Skip to main content

The Heat Isn't On

 We bought our '76 Volkswagen Bay Window Type 2 this Spring, so have never really needed a heater nor tested it. As colder days are around the corner, I took a look today to try to see why we get zero heat with both red levers all the way down.

First, I ran the bus, and with both the red levers down, was able to verify that the fan in the engine compartment does run.

Secondly, with engine off, I looked at the heat exchanger control flaps. Both have the same issue that the cable is too loose at the flap. With the red lever all the way down, the flaps barely move when using the red levers. I can manually pull the the heat flaps open. I'd say I'm losing 90% of possible opening.

With the dash lever up, the cable has a bend in it between the valve lever and the cable mount (under the vehicle). I assumed I could slacken the nut on the lever-arm and take up the slack, but the cable has a "flattened" end that only seems to pull through so far. I was looking for an adjuster like you get on a bicycle brake - guess not.


So, the question is: How do you take up slack in the cable? I assumed it was just a matter of slackening the cable stop nut and pulling through the excess cable. But it seems the cable only pulls through the cable stop eyelet until it hits the "flattened out" section of the cable end, and no more.

Stay tuned (or comment) as I attempt to figure out this VW Bus mystery.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bleeding New Year

 Happy New Year! After buying our bus in April '20, we replaced the rear shoes and cylinders and bled the system. Front pads seemed fine, as did hoses. We have driven the bus many miles since then with the brakes working well. My daughter took the bus to visit a neighborhood friend and reported that the brakes faded almost all the way to the floor. She was able to pump the brakes to stop. However, after the pumping the brakes were fine again. On her return, I took the bus for a test on the exact route, no issues and the brakes were fine there and back. I also tested the booster by pressing the pedal while starting and, as expected, the pedal dropped slightly - but settled well over half the available travel, as its always been. Fluid is full with no apparent leaks. The reason why seemingly good brakes would intermittently fade? Brake master cylinder - apparently, when a MC is about to fail fully, intermittent loss of pedal pressure is common. I soaked the brake pipe nuts in PB Blas
Post a Comment
Read more

Wink, wink....nudge, nudge

We fitted chrome 'eyelids' to the Bus because we like the look. Check out the install video here: Before and after picture:
Post a Comment
Read more

Tacho Blues-day

We recently removed a well-worn CompuFire distributor from our Volkswagen Bay Window Type 2 and fitted a "like new" VW factory distributor - back to the stock configuration. However, after doing so, our VDO tach now read approximately 1500 rpms too high and the needle bounced all over the place while driving. Upon investigation on TheSamba, we discovered the tach needed a supplement, inline diode to stop "ghost" signals interfering with the signal to the tach. The needed diode was a #1N4005 type with the silver marked end going toward the tach. We created the diode fix as shown, installed it on the VW Bus, and the tach is now back to normal; no bouncing , no inflated readings, and no wild swings. RPMs are steady and correct.
Post a Comment
Read more