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  Soarer Central * Mechanical - Common * Heater doesn't work, fixing the VSV. Previous Previous    Next Next  

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Aiden Cheese
DieHard
QLD
Soarer jzz30

Posts: 643
Reg: 09-2009

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Monday, July 05, 2010 - 09:13 pm, by:  Aiden Cheese (Chillpen) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've looked around this forum but I've noticed a trend. When searching for threads, there are a lot of new threads which just say "Search for *the term i was searching for*".

This time I was searching for terms like:

"Fix heater"
"Heater VSV"
"VSV bypass"
"Fixing the VSV"
"Climate control"
"Cold heater"
"No heat"

and plenty more and honestly I got a lot of threads with no information just asking the opening poster to search for the thread themselves. This isn't bad advice in itself but it does mean that by saying that, and giving them the terms to search, the search now picks up that thread too.

My solution? Create a new thread with the answers! This way we even up the "useless threads" with another useful one.

Okay first and foremost lets link some of the existing threads to give some credit:

Bypassing the VSV. This is a good way to check to see if the VSV is at fault or you're cold and don't need to really use the aircon anymore. If you bypass the VSV you won't be able to stop hot air coming in though, so people in northern states be warned that it may not be useful (i tend to use the aircon during the day in winter!). But the fix is very easy and very quick and required nothing special.
http://soarercentral.com/sc-forum/messages/31680/52297.html

Upload


(previously people talked about http://soarercentral.com/alsc-forum/messages/3/47992.html link but something has changed since that ancient link (mostly its sc-forum not alsc-forum) and so it doesn't work directly linked anymore.

You've determined by bypassing the VSV that the VSV is the fault. What now? For some people they can replace the VSV, it is rumoured that a camry VSV will work but the connections will have to be redone. They don't plug up neatly. But anyone with soldering experience should understand how to fix that.
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=79111#POST79111
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=74803#POST74803
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=297933#POST297933
Camry VSV Toyota part # 88690-32280.
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=244224#POST244224


Your heater isn't working even after you've bypassed the VSV and your cabin isn't filling with coolant.. you may have instead accidentally swapped around the one way valve which sits inline before the VSV. On the line between the intake manifold and the VSV assembly there is a "joiner" which is actually a 1 way valve to stop your boost from leaking out your VSV:
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=168276#POST168276

You're especieally clever and you've checked your error code, you have a number. But what does that mean?
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=16046#POST16046

Upload


Upload



You've bypassed the VSV but you still have no hot air? You can get hot air to come out only if you rev it or drive at high speed? You're driving a V8? It's possible you have an air lock! Bleed the thermostat by opening the bolt on top and feeding water into it.
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=21115#POST21115

If your heater still isn't working then the previous owner *may* have blocked it off. There's always a chance a leak has occurred in the heater matrix and it'll cause your cabin to fill up with coolant! You're probably out of luck to fix this one other than replace the pipes and heater core which requires pulling out the whole dash which is a huge job. I mean really huge. Check by trying to feed water into the pipe after the VSV and watch it come out.. If you can't feed water into it, if it just flows out where you're putting it in, then you've got a block. Although there is a chance it could be cleared by reverse flushing.
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=21101#POST21101
Sometimes you can only get bad news:
http://soarercentral.com/cgi-bin/sc-forum/show.cgi?tpc=31680&post=143783#POST143783



Whew, thanks the past! However there have been rumours of people who have been able to fix their VSV but "pics or it didn't happen" is my motto on the internet.

Anyway so I've pulled my entire "VSV" collective out. It's basically 3 parts. The electronically controlled vacuum valve which feeds a mechanism which turns the power of vacuum to movement forces which opens a valve in the heater tap.


Top of this pic shows the Vacuum lines, one in to the electrical switched unit. The other goes to the spring/vacuum powered pulling mechanism


At the bottom of that spring/vacuum chamber unit you can see where it attaches a puller to the heater tap.


Here is the inlet to the heater tap, to the left is inlet from the block. You can just see that the heater tap has a little circle on the bottom. When the vacuum/spring pulls on the lever that rotates opening the flow of water into the heater matrix through the bottom pipe.


Anyway to clean that up, mine was feeling very sticky (perhaps why mine isn't working?) i used some RP7 (similar to wd40) to shoot into the spring/vacuum and the rod which pulls the lever. I manually by hand pushed and pulled it and then tested it by sucking (maybe not recommended at least without a beer on standby to rinse out the wd40) on the top vacuum hose directly and watching the lever move.

The next bit I wanted to get a look at was the initial point of vacuum entry.

This I didn't understand at all, my only assumption with the electrical cabling to it was that it was what opened and closed the vacuum to the heater. I wasn't sure if it was functioning but i pulled it apart as best I could

Unclip the metal bracket by squeezing in those weird looking V's :


You can see here the V's are squeezed on the far side but not the close side.


Pull out the cylinder and then you can remove the back.


That was about all I could do, I don't know how it functions exactly. I thought that if pressure builds up (maybe between the spring/vacuum bit) it'll push in that silver spring then exhaust out the pressure via the little filter on the back.

Now you know as much as I do!

Well that's all I've done today. I'll have to look at doing the rest tomorrow. I'm not sure if i fixed anything at this point but it looks like it should work as long as that electronic actuator bit still does because mechanically the rest still behaves as it should now that i've cleaned it up and lubricated it a tiny bit.

I'll add more detail when they come but hopefully this thread may help some people who start searching and want a bit of an index of where to look.

Oh one last thing, there is a brass looking piece in my vacuum hose between the electronic actuator and the vacuum/spring bit.
.

A small end on the vacuum/spring side:


Large end on the electronic side:


It's not very long:


My assumption here is that this bit works to slow the rate of vacuum change. That is, if you are idling away with large vacuum and then suddenly gas it, your intake will suddenly go from -20psi to 0psi quickly but your heater tap probably doesn't really like sudden and quick changes. So this restricts the air movement and therefore changes in PSI happen more gradually from the vacuum/spring mechanism.
Aiden Cheese
DieHard
QLD
Soarer jzz30

Posts: 645
Reg: 09-2009

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Tuesday, July 06, 2010 - 01:54 pm, by:  Aiden Cheese (Chillpen) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

For the bypassing VSV:

- Checks whether or not the VSV is at fault
- Gives heat to the car
- Good thing to look for if you can't get your car cool, if instead it stays hot/warm all the time.

Before - The vacuum hose runs to the VSV and then to the vacuum/spring bit:


After - The vacuum hose now runs directly to the vacuum/spring bit:


Note: the green water was just to make sure the hose was actually flowing (lol). I don't recommend taking the heater pipe off while the car is running, you can introduce an airlock or you can just plain make a mess :-)
James Harris
Goo Roo
QLD
GT Starlet

Posts: 3517
Reg: 07-2005

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Tuesday, July 06, 2010 - 03:15 pm, by:  James Harris (Haro) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


Aiden, I take my hat off to you mate, fantastic thread with plenty of good info.

I remember playing this game a while ago. I ended up just leaving it bypassed for winter so it was always warm... and swapped it back for Summer ! haha.
Steven Anderson
TryHard
NSW
UZZ31 Manual

Posts: 474
Reg: 05-2006

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Wednesday, July 07, 2010 - 03:17 pm, by:  Steven Anderson (Cusscuss) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

oh sure, post it now after I had to figure it out for myself (and by that I mean call Niall and whinge at him :-) )

Good work.
Daniel Clarke
Goo Roo
NSW
TT 2.5L 6 cylinder

Posts: 5860
Reg: 03-2006

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Wednesday, July 07, 2010 - 10:52 pm, by:  Daniel Clarke (Dieseltrain) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Awsome . 1st thing in morning before going to work is swap vac lines over . SO damn cold atm !!!

Awsome thread , Thanks heaps for taking the time .
Aiden Cheese
DieHard
QLD
Soarer jzz30

Posts: 668
Reg: 09-2009

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Thursday, July 08, 2010 - 02:29 am, by:  Aiden Cheese (Chillpen) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


Steven Anderson wrote on Wednesday, July 07, 2010 - 03:17 pm:

oh sure, post it now after I had to figure it out for myself


Lol sorry mate, but all the info was already around here just felt like it needed a tidy up in one neat thread to solve all those questions that I could.

Daniel Clarke wrote on Wednesday, July 07, 2010 - 10:52 pm:

Awsome thread , Thanks heaps for taking the time .


No worries mate, was no skin off my back to put all the searching I was already doing into a new thread and add a couple of pictures for a reference.

James Harris wrote on Tuesday, July 06, 2010 - 03:15 pm:

I ended up just leaving it bypassed for winter so it was always warm


Yeah as you should. Honestly though, the transmission during a semi-hard run seems to warm the entire centre console and keeps the air in the cabin warm. But I found that unless there's dry air blowing on the front windshield I couldn't stop my breath from misting up the screen. So really I looked into it because I didn't want to use the aircon cooling as a demister :-)

But that said - with the VSV bypassed in winter, the outside air IS very cool, making the aircon pretty damn good at cooling the heater. I've found that bypassing it can actually still put out quite cool air on cold. Which is nice during winter days, but obviously as summer wanes and spring comes in again it'll need reversing as the outside temp rises.

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