Not enough heat out of a vintage air gen IV system

[Ken J Martin]

any clues as to what maybe happening? this has the electronic controller I suppose. I do get some heat but not enough to thoroughly heat the cab. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being extremely hot, I would rate this as a 2 or maybe 3.


The air conditioning is great......ice cold on high.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

[72MARIO]

Well I am not much help if it make you feel any better i have to park my suburban in September because the heat sucks so bad with my old air kit

[Andy4639]

That's just sad! I drive mine all year long. My factory AC/heat works great! It has been in the 20 this week when driving into work also.

[flashed]

I hate to say this but the actuators that open the heat doors may be non operational ,Vintage Air says they dont go bad .I just had Nsane Hotrodz install a 2nd new Vintage Air system in my 72 truck because the one my bodyshop installed would not put out any heat .Vintage Air constantly told us the actuators dont go bad but mine did.The Air would run you out in the summer and my truck only came home last spring and the heat NEVER worked .

I hope you have better luck with yours .

[cleszkie]

When I first installed my Gen IV system, the heater valve (the one that controls flow through the heater core) went bad within a week. It was making a strange buzzing noise, and adjustment of the temperature actuator switch had no effects. I even tried to re-calibrate the actuators to see if that was the problem. But the buzzing continued, even when the truck was off, creating a drain on my battery. I called Vintage Air and explained the problem. They sent me out a new valve and asked that I send them back the defective one so they could study it. The new valve has been working great so far. I don't like how the heater valve is located so close to the passenger side exhaust manifold. I suspected that the heat may have damaged the valve, despite Vintage Air saying it should be OK. So I wrapped the valve and wiring leading to it in a piece of Kevlar heat shield I had left over just to keep the heat off of it for good measure. Why cook the living daylights out of the poor thing when you don't have to?

[BCOWANWHEELS]

make sure you have a 180-190 degree thermostat in it

[Phabricator]

We had a problem with the heater valve on my oldest son's Vintage Air system. We had it installed just like the pictures in the installation instructions but it melted from manifold heat. I told Vintage air what happened and they replaced it anyway no charge. We lengthened the heater hoses to move it higher up on the inner fender. The system does not distribute well to the drivers side but it works OK. It helped a lot when we went to a 195 thermostat.

[Longhornss]

VA has redesigned there heater control valves within the last year. They have eliminated the solonoid style 2 wire control valve. They are now running a new 3 wire valve.

A way you could check if the valve is the culprit it to "bypass" the valve with a straight hose coupler. then run the heat in the truck making sure you are on the full hot setting.

It could also be the heat door stepper motor not allowing the door inside the evaporator to open all the way.

Curious to know if your heater valve had the green and white wire or if it is the new one with the 3 wire connector built in.

[flashed]

Mine was the newer 3 wire valve but that was not the problem with mine .

[Ken J Martin]

Will check on the valve. I think I will take Longhornss suggestion about using a coupler to see if it might be a faulty one.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Do you have the electronic control system? Try using the jumper wire and calibration reset procedure to "reset" the calibration.

I had no A/C in my 65 Mustang last year, but the compressor was turning on/off, the system was charged, so I re-calibrated the controller and both heat and air work great again.

Just something "free" to try.

I have Vintage air in my C10 (I think Gen I ) and Mustang (Gen IV), if left on high long enough, you could run a sweat shop out of either of the vehicles, especially the Mustang, that heater works insanely well.

[68Gold/white]

If none of the above good suggestions help...
Some heavy duty trucks, buses I work on, have a plastic insert in the heater hose (on the out flow side). Depending on what size heater hose, the plastic "reducer" needs a hole approximately half the size of the I.D. of the hose. It slows down the flow of coolant through the heater core, allowing it to retaining more heat.

[Ken J Martin]

67 Redneck,
This system was already installed in truck when I bought it. There was no instruction material in the truck, so I don't know for sure what I have. I think it is the electronic control model. Will try and post some pictures. If I do have the electronic control, will you walk me through the reset of the calibration?

Thanks!




http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25...n/100_2110.jpg


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<a href="http://s2.photobucket.com/user/Phil_Noonon/media/100_2110.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Phil_Noonon/100_2110.jpg" border="0" alt="Controller # 1 photo 100_2110.jpg"/></a>
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[Ken J Martin]

[Ken J Martin]

[67ChevyRedneck]

You need to look at pages 12 & 13 if you have the heater style controller:

http://www.vintageair.com/Instructions2013/903271.pdf

Pages 15 & 16 if you have a factory style A/C controller:

http://www.vintageair.com/Instructions2013/903273.pdf

The easiest way to tell the difference is the heater controls only has 3 horizontal levers, the factory A/C controller has the 3 levers and a fan speed switch on the left side you can move up and down to off, low and high.

The gray program wire will be hanging from the main harness coming off the box unit inside the cab. All you need to do is put a spade connector on the end of a wire (or just jam it in there) and secure it to a good bare metal ground. Follow the instructions and unhook it when it says to, then you're done.

[67ChevyRedneck]

You can check to see if the valve is working by using a rag when the truck is up to temperature and the heat is on. If the hose going to the valve is hot (this is why you use a rag, it can get very hot) and the other hose coming out is cool, or much cooler, that valve is not open and is your problem (if the reprogram doesn't work).

[lutronjim]

Make sure your value is installed in the correct direction. I had mine reversed and it would put out heat and, at times, quit.

I called VA and they diagnosed problem an dhas been great so far.

[57larry]

I would and have called Vintage Air. Always got great help.

[Ken J Martin]

Thanks Redneck, I found the manual online shortly after I made the last post.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I also have the info on calibrating the system.

I may have to up thermostat to 195, after running some time the temp gauge is showing cool. i did install a new sending unit some weeks ago.

Obliged!

[Ken J Martin]

lutronjim,

Is there a directional arrow to indicate correct position??

[67ChevyRedneck]

Looking at the instructions, it was installed in the right direction.

[lutronjim]

The value also needs to be on the correct hose. I can't remember high or low but you might call VA to double check.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by lutronjim

The value also needs to be on the correct hose. I can't remember high or low but you might call VA to double check.

Great point. It looks like they're hooked up to the VA kit correctly, but not sure about where they go after that. Looks like the bottom hose should go to the intake manifold and the top hose to the water pump.

See pages 13/14

http://www.vintageair.com/Instructions2013/901150.pdf

[Ken J Martin]

Well turned out to be a defective thermostat.
Thanks again for all the suggestions.