Heater Lever

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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rc26
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:08 pm
My tercel:: 83 SR5 stock
Location: Hood River, OR

Heater Lever

Post by rc26 »

Hello all!

I just purchased my first Tercel in September, it's a bronze 83 SR5. I love it.

When I bought the car it did not have a working blower. Also, I noticed that the heater lever wouldn't go all the way to hot, only just past half. I replaced the blower motor and upon inspection of the levers I noticed the problem. As you all know, the air adjustor lever (vent, heat, defrost), and the heat lever are sort of connected. The heat lever has a wire that passes through the adjustor lever. I can see that this connection is buggered up and not allowing the lever to move all the way over to hot. I've tried to adjust it back to normal position by rebending the wires, but I just made it worse. Any solutions that don't involve replacing the whole lever board? Do I just live with it? The air is warm. . .
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Gottolovem
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My tercel:: 1985 SR5 with snow plow,1987 auto 1984 parts car,1987 FX-16 GTS
Location: Reno

Re: Heater Lever

Post by Gottolovem »

You can manually turn the "valve" to hot from under the hood. :oldgeek:
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Heater Lever

Post by ARCHINSTL »

My control valve is also sticky, so as Gottolovem mentions, I unhooked the wire and manually move the lever to full Open or full Closed at the beginning or end of a season.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
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Tercel__jon
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Posts: 465
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:44 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4wd Wagon

Re: Heater Lever

Post by Tercel__jon »

I do the same thing, manualy turn the lever for the season. I suppose there is a right way to fix it, but Its rather tight in there.
xirdneh
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My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Heater Lever

Post by xirdneh »

usually the heat lever gets stiff becuase the control valve is stiff and/or the cable needs lubrication.
this is what i do
1. remove cable from control valve located on fire wall pasenger side and has two rubber hoses attached to it.
Work its lever back and forth while applying light lube oil top and under.
2. raise end of cable and drip some oil in the end, then wedge it in one of the holes under the car hood to keep it elevated. Re-apply oil several times over an hour. the oil will work its way down the cable.
3. do not force the heat lever as it will weaken and break. gently move it back and forth till free

if this does not work there must be another problem
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
rc26
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:08 pm
My tercel:: 83 SR5 stock
Location: Hood River, OR

Re: Heater Lever

Post by rc26 »

Hey thanks guys!

I'll be working on it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes!

Something else happened, though. The replacement blower motor that I mentioned replacing failed. It lasted two days, 5 hours run time max. Any ideas on what's going on?
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Heater Lever

Post by Petros »

where was the fan made, in a communist owned factory in the orient, or in Japan?

the factory fans are pretty reliable, a used factory fan from a wrecking yard is usually better than a new or re manufactured one from a third world country.

BTW, it helps a lot of use silicone lubricant on the heater lever panel innards. a lot of plastic-on-plastic contact there, I use the silicone spray to lube the levers, and all the pivots and linage under the dash.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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helipilot77
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My tercel:: 1984 SR5 wagon
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Heater Lever

Post by helipilot77 »

Are you certain that it isn't the resistor that went out? Odd that even a cheap motor would go out that fast.
. / TOYOTA
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xirdneh
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My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Heater Lever

Post by xirdneh »

when resistor goes bad you usually lose one or two speeds
i believe high speed will still work with a totally bad resistor
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Jonymoto
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My tercel:: 1983, DLX 4wd wagon with 4.1 manual gearbox, tow bar). Manual steering. 313,000 kms. Tercel 4WD SR5, 1987, 500,000kms. Other car - 2003 Rav4, AWD, 2l manual, Peugeot 407 Diesel (93,000 miles) in Ireland for use when on holiday there.
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Heater Lever

Post by Jonymoto »

My blower stopped working a few years ago. I took it apart and found out that the motor brushes were worn. I got new brushes from an auto electric shop and solders them in. The blower is still working today. I remember it was a bit awkward getting the blower out. I've done the same with my alternator.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson - The Dalai Lama
rc26
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:08 pm
My tercel:: 83 SR5 stock
Location: Hood River, OR

Re: Heater Lever

Post by rc26 »

"where was the fan made, in a communist owned factory in the orient, or in Japan?"
Important distinction. In Japan, I pulled it out of an 89 corolla at the pick n pull in Spokane. Also, I am certain that the resistor is bad. It is broken and I can only run on high. Maybe I shouldn't have been running it without the resistor?

Also, I did lube the levers. Through, I need to lube the cable housings. Like xirdneh lays out. I saw a post her about using some old wiper tubes.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Heater Lever

Post by Petros »

unfortunately half the "new" parts made in China are junk right out of the box, so even a new one could be bad. Usually the Japan or US made motors are pretty good and reliable. You put a used one in and it soon failed, perhaps it was sitting too long without running got some internal corrosion, usually used ones are fairly safe bet. Perhaps not with the one you got. I doubt it was because it was run without a resister, all that means is it just would always run on high setting, which actually I do not find that useful. I do not like the noise and find that I actually get more heat at a lower setting (I presume because the air goes over the core slower, picking up more heat).
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Heater Lever

Post by ARCHINSTL »

@ rc26: See this link on clever way to lube cables from inactive member c_j (it even shows heater cables being lubed!): viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9549&p=89760&hilit= ... ion#p89760
I've used it and it works great!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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