Water valve assy removel on A/C car

[1969chargerrtse]

How do I remove the water valve assy on my firewall?   I have A/C so there is this soft "wire" that is attached and goes into the heater box area.  I want to get the wire off so I can clean up the valve.  Another thing is I can blow air through the valve no matter what position it's in.  Shouldn't the point of that thing be to cut off the hot water?    Any help appreciated.

[Chatt69chgr]

That tube is the capillary tube.  It just routes through the heater box and terminates inside.  It is permanently affixed to the water valve.  There is a rubber piece inside the copper tubes of the water valve that seals the water flow.  Yours is probably hardened and not working.  There has be a lot of discussion about this valve on this forum and if you do a search you will find the name and address of the person in Calif. that rebuilds these.  These were never meant to be rebuilt.  It can be done about once and thats it.  You can buy the seal that goes between the steel firewall plate and the copper tube portion of the water valve (it gets hard, fails, and lets water come down the inside of the firewall and get into the carpet and rust the floorpan on the passenger side).  This piece is available from NAPA.  The rubber piece that is on the plunger is not available anywhere-----except----the guy in Calif. has some.  He got them some time in the past.  I had him rebuild mine and he did a real nice job.  That's what I suggest you do.  The capillary tube isn't actually completely necessary for the valve to work.  The actuator cable will open and close the valve.  I think the capillary tube allows the valve to modulate the water flow.  Since these cars are toys anyway, that function probably isn't all that critical.  Your capillary tube may be OK.  Who knows.  Since it may be good, you need to very carefully determine its routing and snake it out as you remove the valve.  Besides the capillary tube, there is a Bowden actuator cable and, of course, the two hoses.  Be extra careful when removing the hoses and dealing with the hose clamps as the copper tubes are pretty soft and easily deformed. 

[y3chargerrt]

I had the same problem on my 69. I found an NOS one on Ebay for $205.00 shipped to my door. Most NOS dealers want $495 for them so I was happy. Classic Auto Air in Tampa also rebuilds them.

[chargerbr549]

I had gotten a couple of these water valve assemblies  from Napa years ago and they were part number 660-1100 Balkamp but they have been obsolete for some time but I believe the seal that Chatts69chgr is talking about is part number 660-1000 Balkamp available from Napa.

Kevin