Heat and cold control bar (Blue to Red)

[Buzzard67]

Hi everyone
Yes , Iam new to 4wd.com and have owned 1 Tercel sr5 (1985) 290,000miles Frame rusted thru due to MN winters (salt). Now I own a 1984 Tercel DXL. This web site is great ! I have already had great help with brakes and other advise. I know for the veterans of this site answering the same question over and over might get a little old, but here it gos. My car wont blow hot(luke warm) and my car wont blow cold with ac on. The heater control arm that slides left for cold & right for hot dose not go all the way to the left (cold side). I can push it as far left as it can go but there is still looks like it should move another 1/2 inch(or less) If I push harder it feels like it would break. I have already put in refrigerant and know thats not the problem (no leaks, no compressor problems). Even when full ac on Vrs Eco mode, still feels just cool. Now onto the heat. I move the bar all the way to the right hot side (blue to Red) and all I get is luke warm. The temp gauge is showing a great normal operating range. Iam not very mechanically minded and could use all the help I can get. Would welcome any text or fix it pictures or video. I fell confident that I could get into the middle section of the dash by myself, but not if I have to modify any interior dash parts.

[Petros]

not likely the lever, you might lube the cables however with silicone spray, you can reach behind the contorl panel from the glove box area easier than removing the panel. Also, slide under the dash and spray any heater control cables you can see, and the linkage.

Open the hood and look for the heater control valve up on the firewall next to the windsheild wiper motor. have someone move the lever in the car left and right fully, and see if the heater valve opens and closes all the way (you can verify this by pulling the cable off the valve and see if it will move any further with the cable removed).

you might need a new valve, but more likely the heater core just needs a good flush with some kind of solvent or cleaner.

good luck.

[marlinh]

I had a similar experience with a vehicle without AC. You could never get heat in the car. The control wouldn't travel all the way to hot. Something felt bent. I checked the heat valve in the engine compartment, even set it to full hot, flushed the heater core and it was still the same. When I replaced the whole lever assembly the car blasted heat like crazy. I think one of the flaps wasn't moving into the proper position with the old cable assembly. Never isolated which one it was.

[ARCHINSTL]

The FSM and Autozone have some info on the cable adjustment.
The AZ link is http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repair ... 52800520ef
They are a PITA to adjust, but worth it.
Tom M.