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The Heat Isn't On

 We bought our '76 Volkswagen Bay Window Type 2 this Spring, so have never really needed a heater nor tested it. As colder days are around the corner, I took a look today to try to see why we get zero heat with both red levers all the way down.

First, I ran the bus, and with both the red levers down, was able to verify that the fan in the engine compartment does run.

Secondly, with engine off, I looked at the heat exchanger control flaps. Both have the same issue that the cable is too loose at the flap. With the red lever all the way down, the flaps barely move when using the red levers. I can manually pull the the heat flaps open. I'd say I'm losing 90% of possible opening.

With the dash lever up, the cable has a bend in it between the valve lever and the cable mount (under the vehicle). I assumed I could slacken the nut on the lever-arm and take up the slack, but the cable has a "flattened" end that only seems to pull through so far. I was looking for an adjuster like you get on a bicycle brake - guess not.


So, the question is: How do you take up slack in the cable? I assumed it was just a matter of slackening the cable stop nut and pulling through the excess cable. But it seems the cable only pulls through the cable stop eyelet until it hits the "flattened out" section of the cable end, and no more.

Stay tuned (or comment) as I attempt to figure out this VW Bus mystery.

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