Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Frequently asked technical questions and common modifications/improvements
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toddao
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by toddao »

Can now see all the pics thanks.

Good work Vanny. I too have to tackle this soon..
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andycadabra
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

Thanks Vanny for the comprehensive instructions - funnily enough, despite about 4 treatments with K-seal, and attempts with Steel seal, and Bars leaks my heater tap was and is still working perfectly - the bad news is that the garage doing the engine change decided the only way to get the engine out was to drop it out from underneath, which led to it breaking one of the heater taps pipes!. I managed to get hold of one but because they don't speak English (I speak some Spanish) I didn't trust them to follow your instructions, or to not break anything else in the process, I spent many hours doing most of it myself apart from the actual withdrawing and fitting of the replacement. Interestingly, he said he was able to get it out with the steering column in place, but unable to fit the new one without removing it.

Anyway after wasting many hours, we can't seem to get enough movement in the cable to fully open and close the tap - it opens fine but doesn't close enough meaning that the heater radiator will always be slightly hot. In other words the cable can be pulled by the control but pushing back is not having the desired effect. Because the sleeve of the cable is really hard to stretch into position and apply the spring clip at the control end, I wonder if it might be sticking out too far at the tap end, or the inner cable bending rather than pushing? It would be great if there was an alternative to removing and refitting it!
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by Mickey taker »

firstly we found it easier to remove the fan and diverter cables first , fit the hot cold cable and then put the other two back on ,
I also cut out the slot at the top of the heater control panel ( white plastic) as this is where the air con controls would go ,
if you aint got aircon you dont need the slot and this makes it a lot easier to get the panel in and out.

this may sound silly but do's the knob go past the hot position ? when we got mine back in place I thought I had the problem you describe but all that had happenned was the knob had jumped a couple of places on the small cog it turns against on the back of the heater control panel ,
we tilted the panel forward a bit and my gently easing the bottonm edge of the larger cog we got it to jump back a couple of teeth on the smaller cog which gave us full range on the control knob and tap
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

thanks Mickey Taker - I'll do some research on your first point.
- Regarding the 2nd one, managed to unsynchronise (and figure out how to re-synchronise) the cogs, but there's only about 30 minutes of movement and there should be 45, [speaking clockface]. The acid test is whether the pipes the cabin's side of the heater tap are getting warm when the tap is supposed to be closed, and they very definitely are!
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

I've disconnected all the linkages to eliminate the possibility of those restricting movement, but the heater tap still doesn't want to close [as in, the pipes on the cabin side of the tap are still hot] - and yet I remember playing with it before it went in and would have noticed if it wasn't.. If the heater tap is working correctly, I would expect the pipes leading to the heater matrix to be cold if the heater has been left on cold.

- If anyone could do me the favour of feeling these pipes, just to the left of the steering column after the engine's been running [with the heater setting on cold], I'd be grateful to find out if some heat in these pipes is to be expected..
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by JayW »

The pipes immediately inside of the tap WILL remain hot even with the tap closed (through heat transfer).

BUT, as you've picked up a replacement tap are you sure that IT isn't blocked up stopping it from closing fully?

Sorry if you've mentioned it up there somewhere, i've just brushed through the text as i'm short on time.
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

The pipes 6" from the tap are too hot to hold within 5 mins at tickover. I seem to remember the replacement tap was working ok, and had no crud in it, but can't find another reason unless some obstacle is trapped in the gate...
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by JayW »

2 possibilities.

Without actually dismantling the tap it's impossible to tell if there's crap in there.

Alternatively, the tab has broken off the top of the gate. The gate moves up to close and if broken will stay down in the open position.
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

The rod that lifts the gates on the tap isn't reaching as high as the old tap did/does in order for that to fully close, maybe 3mm less (although the newer one does go 1-1.5mm lower when open). if the lug had broken, I wouldnt expect that to prevent it from reaching higher, so an obstruction of some kind must have come into play... I guess its possible to unbolt the tap, shift the heater matrix to the right and see what cooks in the tap. Maybe the steering column can be left in place for that..
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by JayW »

If lug had broken , it would no longer be attached to the gate at all and then can only leave it in the down (open) position. The gate is ceramic and very brittle when forced.

You should be able to do as you suggested, but the issue will be getting your head up there to see if there's movement of the gate. You still won't be able to see any crud though because it's not the face of the gate it affects, it's the ends.
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by andycadabra »

Rather than leaving it in the off position, maybe I should leave it on for a few days in the hope it might wash out any crud that might be stopping it close..
Ironically my old tap works fine despite too many K-seal, Steel seal treatments etc! It just got broken by the garage taking out the old engine. I might end up using it again and connecting a hose to the broken pipe.
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by JayW »

If you view Vanny's thread you'll see it's impossible for the system to wash out the crap from the usual places. When we stripped the tap in the picture we found it rammed solid, in fact it's no wonder his k-seal treatment never did it's job, most of it's particles were in the tap.

It really should become routine for all BX's to have the taps stripped & cleaned, especially if you don't know the cars full history. Silt, scale & contaminated water can all have the same effect, just a lot slower i suppose.
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by patersom10 »

ha, doing this at the weekend.

have been putting it off since I brought it 3 months ago.

very useful thanks !
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by Vanny »

I am aware that I've broken all the links to the pictures, I apologise, I've been working on it for a week without much success.

The pictures still exist though;

http://bxproject.co.uk/gallery2/mods/cooling/htapcng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Heater Tap Replacement - How To

Post by Way2go »

This is an old thread revived. :)
JayW wrote:If you view Vanny's thread you'll see it's impossible for the system to wash out the crap from the usual places. When we stripped the tap in the picture we found it rammed solid, in fact it's no wonder his k-seal treatment never did it's job, most of it's particles were in the tap.
Now I can't speak for the complications k-seal might introduce but doing a cooling system flush using a proprietary product can clear crud out of the system. This is presumably because it's able to either dissolve it or hold it in suspension?
I used Barrs Professional Flush in mine to clean the engine/rad waterways and as a side benefit my tap which had become stiff at both ends rotated very efficiently without a problem afterwards.I did however keep the Barrs in there a few days before dumping it, reflushing and re-filling with coolant. Of course I can't guarantee it will work for others but it worked for me. :D
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