oups59

The heater valve quit this week-end Again !! It will the third one in three years. It is not vacuum related - it hold vacuum without problem. It looks like the valve does not close perfectly.

Is there a better solution instead of the OEM part (plastic)?

I saw that some of you use the NAPA/Audi 5000 part (metal). Is it longer lasting?

I also saw on John Pirtle's website that he use one from a minivan. Do you know what minivan he is referring to?

Nicole

I did a write-up recently when I replaced all my coolant hoses. I also compared the two valves.

The Audi valve can be made to work, and 928 Motorsports offers another alternative. There were some concerns about introducing metal into the coolant cycle, but for the guys with their superchargers the plastic valve just doesn't seem to be working - at least not for very long.

Do a search here! Best of luck!!!

Alan

Yes - check out Carl's metal valve - I plan to install one next time I have the airbox off.

Alan

heinrich

I have gone through two of the metal ones Alan. One is brand new and defective (not from Carl but I know they are the same).

ROG100

Does the metal one have a plastic flap to close off the flow just like the original OEM plastic one?
If so why would it last longer?

ckabee1

He listed the heater valve as for a '94 Grand Caravan 3.3L, NAPA PN: BK 6601410

I'm going to install one this weekend...

Alan

Well - there are 2 problems as I understand it...

1) They fail internally and allow hot water though when they shouldn't

2) They fail externally and dump all the coolant

I'd assume the metal ones would be improved for case 2? - even if they may become non-functional for the case 1 in a similar manner....?

H what have you found...? I was obviously hoping for a solution to both issues...

Alan

heinrich

Roger, the older nla metal one used a pushrod. The newer one uses a plastic thing just like our OEM one. And my air is hot, despite having the arm all the way pulled up.

heinrich

Alan yes the metal ones seem to fail internally and while vacuumed fully, they let water through

oups59

The one for the Audi looks like this (pushrod ???):



The hybrid one (metal-plastic)

heinrich

Thanks Luc. My Audi part failed, and the other one I just installed is failed out of the box.

Larry928GTS

Three of the original plastic type ones in three years? After I went through two of those in two years, I put in one of the metal ones, like the first one pictured in post #10. That was probably 5-6 years ago, maybe more. It's still working fine. The plastic ones I had would hold vacuum, but the body would warp so that the piece inside couldn't fully close to shut off all the water flow. Both of my plastic ones failed that same way.

oups59

I took a look at prices for the different types

the Audi type (all metal)

Napa USA : $15.99 USD
Napa Canada : $62.99 CDN
partsamerica : $5.99


Hybrid type:

partsamerica : $19.88

OEM type:

NAPA USA : $34.99
Autopartsway.ca : $30.00 CDN

hacker-pschorr

Most of the 50+ supercharger installs Murf & Carl have shipped are on cars with the stock plastic valve (including mine). This is the first I've heard about it being a problem. I'm going on year three with mine.

If the introduction of a supercharger causes anything with the coolant system to fail, something was already not functioning correctly before the blower. The only way a supercharger will cause a collant system failure is if your headgasket is bad, causing the coolant system to become pressurized by the supercharger. An all metal heater valve will not solve this issue, might cover it up for a while until something else blows.

I cannot speak for the owners with positive displacement cars. I'm pretty sure Rick Carter's car has the stock heater valve. Woked fine on the track during 85+ degree track events.

Jim R.

[QUOTE=Enzo;4543147]Most of the 50+ supercharger installs Murf & Carl have shipped are on cars with the stock plastic valve (including mine). This is the first I've heard about it being a problem. I'm going on year three with mine.

If the introduction of a supercharger causes anything with the coolant system to fail, something was already not functioning correctly before the blower. The only way a supercharger will cause a collant system failure is if your headgasket is bad, causing the coolant system to become pressurized by the supercharger. An all metal heater valve will not solve this issue, might cover it up for a while until something else blows.

+1 here.

3+ year old stock plastic valve, plenty of boost for most of that time, no issues here.

Jim