water valve

[pcoleman]

hi all, i'm contemplating draining and flushing the cooling system the next half decent weekend (probably august then) 2 questions, do the thermostat housing bolts tend to come out easy or put up a fight to the death and is there a way of helping them out, say by trying to get penetrating oil down the iffy bits.the brass water valve on the side of the heater matrix is stuck on "hot" so no surprise there then, but i will sort it when the system's flushed. is it fixable or bin it, buy a new one and spend the saved time and stress in the pub. :?



any idease guys. pete.c

[TimShoubridge]

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I sheared the bolt off when I changed the thermostat . I wasn't heavy handed either. However, the remaining part came out with mole grips easily enough.

I have to do the heater valve too.....putting it off as I don't mind a hot leg, and with the roof down I forget about it.

[StagnJag]

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Mine came out without any problem. The threads were pretty rusty though.

D

[EFI Stag]

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Hi pete,

if you do not need to change the themostat i would be tempted to drain and flush by disconnecting the top hose instead as it is less chance of any problems .

I added water wetter when i drained and refilled it seems to run cooler.

hope that helps Martin.

[pcoleman]

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thanks for the tips guys, looked at the bolts this morning and got one to move one flat quite easily so all bodes well for an easy removal ( I may live to regret saying that ) I bought some water wetter from stoneleigh and plan to bung this in on the refill,glad to hear it does actually do what it says on the tin. think i will buy a new valve anyway to save potential hassle. plan to refill with 50/50 mix of glycol basedantifreeze/distilled water plus the water wetter,anyone think I should increase the ratio of antifreeze ?

thanks. pete.c

[dogsnadgers]

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I would say a maximum of 30-35% of antifreeze to water, water is better than antifreeze at cooling and 35% is plenty to help prevent corrosion and of course freezing.

The heater valves don't normally need replacing, just a clean and re-assembling with a smear of petroleum jelly.

Dave

[John]

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Even if you buy a new valve, you'll still have to get the old one out, which is the tricky bit if it's stuck fast. Once out, a good cleanup should sort it out - I wouldn't bother with a new one unless it's completely mangled. Mine was stuck fast once, I tried various penetrating oils, cobbled together a kind of puller with a long bolt all to no avail. Eventually I removed the whole heater and got a blow torch on it to get it to expand enough to pull out. If you have to resort to that, take it easy as you really don't want to melt the solder keeping the matrix water tight! Good luck.

[nib]

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Hi pcoleman,screw a thin longbolt into the heater valve middle thread and with a pair of decent thin nose molegrips grab hold of the bolt and turn clockwise,hopefully this should loosen it,but do remember once youve put it back with vaseline on it you must put the heater control mechanisms back on to stop it popping out when you warm up in traffic jam.

On the thermostat job its always handy to have a helicoil kit handy just in case, especially as I think they are the same thread as on the inlet manifold bolts which are also prone to stripping.

[NickA]

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nib wrote:

Hi pcoleman,screw a thin longbolt into the heater valve middle thread and with a pair of decent thin nose molegrips grab hold of the bolt and turn clockwise,hopefully this should loosen it,but do remember once youve put it back with vaseline on it you must put the heater control mechanisms back on to stop it popping out when you warm up in traffic jam.

On the thermostat job its always handy to have a helicoil kit handy just in case, especially as I think they are the same thread as on the inlet manifold bolts which are also prone to stripping.

Be careful pulling on the valve. I did this and pulled the whole valve assembly off the heater matrix. Not an expensive repair but you be need to take the dash out to get the heater out, then strip the heater down to get at the matrix.

New valves don't fit, at least the one I bought didn't, it was way too big. I just cleaned up the old one.

Nick

[nib]

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Thats why I said turn it opposed to pulling,once its moving you start pulling,done this job on 3 of my four stags no trouble.