valleygoat

Hi Guys! I've owned my '83 944 for almost exactly a year now! I'm brand new to the forum, and thought I'd start it by asking a question of you guys, how thoughtful of me. I bought her for $3800, and I've put maybe $3k into her over the last year (waterpump, timing belt, master and slave cylinder, catalytic converter, spark plugs and some vacuum leaks). I'm not car savvy enough to do any work myself, nor do I have the tools but I'm ready to start learning. Any help would be great, I'm mainly looking for reassurance that these are the most likely problems/solutions I'm facing, if I can do it myself as a 100% complete beginner, never worked on a car before (very willing to learn by youtube), and where I can find a junkyard for a new steering wheel. I live in Ventura/LA county.

I've done some research the last couple weeks for the issues I'm having, and they all have to do with heat/cooling of some sort.

Problem 1. My heater only blows hot air, and it ****ing burns my feet. Now my research says it's the HVAC, which I've looked at and the arm is all the way to the right and moving the heat lever doesn't move it at all. I honestly think the cable is broken, but looking for a 2nd opinion if I can fix that myself.

2. My radiator fans. If I'm cruising at 70mph, my engine temp will stay between the 2nd and 3rd notch. However, if I'm idling, sometimes it stays between 2nd and 3rd notch, but sometimes it gets REALLY hot and will creep into the "red zone" before I turn the car off, open the hood and furiously use a book to blow air into it to cool it down (half kidding). I've had to skip a few drive-thrus because I'm worried my car will overheat just sitting there, it has to be moving. I've also noticed that my radiator fan runs for hours sometimes after I turn my car off, and it's drained my battery a couple of times (it only took a car that wouldn't start 3 times to make that connection). The left (driver's side) fan runs on low/medium after the car is off, and I honestly don't think I've ever seen the right side radiator fan run. Research says this is either a thermoswitch, or a fan relay? Hoping I can do this myself as well!

Just looking for reassurance and some help, thanks for the help and sorry for the wall of text!

odonnell

Fan switch is probably bad,

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...eg.%2520C%2520

and for the heater cable you can remove the center console cluster (the vertical part) and see if the levers are attached to the cables.

Van

The heater valve at the back of the engine is probably bad.

I'd also make sure the coolant is properly bled.

Tiger03447

Turn the AC on if you want the right fan to run. The fan is supposed to run to cool down the head after you turn off the engine. If the fan switch is bad, it will drain your battery, just what is happening now. S/H has it right. So does Van. BTW, to properly bleed the air out of the system, you have to jack up the back of the car to get all the air out. The bleeder is the little plug on top of the water outlet housing..Since your kinda new here, you can get a CD or perhaps download the PET which is the parts manual. You can also purchase a workshop manual on a CD or download it..or watch Clark's garage on Pelican parts...

odonnell

Another good place to jack it up is the driver side, and make sure the heater core is open when you bleed. This makes the expansion tank the "high point" of the system, so the bleeder is more effective. Just pour coolant mix into the tank until it starts to run out of the bleeder and then close the bleeder. Bled in 5 minutes. Run car to temp and repeat.

valleygoat

Hey thanks everyone for your help!


I did some browing, and I noticed there are different degrees for the fan switches. What do these degrees mean? The one you linked is 92, But I see a lot that are 75, 85 etc. Are they important?

odonnell

That's the temperature (of the coolant) at which the switch will activate the fans. So the lower the number, the further down on your temp gauge the fans will come on. I always ran the 75 C one but I had 4 failures in under 2 years. No idea if it has anything to do with the temp rating, maybe I just have bad luck.

Alex Sol

Is there a simple fix for the hot feet issues? Hvac on full hot in middle of summer not fun

V2Rocket

If you find yourself stuck and need a hand sometime, send me a PM...I live in Northridge.

If you need stuff done, I can save you a lot versus going to a shop. I do a lot of work on 944s for people around LA/SD, and have been doing so since 2008...

BoulderGeek

I have a second gen '86 model, but I went through the unexpected heat thing this summer. When the heat goes on, does it not also come out of the dash vents?

My problem was fixed with the little plastic clips for the HVAC servo motors and their metal retaining springs. This is the spring, but the rod support brackets may be out of stock again: http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/..._pg1.htm#item2 If you look at the diagram, they are the supports marked 13.

I replaced those supports and the actuator servos closed the heater off and allowed the AC to work properly.

I also went down the road of getting ready to replace the heater control valve and hoses. I will do this at some point, since i have all of the parts to replace the HCV with the metal Audi 100 unit. See Clarks Garage and guides here on heater control valve replacement.

Alex Sol

Thanks for the info. I suspect he heat would come in the feet and on the upper vents as well but they were more noticeable at the feet. I will get into the clarks garage website and dig into these fixes. I'll check the springs first.

NoRush993/951

Could also be the interior temp sensor. 94465312100