INSTALL A HEATER CORE SHUTOFF VALVE IN A JEEP YJ

[@lylekliewer4787]

Okay, I'm convinced. I will try your little weather windsock trick on my early model TJ, and go from there. I think it has the same issue. Your water valve reminds me of a story from my truck driving days. My first job as a truck driver was driving a new R model Mack in the upper plains states. I began in August, so it was still pretty warm. As the weather turned cold, I began to notice how perfectly ineffective the heater in that truck was. Scraping ice off the windows both inside and out while driving down the road in the falling snow convinced me that I needed to mention to my boss that I thought something might be amiss. He laughed and asked me if I had ever noticed that outdoor water faucet looking thingy under the hood. Yes, I had! He told me to turn it open until it stopped. I did, and things were so much better after that! Thanks for the video!

[@planesimple8514]

Hello Lyle Kliewer, I liked your truck story. I can only imagine how happy you must've felt after turning that valve and getting some heat in the cab. Thank you for sharing that story.

[@lylekliewer4787]

@@planesimple8514 Just to update, I tried the windsock test on my TJ, no air coming through the defrost vents, or any others. While my '97 TJ has the sliders to control temp and ducting, the dampers are operated by vacuum, and on mine the dampers and vacuum tubes must still be in good shape. The heat entering the cab must simply be engine and exhaust heat.

[@kstoneace]

I’m curious, isn’t there an electronic valve from the factory that shuts off the hot water when you’re using the air conditioning?

[@planesimple8514]

Hello Ken Stone. In this generation of Wrangler there is not. The jeep Wrangler did not have factory A/C till '97. All previous Wranglers and CJ's before that only had a heater, no A/C. Also, i believe that in vehicles that do have factory A/C, what regulates or shuts off the hot water to the cab is the temperature knob, the one with the blue and red arcs. In full cool, the hot water is off, in full hot the hit water is on, and anywhere in between you get a mixture of those positions depending on where in the temperature rage you are.

[@eddiepena-xm9wy]

I found no valve control on my 97 tj. So I'm going to put this shutoff valve on my. My wife's 04 didn't have a one on it either. But I put heat shielding on floor and Kevlar paint on the tub. Her's is alot colder than mine in the cab.

[@planesimple8514]

I made and installed my own heat shield for the catalytic converter which in my jeep sits right below the passenger floor pan and MAN...what a difference!! Before the heat shield that floor pan would get blistering hot, now it only gets warm. That heat shield stops a lot of heat from getting into the cab.

[@metfan923]

Does this have any negative impact to the engine operating temps? I'm sure the heater core is so small, it provides minimal impact on engine temps, but wondering if cutting the heater core (a mini radiator) out of the coolant circuit makes the engine run any warmer. Did you notice anything like that?

[@planesimple8514]

It doesn't affect the engine temps at all, unless your engine's radiator is plugged up and not providing enough cooling, in which case you could provide a little bit of cooling by removing some heat from your heater core. But that would be in an extreme case where your engine is already overheating due to a plugged radiator. Remember that when you have the cabin temp set to cool, you are not removing any significant amount of heat from the heater core, so your engine doesn't depend on the heater core for cooling.

[@metfan923]

@@planesimple8514 thanks for the quick response! I’m guessing you have to bleed the system following installation?

[@planesimple8514]

Perhaps, depending on the vehicle. Depending on how low the heater hoses are and how much coolant you loose (how much air gets into the system). In my case, the hoses were the highest point of the whole system so no need for bleeding. In most cases, that air makes its way to the top of the radiator on its own as the engine runs, then you can just replace that bit of coolant back into it. That's it.

[@metfan923]

@@planesimple8514 I'm doing it to the same vehicle, well, a 94 YJ. good to know bleeding isn't necessary! Thanks again

[@planesimple8514]

My pleasure. Any time. Good luck. PS, someone else in the comments suggested another valve that is a bypass, not just a shut-off. It may not make any difference, but take a look in case you like that option better.

[@DarylKLR650]

I watched to make sure I was installing on the proper hose but I need to point out that there's no reason to use a 3/4" ball valve, the inside diameter of a 1/2" is the same size as the ID of a 3/4 hose Barb and the price is less than half. Just go with a 1/2" ball valve with two 1/2 barb X 3/4 mnpt fittings and it's all good.

[@planesimple8514]

Cool. Thank you for sharing that. I hope people actually read the comments so they can see yours. Thank you for taking the time to write in.

[@Nol.g1496]

I plan on doing this to my 2020 ram 1500. Can this cause any damage? Is it true that your coolant needs a constant circulation?

[@planesimple8514]

I'm not a chemist nor metallurgist to pretend to know for sure what happens to the coolant or the metals that make up the cooling/heating system, but I'd be willing to bet that nothing happens to the coolant from just sitting there. I think the coolant does not need constant circulation, otherwise bad stuff would happen when the truck is not running, I would be more concerned with having air pockets in the heater core. The air would expose the metal inside to oxygen and therefore may lead to corrosion. I think you should be alright. I've had that setup in my jeep for over 10 years and have yet to have any problems.

[@investmentsco9891]

there is better valve than that in amazon which make water circulate when u shut it off .... i have ram 22 and i know that the ac is not good in all rams

[@planesimple8514]

Can you share a link to the valve? Or a name or description of it to be able to find it?

[@investmentsco9891]

@@planesimple8514 joywayus 4 way heating water manual control valve

[@planesimple8514]

Got it! I like it! I hadn't seen those before. Thank you very much.