Check Your Heater Valve

[1shot1kill]

I have got to make a list and call Dan, again!

 

[Taildragon]

I just saw this thread, I was wheeling with a lx450 last weekend and the right side of the heater valve gave way, (losing tons of coolant) when we removed the left side hose from the fitting it just collapsed completely. I know mine must be just as brittle. Time for some more pm.

 

[Prophecy]

Yeah this was a very unexpected break. I have changed my hoses (3 years ago when purchased), and coolant (flushed every season). This part is VERY easy to check (2 mins. with a flathead screwdriver or pair of pliers) but I did'nt do it :whoops:, due to changing everything else, it looked fine to me. It is right at the top of the firewall in the center. At least pull one side and check it before your out wheeling and everyone has to use all there drinking water just to try to get you back to camp (over 2 gallons).Mine just blew apart under less then 1.5k rpm's.

This could be you.....

YouTube - Prophecy1426's Channel


Jeremy

 

[80t0ylc]

.......
This could be you.....

YouTube - Prophecy1426's Channel


Jeremy

Who's in the engine compartment, is that you? Hope you didn't damage the plastic top tank of your radiator with your right knee. Back of engine compartment fixes have always have always bordered on contortionist territory with an 80. I have a couple of 2 x 6 x 60" boards that I use for working back there. The ARB is the indispensable part of this. With the hood open, you can put one end on the cowl (vent by windshield) and rest the other end on top of the ARB. You can use to lay on or just support your body with your arms and move them where you need them. No problem around the garage and easy to store in the back for outings if your rig is in questionable shape or you're OCD, like me, about breaking things. Just put them on the floor under all your other gear.

 

[Prophecy]

No actually that was Rob under the hood (who btw can fix just about anything ). I was the one in the blue shirt with the dumb look on my face and the Marine haircut. The rad. that was in there was actually metal on top ( I believe cuase the new one isnt near the same), I believe it had been replaced before.

Thankfully I was with a group of folks from MUD, that knew what was going on and anyone of them I'm pretty sure could have taken care of the issue. It is a real problem though, and should be treated as such. I hope that folks go check this part before they don't end up as lucky as I did with help right behind me. Thanks again to everyone that was there, and for all your drinking water!

Jeremy

 

[george_tlc]

Took our yearly trip up to Oregon (Umpqua dunes) and was out playing on the dunes. My youngest (11) was driving and I was looking over at the gauges and saw the temp gauge above its normal spot. Told my son to drive to a flat area on the dunes and the temp climbed a bit more. Told him to stop and shutdown the engine and I hopped out and saw steam coming from the engine bay... not a good sight...

Popped the hood and steam pouring from the heater valve area. Figured the clamp may be loose (unlikely) and gave it a poke and the hose was moving around. Sure enough, total failure of the heater valve inlet as can be seen from the following picture (after I had bypassed the valve with some Gates heater hose):

Fortunately I had a decent length of heater hose in the tool box, so only took about 10 minutes to bypass the valve. Worst case I would have had to fossick around for an appropriate branch, trim it and then use it to plug the two hose ends.

The dunes have a lot of fresh water and this year there was more than typical - lots of rain recently. So, sent the older boy out with a gallon jug to collect fresh water from the lakes. Took 2 gallons to refill the cooling system.

All good to go and we continued our dune trip and sightseeing for the rest of the week. Headed back down to norcal (about 550 miles) Friday. Cooling system all happy and a new heater valve waiting for us when we got home care of cdan.

Anyhow, our 80 (1997) was bought new and I've serviced the cooling system with toyota red + distilled water on a regular basis. I even replaced the hoses about 2 years ago and the heater valve inlet/outlet looked in great condition then.

So, given this sudden & catastrophic failure mode I'd HIGHLY recommend that folk replace their heater valves soon or at the very least keep a couple of feet of heater hose in their tool box...

cheers,
george.

 

[wxm]

I even replaced the hoses about 2 years ago and the heater valve inlet/outlet looked in great condition then.

Wow. Guess we will have to keep a long hoses in the truck now! If checking every two years is not good enough, suppose we will have to replace it sooner. Anyway idea how much the heater valve costs?

 

[arndog123]

I bought my heater valve from gotmud last year and it was about $80.

 

[george_tlc]

Wow. Guess we will have to keep a long hoses in the truck now! If checking every two years is not good enough, suppose we will have to replace it sooner. Anyway idea how much the heater valve costs?

About $60 from cdan. You may as well get the inlet hose at the same time. Total (for valve + inlet hose) with shipping comes to around $85.

Heater valve part # is 87240-60170
and the bent inlet hose # is 87245-60480

Yeah, never hurts to have some spare hose in the tool box.

I was quite shocked to see the valve fail so suddenly after being inspected not that long ago. I imagine it also sees some stresses applied to it from the hose, given that the valve is mounted to the body/firewall and the inlet hose is mounted to the engine. Presumably each time the engine torques on the engine mounts it applies some forces to the valve that 'help' it break apart on the inlet side.

cheers,
george.

 

[petveedub]

I just replaced my heater hoses with green stripe a couple of weekends ago, and the heater valve was fine. I guess I will look into replacing it though if I'm looking at an unforeseeable failure.

I bypassed my phh with the green stripe routed around the brake booster. If my heater valve were to fail, I would have plenty of hose to reroute back to where the phh metal pipe was, and connect directly to the metal "U" shaped pipe.

 

[1FZj80]

Replaced mine last summer. The internal ball valve was leaking, therefore it was like the heater was always on The cabin is now a lot cooler on thoes hot days.

Also, replaced the thermostat at the same time and engine temps were reduced by 5-7F cooler.

Both are good PM.

 

[Kernal]

Mine also let loose without any warning in the dead of winter. The right side plastic pipe/nipple of the heater valve snapped off just as I accelerated from a stop light.

 

[Johnny Utah]

When I replaced my PHH I ran the hose (green silicone!) all the way to the heater valve. When I removed the old hose about half of the nipple came with it...this will be replaced soon as these stories aren't so nice.

 

[BirfMark]

When I replaced my PHH I ran the hose (green silicone!) all the way to the heater valve. When I removed the old hose about half of the nipple came with it...this will be replaced soon as these stories aren't so nice.

I ran into this same problem yesterday. The PO of my rig had told me he had replaced the PHH, and after inspection, I found this:

I went ahead and repaired the PHH properly with a kit from 1fzfephh.com - a silicon hose with constant torque clamps. While the zip-tie was holding, it was only a matter of time before it failed and the hose started leaking.

While working to replace the PHH hose, I removed the stainless steel tube that connects the PHH to the heater valve. When I removed the bent elbow heater hose off the heater valve, the end of the valve crumbled & disintegrated:

Thankfully I had reconnected my rear heater before last winter, and in doing so, I got a second heater valve along with the hoses I needed from a fellow 'Mudder. The spare heater valve I had looked to be in much better condition than mine which had broken down. I pressed on the nipple ends, and none of them felt the least bit brittle. Only time will tell how long this used replacement will last though; I may end up ordering a new replacement to exchange this one before it fails too. Here's the spare I ended up putting in:

And a side by side of the two valves:

Just a an additional heads up - it seems as though timing is coming due on these parts beginning to fail more & more commonly.

 

[zooman61]

My heater valve failed today during a beach run on the west side of galveston island! just did the phh/flush 2 or three weeks a go. removed the metal line and replaced with gates green strip so their was enough hose to by pass the heater valve. had just enough water between a small cooler and the windshield washer bottle that i could get to the house. being that i live in the houston texas area would it hurt to run without the heater valve for the summer?

 

[RWD]

About $60 from cdan. You may as well get the inlet hose at the same time. Total (for valve + inlet hose) with shipping comes to around $85.

Heater valve part # is 87240-60170
and the bent inlet hose # is 87245-60480

Yeah, never hurts to have some spare hose in the tool box.

I was quite shocked to see the valve fail so suddenly after being inspected not that long ago. I imagine it also sees some stresses applied to it from the hose, given that the valve is mounted to the body/firewall and the inlet hose is mounted to the engine. Presumably each time the engine torques on the engine mounts it applies some forces to the valve that 'help' it break apart on the inlet side.

cheers,
george.

My 97 LX seems to have developed the same leak from the right side of the valve. Does anyone know if this valve is the same part # in the LC and the LX ? The reason I ask is that the 97 LX has climate control and th valve may be different?

 

[arndog123]

Yes, it's the same part.

 

[RWD]

OK Thanks! Just ordered the valve and hose.

 

[turbocruiser]

Just to add additional data, today I was doing my annual cooling system flush and fill and as I took off the heater valve hose, I sheared off some of the end of the outlet tube. The two tube ends didn't look anywhere near as bad as some photos posted here but they're brittle, really really badly brittle. I bypassed the whole thing until I can get the parts to replace the valve but just thought that I'd post the info to hopefully help others. Ohh, this was the original valve, vehicle always ran Toyota red, vehicle had dealer recommended maintenance done at dealer up until 75K, and then annual cooling system flush and fills from 75K to 180K which is where it is now.

 

[CowboyUp]

What size are the hose for bypassing the heater valve? On the right hose, I can see a dry powder and it's looking like it's time to replace the hoses.No good! All ready had yesterday the lower rad hose and clamp a fail and gave a nice leak to my cruiser

thanks