TheoJ

Hi,
jst to add to what has already been said: in my experience a warm water valve that leaks just a bit typically leads to hot air from the center vent, coming from the lower left conner in the vent grill. When the valve does not close at all you will have hot air spreading over the entire center vent area.
The valve sometimes closes well but does not seal properly and leaks under pressure. There's a tiny teflon like seal inside which sometimes gets misplaced and causes the valve to leak.
Oh and... I've seen people put the valve in, but in the wrong way. It is a oneway valve with an arrow on it.
regards,
Theo

the flyin' scotsman

I spent quite sometime in France on business in the Chartres area where there's a BMW and Mercedes dealers............perhaps they or similar can get you a mityvac.

gigi02

Voila. This explains the title of my post. The mystery with the center vent.

Malcolm thanks for the tip on the radiator.

Whilst at it did anyone ever attempt to repair the water valve or is this impossible or waste of time given the value of the new part?. The teflon part that gets misplaced mentioned by Theo made me think about some surgery.

TheoJ

Gigi02, forget it. It's been glued together as two parts I think. I tried to open and investigate, but ended up trashing it to have a good look inside. The part is not too expensive, and I always keep a spare in my parts bin. You know why? Especially in the summer time this leaking valve can be annoying as it tries to undo the work of the AC.
Greetings to Amicale in France,

the flyin' scotsman

here's a thought............if you don't need heat take your water valve out and glue it shut thus permenantly closing and sealing all hot air from getting into the car. When the weather cools you then fit a new operational valve.

Tony has a good write up: http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/summer.htm

gigi02

Hmmm... Thanks Malcolm. The last time we had Vegas heat over here back in 2004, 10,000 people died (not a joke). So far we seem not to have closed the winter. We even had some snow last week. My daughter had to go through a rapid countersteering course coming back from an otherwise eventless ride. So I will order a couple of these valves and set myself to replace my defunct part. I will probably seal the old valve just in case we do get summer some day.

the flyin' scotsman

I know, I was there but thankfully the hotel had full a/c.

The water valves are not expensive; $25 so you could have both new and a sealed old unit............bon chance

gigi02

Greetings sent to the French Amicale.

soupcan

I'll join in the with all these HVAC problems recently, Just checked my water valve and it's not holding vacuum. Wire tied it closed until I can get time to fix it.

gigi02

Well, I received the water pump(s) yesterday and installed it. No huge coolant leak.All is back to normal and I wanted to thank Alan, Theo, Malcom and all the others in helping me solve this. Thanks a bunch guys!!!!

PS: And yes the old pump was leaking in closed position.