• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Heater Valve Leak

Jim_Gruber

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Ok so I took apart Bugsy's Heater Valve for the 3rd time today in an effort to stop a pesky leak. Teflon tape, new #5 O Ring, grease inside the packing, etc. Now I have a major leak at the base. Frank C. suggested a rubber hose washer which I am going to install tomorrow morning. So install dry or go with Blue Permatex as well. Using Permetex Blue only = worse leak than ever.
 
RUBBER hose washer but check the bottom of the aluminum base plate.
They pit and can leak there. If it's not too bad, a few seconds on a belt sander may remove the pits.
 
Frank, Rubber definitely and not a vinyl washer. Bottom looks fairly smooth but I'll smooth it out again.
 
I had this same problem recently. After close inspection I found that the heater valve had been over torqued which cause the wings to be pulled down and giving the entire mounting surface a concave shape that wouldn't seal no matter how much "goop" was used. The solution was a few passes of a file until the bottom was perfect flat again. Then I used a gasket, coated both sides with RTV, set to proper torque and gave it the full hour to set. No more leaks.

JACK
 
Any idea of the proper torque specs. About to head out to the garage to see if I can stop the leak.
 
Well rubber hose washer didn't do it. Squeezed out around the bottom of the valve. Made a gasket from cardboard, added hylomar, no more leak.
 
Back
Top