Hi Everyone,

The heater slide in my 1989 244 is very hard to move and won't go clear to the end of the "heat" side. The slides on my other 240's work great. Looking on the web has several different things it could be, but doesn't point to a specific fix. I'd hate to tear the whole heating system apart to find it was something like just a missing a washer on the slider or something, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this was a common issue (e.g. slides always bind, check this or its not the slide, check the connection behind it, etc.) and where to start looking.

Thanks

 

Well, you probably need to do some dismantling of the controls to see what's going on. These are cables and they bind with time, dry out, etc. Happens a lot to these things... No magic bullet unfortunately.

 

You don't need to take apart the whole heating system to diagnose this. It could be one of three things: The heater control valve, the cable itself or the actual lever mechanism. All three of these components are easily accessible. Just remove the kick panel just to the right of the accelerator pedal (assuming not a right-hand drive vehicle). Up by the accelerator pedal is where the coolant hoses come through the firewall. You can see he heater control valve there. Disconnect the cable (just a clip I believe) and try the lever. If it moves freely then the culprit is the heater control valve. If it is still stiff, you need to remove the front of the center console to access the lever. Disconnect the cable from the lever. If the lever moves freely, then the problem is with the cable. If the lever is still stiff, then the lever is binding.

 

Thanks everyone.. exactly what I needed to start the repair!