heinrich

I just bought and installed the one John Speake reportedly recommended, the Grand Caravan one. It looks MUCH better than any of the others. It vacuum fitting is the right size; it is not an arm-mechanical unit; it is plastic which is better for rust and weight and it works. Cheers Mr Speake Oh and I found that the vacuum fitting at the driver's fuel damper was pulled out. Double plus!!! Btw the metal/plastic unit (that I pulled out) is a disc-door swivel close type. Only problem wit the unit I just installed is that the fittings are pretty small od.

Nicole

Enzo/Hacker/Eric: It was explained to me that when the supercharged or turbocharged engines spool up quickly, the pressure/velocity of the water in the lines also changes quickly, and can danage a plastic valve.

I don't claim to have any experience in this, or be an expert - just said what I was told. I guess you could call it "hearsay", and therefore disqualify it until someone repeats it who has had first hand experience.

Bill Ball

Jeez, what are you guys doing to these things? My original valve failed about 4 years ago after 14 years. The second one is still doing fine.

IcemanG17

I have the all metal one.....I bought it from Carl years ago....it works great....only thing is the nipple is a touch smaller than the factory one...so it took a zip tie to tigthen up the old rubber elbow to make it not leak!

docmirror

Thanks for the info, but when you do this, please post the year, model or part number of the lookup so we don't all have to hunt. Photo is nice, but it won't get me what I want when I'm at the counter asking for an 'Audi heater valve'.

Jim M.

NAPA P/N BK 6601410 (83 Audi 5000 heater valve, same NAPA p/n listed for the '94 Grand Caravan 3.3L) had a Balkamp label with a metal plunger instead of a swing arm and is well made. The 3/4" is a better match than the 5/8”; Factory Air makes this P/N 74671. http://www.factoryairtemp.com Any aftermarket valve must be open to flow out of the box, applying vacuum closes it. P/N 928.574.573.03, VW P/N 431-819-809-A.

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

docmirror

Thanks Jim, ectually, I'm on the partsamerica site and for the 94 Grand Caravan 3.3L this is the result I got:

Visteon Heater Control Valve

Part Number: 410073


But I did find the correct one using the Audi info.

Imo000

Nice theory but I don’t buy it. The valve can’t be that fragile.

heinrich

The OEM heater valve is fragile. The plastic disc inside cannot handle much and does NOT seal 100%.

Bill Ball

To say the factory valve cannot seal 100% is exaggerating the problem. It can fail subtly and leak enough to raise vent temp versus ambient and interfere with AC cooling. I had that happen. So, yes, it was not sealing 100%, and it was not an obvious failure (full heat all the time). I replaced it with another OEM valve 4 years ago, and the replacement has been working just fine with 100% seal or close enough that there is no affect on vent air temp versus ambient or AC (my AC will blow 20F).

Earl Gillstrom

The failure with the origonal 928 valve that I have seen is a black plastic or rubber valve seal is twisted up inside the valve allowing a little coolant through. The AC can not overcome this little leak into the heater. Some of the old valves last a long time. The newer ones seem to last about a year. It sure looks like a quality control problem to me.

heinrich

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductL...pe=394&PTSet=A

Doc:
The black Enterprise-looking one (all plastic) is what I bought. It is the 4th type I am trying after all the other and looks promising.

Bill Ball

Ah, OK, judging by the dissatisfaction here, that could be it. I suppose I've just been lucky or got my replacement before the quality slipped.

Erling G-P

Bill, I have hot air coming from the vents if the AC is off, even if the temp slider is placed at '18'. In addition, the AC doesn't cool as much as I would like it to.
Driving at fair speed seems to help, but right after starting with a hot engine, the air is really warm. Could this be an indication of the same problem you had ?

Cheers,
Erling

Bill Ball

H'man:

The linky doesn't work without your cookie. This one? Part 74803