If your car has at least 100,000 miles on it, change the heater control valve (sometimes called diverter valve). They tend to get brittle over time and can break without warning, causing you to get stranded in the middle of nowhere with coolant spewing out.

Doing nothing about this: $0.00
New valve: $16.00 from Autozone.
Stranded on the road: Worthless
Peace of mind: Priceless

:hail:IROC-Z

 

You mean like planned maintenance? Wow, what a concept! I wish more people would think about that.

That's a good point, and an item that many of us would probably overlook when routinely changing belts and hoses. It's probably well worth the fifteen bucks or so, considering that you could lose all your coolant on the road if it failed (just like an old, dried hose).

Any more good tips that are normally overlooked?

 

Yeah, that plastic diverter valve was a bad idea. The only time it really does anything is when you switch to "max A/C" it diverts coolant from going through the heater core. I have found that simply removing it completely doesn't affect the A/C's performance any noticable amount. And it cleans up the look under the hood a little bit, too. I do stuff real low buck. If you decide to keep it, however, a new one is definitely a good idea.

 

Here are a couple I have picked up from working on cars since before I could walk...if one tip helps one person I'll be happy.

1) When changing the oil, replace the sump plug washer. Saves having to drain the oil if your old washer ceases to make a good seal.

2) When installing new spark plugs, attatch a piece of rubber hose, about 12" long, to the end and use it as a sort of extension. Allows you to screw the plugs in at different angles and avoids cross-threading.

3) Check your tyre (that's how we Brits spell tire) pressures hot....like after a drive. Hot air expands, giving the reading you need for driving the car. Cold air can give a false reading on the gauge.

4) Put some grease on the battery terminals, to protect them from corrosion. Also, on the subject, when removing a battery always remove the negative terminal first, and replace it last.

5) When searching for a suspension-related knock or squeak, spray some WD-40 on the bushes one at a time. This should temporarily eliminate the sound, showing you your problem. Also bear in mind that suspension noises can conduct through metal, so a sound from the drivers side could easily be a passenger side problem.

I'll think of some more later I expect.

Si

 

On the other side of the coin, if the diaphram shaft in the valve gets stuck in the up position, it will keep you from getting warm air.

:hail:IROC-Z

 

I smell an addendum to a Tech Article here somewhere...

 

huh..huhuhuh...huhuh...huh....

...you said diaphragm.

...and shaft.

...and gets stuck.

...and position.


si_camaro, wouldn't putting grease on the battery terminals give you a bit of a conductivity problem...?

 

I didn't mean to say grease...I meant to say petroleum jelly. And I also meant to say put it on after the battery is connected. Got flu, not thinking straight.

 

lets not forget to always apply anti sieze grease to all parts like spark plugs and o2 sensors taht youll eventually want to get out later on.