Heater Control Valve 98 SOHC

[Lee S.]

I've got a very slight coolant leak. I'm suspecting the heater control valve (HCV) is the culprit since my A/C was pretty weak in the summer. I've read all the threads on the HCV but it seems that mine (98 SOHC) is not located by the heater hoses that go into the firewall where it appears to be on earlier models.

Tracing the heater hoses I see something that I think is the HCV on the front of the engine block between the fan and the block. Looks like a PITA to get at.

Has anyone replaced an HCV at the front of the block?

How does it come off and what's the best way to get at it?

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Lee

 

[Blee1099]

Originally posted by Lee S.
I've got a very slight coolant leak. I'm suspecting the heater control valve (HCV) is the culprit since my A/C was pretty week in the summer. I've read all the threads on the HCV but it seems that mine (98 SOHC) is not located by the heater hoses that go into the firewall where it appears to be on earlier models.

Tracing the heater hoses I see something that I think is the HCV on the front of the engine block between the fan and the block. Looks like a PITA to get at.

Has anyone replaced an HCV at the front of the block?

How does it come off and what's the best way to get at it?

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Lee

It should look something like this.. This one is from a ohv..

 

[Lee S.]

Thanks for the pic Blee. I'm having a hard time seeing mine because of where I think it's located. I'll try and be more accurate:

The thing I believe to be my HCV is attached to a bracket from the block directly underneath the altenator. It appears to have one hose attached to the water pump (i think the water pump) and the other side has one hose eventually going to the fire wall which i'm certain is one of the two heater hoses (I say eventually because it goes from rubber hose to steel tubing to rubber hose and into fire wall). It does have a cylindrical part (similar to the one in your pic.) that has what I assume to be a vacuum hose coming out of the top of it.

So mine only has connections for 2 hoses and one for a vacuum line.

If I am correct that this is the HCV it appears to be a different design than the others I have read about in this forum. (I have ran into at least one other thing different about the 98 SOHC (I was completely unable to drop my tranny pan without removing either the front drive shaft or the exhaust) so I'm wondering if this is just another quirk of the 98 SOHC.)

If i am correct that this is the HCV it would seem that that the only way to get access to it is to remove the altenator as access from below is limited.

Anyone else run into this?

Lee

 

[Lee S.]

I hate it when the mechanical workings within the same generation X's are different. I have seen nothing that looks like Blee's pic (4 hose connections) under my hood other than what I've described above (2 hose connections and a vacuum line located under the altenator).

So I'm thinking that in the absence of anything that looks like blee's pic and the fact that I have located something similar, but hooked up to a different section of the heater hose and that appears to have a vacuum line attached (but only 2 hose connections)......That this is in fact my HCV. Correct?

Can anyone confirm this?

Lee