RatDog

The heater control valve on my Gen IV VA system went south. As you can see in the first picture below, the solenoid got so hot, it melted the green wire completely off the unit. The green wire used to attach to the left of the white wire. Note the blob of melted plastic that's still on the connector.

So I went online to replace it. What I found was that lots of folks were having overheating problems with this valve. Any wires near the valves were melting and the solenoids were extremely hot to touch.

I figured I had no choice but to buy another one and hope for the best. What I found on the Vintage Air site was the the solenoid-operated valve is no longer available. Instead, they are using a servo operated valve. I believe they switched over to the new design a few months ago.

The 2nd photo shows the new valve kit (Part #461173 for $48). It's a 3-wire setup instead of the solenoid 2-wire setup. The kit includes everything you need to make the conversion. One relay is eliminated and the instructions are very good.

If your original valve feels too hot (or has already melted into a puddle), you might want to check this out. I haven't driven the car yet to test it out. I'll probably do that tomorrow.



Old solenoid-operated valve




New servo-operated valve

-- Steve

Ken Sungela

I noticed my solenoid getting hot too, been meaning to call vintage air about that. Thanks for posting.

RatDog

Ken - If you search around on the net, you'll find reports of people who called VA about their scorching hot heater control valves and VA telling them it was "normal".

I'd be interested to hear what they tell you now that they have changed the design.

-- Steve

mrg

Steve ..
Thanks for the heads up. I just installed a VA in my car a couple of months ago. Must have just made it under the wire. The kit came with the new heater control valve.

John