Hi Guys, I'm embarrassed by my lack of knowledge when it comes to automotive systems. But I tried the heater valve solution for decreasing interior heat that OMG Jon came up with. I printed photos and gave them to my mechanic along with the heater valve. I told him I'd like to try this and when he saw the location of the heater valve, he said there'd be alot of work to get it in that spot. See first post in this thread: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276764&highlight=heater+valve He said it would be easier and still work if he placed the valve in the front of the car. I started to ask him if he placed it there, wouldn't the hot water still go through the interior of the car? He strongly said that it would work. I told him that he's the expert and that if it didn't work, I'd be back. I've been running the car daily for a couple of weeks now. And my observations are as follows. When the car gets to temp, I hear the heater fans come on. Now that shouldn't do anything if the valve is closed which it is. But then I notice that the temp would start to drop shortly after. And run at around 140 if the car is on the freeway. If I come back into city traffic, it will rise until I hear the fans come on. I'm actually surprised that the system works so well without the radiator's contribution. Especially in our unseasonably warm temps in Southern California at the moment. And I do start feeling the heat in the cabin after the car has been run for awhile. Am I right in understanding that when the thermostat opens, the hot water will come through the cabin until it hits the closed valve at the front of the car? And then I have hot water heating up the cabin, thus defeating the purpose? I want to make sure of this before I go back to my mechanic to have him relocate the valve. Thanks
that valve is for letting water into the heater core. The fans u are talking about are for the engine radiator if I understand you correctly.
The valve in no way affects the coolant that flows to the radiator; it only affects the coolant that flows to the heater core (the little radiators that give heat to the interior cabin). As such the valve will in no way affect the turning on and off of your radiator fans. If you are having interior cabin temperature problems then you need to diagnose the problem at the source. With the car up to temperature, slide the heater control lever to full cold and turn the interior blower fans on. Place your hand over the heater vents to feel the temperature. Then slide the lever to full hot and feel the temperature again. If the shutoff valve is properly installed then there should be little to no temperature difference between the two tests. If there is a big difference then the valve is either faulty or not installed properly. A couple of other things to note: 1. The front glass on a Dino is like a big greenhouse and makes the car really hot regardless of the air from the heater. 2. The big coolant lines that feed the engine radiator run in the chassis tube through the interior cabin and radiate a lot of heat. Place your hand on the tunnel next to the shifter and feel how warm it gets. Hope this helps
Manny, The flow of hot water to the passenger ventilation heat exchangers comes from a "T" in the central tunnel hoses. That is where you'll want your shutoff valve
Since it is FLOW thru the heater core that warms the cabin when the heater valve is on, an additional shutoff valve at any point in the system will prevent that flow and hence the heating effect. The other issue is safety-- if a hose fails in the passenger compartment the car will be filled with hot vapor and the windows will fog up. So it really best to put an additional shutoff valve at BOTH ends of the system. That way if a hose on either side of the heater core fails no flow will occur. The heater system connects to the coolant tubes in the engine bay and at the T near where the main coolant tubes exit the central tunnel. I just had a shutoff on the engine side until my heater valve started to leak. Then I took the heater core out of the system completely by putting a shutoff on both ends. Recently I had the main coolant hoses replaced and took out the T also, just to keep things simple. (In Los Angeles the heater is totally unnecessary) Jim O
