slide control it was a little biased on the off side. In other words, I adjusted it so the valve closed before the slider reached the off position. This way assures a complete shutoff so the air conditioning isn't fighting the heater.

Here's a photo of the finished installation. I didn't button it up until the coolant was refilled and a leak check performed.

The valve works quite well, completely shutting off the hot water to the core in the closed position.