Just had my car a few months and have dealt with some of the bigger issues like fuel delivery and brakes. Started messing with the heater controls and I have a couple of issues there. The heater control valve started leaking after I moved the Heat control cable a few times. I ordered a refurbished valve which is on it's way now. Is the valve only accessible from inside or can it be removed from firewall side? Also, it seems my HI / LOW fan switch is stuck on in one position as the fan comes on when I pull the Defrost lever, but doesn't change speed when I switch it from LOW to HI or visa-versa. Is that switch at all serviceable or reproduced? Thanks

 

I am going from memory here which is dangerous at my age. I believe the heater control valve is only replaceable from the inside. You would have to get under the dash to disconnect the cable anyway. I believe there is a switch inside the ductwork that switches the blower on when you turn on the defroster.

 

Glenn is correct it comes out from the dash side It's called a Ranco valve. You will have to remove the heater hoses clamps from the firewall though. I'm surprised you bought one (ranco valve) without having to send your old defective one as a core. Just curious did you buy a new valve or was it rebuilt? They have been hard to get new most are rebuild old parts. There are about 6-8 screws that have to be removed from the air box to get into the area that the valve is located.

The defroster switch should have a relay that switches the high and low speeds on the heater fan and as best I remember it is located under the dash and near the firewall steering column but it's been a long time since I was under there so double check on the location of that relay..... Tedd

 

My grandson and I took the control valve out today and I took a few pictures. On my 55 the easiest way to access and remove it was to remove the glove box liner and defrost hose which were both pretty easy to do. I cut the hoses off the engine side and removed two screws that hold split cover plate on firewall. I disconnected the cable from heat control and two Phillips head screws that hold the switch on back side. My nine year old grandson did much of it at my direction. The seal on the valve looks like the problem as the switch appears to be in pretty good condition overall. I was looking at the rebuilt switch from Fusick that includes a $150 core charge but found what appears to be a nicely refurbished one on eBay for $135 shipped. Seller name is delcojoe. I can get $25 back if I send the core but I would like to refurbish it myself if possible and have a spare. This information and photos may help someone in the future.

 

Going to be removing mine this weekend or at least trying to find out if it's stuck or just the cable. Fingers crossed for an easy fix.

 

I had this installed in my car, so somebody changed out the Ranco unit for this one.
After pulling the glovebox out it was a 10-minute job to replace and it works like new.

 

That’s a lot cheaper than one of those original style valves! Glad it worked out for you.

 

Hey guys, I putting a ranco valve back in my '55 that was removed and retrofitted prior to my ownership. I bought the one from delcojoe on ebay, nice piece by the way! On the firewall side, was there a plate or cover? If someone can post of pic of the firewall side of their ranco (heater) valve. Thank you.

 

If I remember correctly, the valve is inserted from Passenger side of firewall and attached on that side. On the engine side of firewall there does appear to be a somewhat oval plate attached to the firewall

 

Thank you for pictures, that helps! I contacted delcojoe on ebay and he said he has the cover plate for the firewall and it just going to send me one, so that's nice!

 

Here is an update, the valve works great but what I found out that is it was hooked backward, and the water was going to the heater core first then to the valve. I was wondering why it was always hot in the car when I would open up the fresh air vents. Just to check my work, the path is water pump, valve, heater core, and then return to the back of the block?

 

Here's what the cover plate looks like, 2 pieces.