What did I break...

Broke this while changing plugs and wires today. Not sure what it's name is, it's basically a junction for several coolant lines, some leading into and out of the heater core.

Coolant flow control valve for the heater.

Any parts store will have it.

What seems to be lacking here is the year/engine info.

If we knew that there could be alternatives, like eliminating it all together, and that is what Jeep did on later XJs, or you could make your own out of brass. How best to deal with it depends on open or closed system.

Sorry about that, it's a 96 Country with the 4.0 HO. Rock Auto displays this picture:

That is it.

yeah, i eliminated mine. it is a cheap vato-zone part, though...

HAHA you did the exact same thing as i did on my 96... I thought it was gonna be really expensive the name for it iirc is heater control valve

Thanks guys, Advance shows several stores around me that may have it. My next question is where is the bleeder valve located? I lost one hose's worth of coolant already and will lose more when I replace the valve. Thanks again for all the help guys.

there is no bleeder, the 96 has an open system. just top off the radiator and overflow bottle and your good.

*btw, my control valve broke when I first got my XJ, takes all of 10 minutes to change it*

Don`t be suprised the the valve at the auto parts stores looks different than your`s. It swivels in the middle.

hahaha, I broke mine in exactly the same place, doing exactly the same thing! Ended up replacing it with one I found in excellent condition on a clunkered XJ my next trip to the junkyard. I'd really like to have a word with whoever decided that containing 210-degree antifreeze with 1/16" of injection-molded glassified polyester was a good plan, mine was so weak that I could crumble the plastic with my fingertips after I got what was left of it out of the hose. The easy way to tell if one at the JY is ok is to remove the hoses from the engine side of it and see if it's still pure black - if it's crackle-finish and turning greenish or brownish and translucent looking, find another one.

EDIT: wow, you AND crimzon both have a 96, so do I. We should start "club 1996 broken heater control valve" or something

I bought a new one made of decent plastic for $18.49 from Advance Auto. They had it in stock, on the shelf. It was actually a relatively easy change. One of the other hoses broke right off the old one as well. The two from the heater core side slid right off. I also installed the new dist. cap today as I had to order that. There's actually two different caps and rotors for 96, go figure. Tune-Up is now done, on to replacing the exhaust and finding the grinding noise in the rear before I get it registered and inspected and back in service. Thanks a ton for all the help!

Yeah, I ran across the different cap/rotor thing in my 95 as well. Course I found out I had the wrong part after I had the jeep apart.