97 mercury villager heater control valve


  #1  
Old 09-04-03, 05:54 PM
mjw328
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97 mercury villager heater control valve

I have a leaking heater control valve between the front & rear heater cores. The dealer I had quote the job told me it was a 4 hour job but would not elaborate on why it takes this long. This looks like a simple job with one exception, accessing the valve. The valve is located high on the firewall beneath the intake manifold with the only access appearing to be from under the vehicle. I cannot even reach the upper hose clamps with the tools at my disposal. Does anyone know what if anything needs to be removed to gain access to the valve for removal\installation. Are there any special tools (18" long 90 degree needle nose pliers) that might simplfy this task.

Thanks for reading
 
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Old 09-04-03, 06:16 PM
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4 hours is what Alldata says for this repair. It does not go into detail as to if the upper intake manifold has to be removed to do this or not. But if I had to guess that is exactly what has to happen.
Hope this helps ya,
Billy
 
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Old 09-04-03, 06:17 PM
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I was fortunate enough to get to do 1 of these some time back..And you are correct..It is very tight, and very difficult to get to. If I can remember correctly, you're supposed to take the plenum (upper intake) off in order to replace the valve..That's why the shop quoted you 4 hours..
I'm kinda on the slim side (except around the middle LOL!) and was able to force my arms up through and do the repair. Make no mistake, it took many layers of skin off, and those stupid spring clamps got me more than once, but I was able to do it in a little over an hour..Of course I was using a rack, and could stand up..I used long needle nose plyers, and channels locks to get the clamps off..MUCH turning and twisting finally got the hoses off..(along with much cursing!!)
Sorry to say, i know of no shortcuts on this one!!
 
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Old 09-05-03, 06:23 AM
Joe_F
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MSA:

LOL. I hate those jobs. By the end of the day you're wet (with coolant), miserable, dirty and frustrated. LOL.

I would agree that if it's a 4 hour job, it's an intake removal thing.
 
 

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