81 FJ40, US model, stock condition - I'm having an issue with the heater box where the bottom flap will not stay up when set to Defrost. The control lever slowly slides up while the the bottom flap/door comes down so it's on Heat (the Vent position works fine) If anybody has run into this or has advice/suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
Front Heater Control Lever
- Thread starter TL44
- Start date
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There are nylon bushings in this setup which may be worn or missing, and many of these heaters do what yours does. The system is inherently finicky. When you go to the 'defrost' setting, the linkage goes 'over center' and is supposed to stay locked on defrost, and yours clearly is not doing this. My '78 makes a 'flop' sound when you go to 'defrost' as this linkage locks into place on 'defrost'. I have seen many that are mushy and don't lock firmly in the defrost setting. I have not seen one like yours, where it slowly slides out of the defrost setting, but am not surprised. Over the years, it just wears out, or people force the linkage by hand and bend things,
You will simply have to study the heater setup (or remove the heater from the truck so you can study it on a workbench) and experiment with the lever and linkages until you get it to behave. Try to find another truck to see how it's supposed to work.
You will simply have to study the heater setup (or remove the heater from the truck so you can study it on a workbench) and experiment with the lever and linkages until you get it to behave. Try to find another truck to see how it's supposed to work.
- Thread starter
- #3
Ok thanks. I matched up the nylon bushings from a local hardware store the best I could but I wanted to get a set of the exact ones but I didn't have any luck finding them. I have a long spring attached from the control knob lever to the bottom of the heater box now to hold the defrost in place as a temporary fix.
Wow, I'd like to see a pic of that! I just finished removing and rebuilding my '78 heater, and I think I got everything back to 'normal.'