Heater vacuum valve

[Shelly Harris]

I got too courageous last night. Excited over getting the car running again, I decided to drive it back into the city as I have to be "in town" the next two days. At 11:00 pm going about 75 on the xpressway with the heater seemingly running nicely, the temp gauge ran up to H and steam started flowing nicely from under the hood. If that wasn't bad enough, it started to rain pretty heavy!. It appears that the heater vacuum control on the driver's side failed and is leaking all over. Lost lots of coolant. After patiently waiting for the engine to cool down I managed to get it off the xpressway and it now waits for the tow guy on a side street. I hope the car's still there this morning.

[Barry Wolk]

I believe the T-bird used a similar vacuum control.

You should think about Hagerty for your road-aid. It's cheap and effective. We've replaced our AAA with it. The only other thing AAA was good for was maps. With all the map services and GPS, who needs AAA?

[Nick DeSpirito]

Shelly,

Was it this one?

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~showpic~Z5Z5Z50000129a~Z5Z5Z5AACYM~Z5 Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5

[Shelly Harris]

Yes, it looks like the one. I don't have the car in front of me, so I can't say for 100% sure. There's a couple of small vent holes on the side of the case... which is where a lot of steam and water was emanating.

[Barry Wolk]

There's a vacuum diaphragm in the valve that has ruptured. Replace both of the valves to rest assured that this won't happen again in your lifetime.

[Chuck Lutz]

Shelly, To coin a phrase from the 60's... "Real Bummer, Man". Here you get your baby back and now it's something else. Sorry. I'll leave you with one bright thought. When I had the similar problem it was the heater core that went on the driver's side. The strategic placement of that core allows the leaking fluid to co-mingle with your shoes and pant legs on the driver's side floor. Good luck and hope you get the fix done quickly.

[Barry Wolk]

You are correct. It's quite a mess. I'm thinking about doing the driver's side now as a preventative.

[Chuck Lutz]

It was a mess but one bright spot (no pun) was that I found out that baking soda is a great absorbent and will vacuum right up with very little residue or staining.

[Shelly Harris]

Thanks for the collective advice. My dear wife picked me up at the car and returned us to the "burbs" and I got to sleep around 1 AM. Luckily while driving back into the city at 7:00 AM I drove by the car and fortunately it was still there! The neighborhood is not a ghetto or slum, but "you never know". It is now back at the mechanic who thinks he can get the valves locally. Yes, I will have both replaced. Under the hood is a mess!

[Mad Scientist]

Look at the bright side you now have an excuse to clean the engine compartment. :rolleyes:

Fortunately as problems go aside from being messy that is not serious one and is easy to fix. But parking overnight in Chicago now that could be a problem.;)

[Shelly Harris]

I am now waiting for the delivery of two vacuum valves from Jack to my mechanic's shop. Fortunately I have a guy who loves to work on old cars and keeps the car inside at all times. I should have the car back by Weds.
I'm wondering whether there's some way to check the heater cores... I'd hate to have them go next. Is it only the driver's side that leaks into the passenger area or would both do that?

[Barry Wolk]

Both. They are both susceptible to catastrophic failure. Due to their location they leak directly into the passenger cabin.

[CarMan]

Talking about a different car here, but the heater core needed to be replaced on my '67 GTO early last summer. Fluid leaked (just a little in drops) under the dash on the passenger side. Not sure if they'll have it for the Mark 2, but I got my heater core for the Pontiac from NAPA. Here's a photo of it:

[Barry Wolk]

Shelly, I had mine recored. It was less expensive and I was sure the tubes fit properly.

[Shelly Harris]

So I assume there are shops that recore these things and if so, I'm sure there must be several in Chicago. Also how do you remove them? From the engine side or ??

[Mark_II_Mark]

Any GOOD radiator shop should be able to fix you up. The heater cores can be removed from the engine compartment but it is VERY difficult. Try removing the front wheels & look up in the wheel wells toward the back side where you'll see a removable panel under the undercoat. Remove these panels & see if things aren't easier to get to...

[Barry Wolk]

The procedure is actually quite simple. You have to remove the heater motor with a couple of bolts that mount it to the fender well and two thumb latches that hold the fan housing to the core housing. Remove the flexible hose. Remove the bullet connector for the power lead. Once the motor is out of the way you have easy access to about six screws that hold the cover for the heater core. Before you take the cover off, drain the radiator about halfway down, below the level of the heater core. If you want to use the car during the recore you can couple the two hoses together with piece of copper or steel tubing and a couple of hose clamps, bypassing the core. If the system isn't drained down far enough there will be some leakage as you remove the hoses. You might be better off leaving the hoses on the core to trap the antifreeze in the core, and not on your floor.

Once you remove the plate that holds the core, the core will lift right out. Find a good radiator shop that will order the correct replacement. There are many different configurations to the passages, so they have to order the right one, cut to size.

They will de-solder the ends from the old core and clean them up. They will then solder the old ends onto the replacement core. Reusing your ends they will be assured of fitting, unlike some aftermarket parts.

Due to the angled configuration to the core you will find that the lower end is probably plugged. That happens a lot on infrequently used cars as sediments sink to the lowest level and solidify, blocking the water passages.

I would say that it's no more than a two hour job, maybe three.

[Mad Scientist]

My suggestion. If they are not broke, don't try to fix them.

As long as they're not leaking and if they are providing plenty of heat they are undoubtedly OK so leave well enough alone. :)

I took mine out and did a pressure test to just make sure they were not damaged went the anti-freeze in the engine froze.

At that time I had the engine out and was able to walk into the engine compartment and "conveniently" work on them. However I still cussed out Ford's engineers on their total lack of foresight that heater cores have been known to fail and as such should be relatively easy to replace. These are not.

As Mark II Mark mention there is a access plate on the fender wall but the opening is blocked by having the exhaust pipe running directly in front of it.:mad:

[Mark_II_Mark]

Yep, Continental's engineering was pretty sorry when it came to accessing & replacing parts. Of course, the Mark II was THE vehicle of the day & they probably never got past basking in the glory of their achievement to work out the "what ifs"...

[Shelly Harris]

Thanks to you all for that great info....

[Chuck Lutz]

Barry's play by play is perfect!
I would add one thing that had me bewildered when I did mine. Two of the bolts that hold the blower are inside on the fender but the other two are inside the fender wells. I had to twist the core in different directions to clear other pipes and such to get it out but it does come out and go back in the same way.
The cores for right and left are identical except for the copper elbows that are soldered on go in opposite directions. Mine was re-cored in a day and re-installed.

[Shelly Harris]

I picked up the car last night and it is now back home...comfortably in the garage. Both valves were replaced with originals from Jack. Lots of snow still on the ground with salt spread on the streets. SO I won't have it on the road again for awhile. Now to clean up under the hood where all the coolant got splashed around.