Heater control valve leaking?

I'm on my 3rd heater control valve on my 96' in six months. I bought/exchanged all 3 at Advance Auto so I give up on them and I really don't want to go to the local dealer to get one. The keep busting and give me a slight leak(they are plastic). Does NAPA, or Autozone sell a decent one, thats about the only other choices we have around here.

The valve on the '85 was originally metal and the replacement I got at Autozone a couple of years ago was metal, no problems so far. I know the valves on at least some later years ('93 e.g.) are plastic -- don't know if all replacements for these models tend to also be plastic.

You may want to check at the dealer for a heater control valve. Do not overlook the dealer as a source of spare parts. One a lot of things my dealer is competitive with the big box parts stores, and a little known secret - dealer parts "have to work" aftermarket do not have that legal requirement.

Since you are having problems why not get a dealer part, it comes with a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty.

get your money back on the ones from advance and buy a metal manual shut off valve for one or both hoses and your breakage problem will go away and you can open them when it gets cold your a/c performance will improve as well with 2 shutoffs , no hot water to warm the air inside the evap case. this did wonders for my corvette which has marginal a/c any way.

My original plastic one was in great shape when I replaced it at 120,000 miles. I replaced it with the hoses, thermostat and coolant change as general maint. I purchased the replacement (still plastic) from the dealer (I'm generally an OEMr if possible ... I've been burned too often by aftermarket ... and they're often no less money). Even though it's still plastic, it appears to be as good quality as the original and the price was about the same as NAPA. Be careful not to overtighten clamps on them as they can crack. I've always suspected that to be to root cause of leaky examples but have little data to back that up. Where on the valve do they end up leaking from?

the part # on the valve is 56005900 and current retail price is 38.95 at you local dealer , hope that helps

Thanks to everyone, I'll either go to the local "Stealership" or maybe do the manuel valves.

I've worked at a " stealership" for the last 20 odd years , make yourself a friend , bring in a 3.00 box of donuts , and have coffee and sweets with the guys behind the counter , it can save you plenty of money in the long run.
As ive always said there are two people at a dealership you dont want to p**s-off , one is the finance person, when buying a car , the other is the parts person , we enjoy sticking it to jerk customers time and time again for as long as they own that same car! But if you are good to us we are good to you !

Vette75406, I agree on making friends with the parts guys but my favorite local jeep dealer was recently bought out by one of those "motor mile" types, and all the "old timers" were let go. I guess I'll have re-establish the relationships.

Can you post or PM a pic of the "manuel valve" replacement that you have done to yours? I'm assuming that you used ball valves. How many valves and what is the routing?

I was a dealership technician back in the mid 80's(Ford-Olds-Toyota-Catapiller) after I got out of NADC(Nashville Auto -Diesel College) but have moved up a little, I'm a Diesel-Electric Locomotive Tech now(GE and EMD). The stuff I repair now is as big as a house.

I broke two on my 89 (converted to 92 open setup). First one cracked before I even got the hose clamp on. The second one snapped in the middle while driving and dumped a bunch of coolant. The permanent solution was getting rid of the crappy plastic valve. I plumbed the lines straight to the heater core and capped off the vacumn line. This just means I have hot water flowing in the heater core all the time, but I haven't noticed any difference in vent temps. I don't have a/c, btw.