Original Heater Valve and Hoses Replacement Questions

I plan on replacing my heater core, heater valve, and the hoses that associate with them. It would be nice to actually have HEAT in the XJ this winter, as I proved to myself that any type of flushing of the core proved no help, not to mention now I smell coolant upon turning on my HVAC fan...

I had a few questions.

Where do I find the metal valve? The parts house hopefully. Dont want to go to the dealer unless it isnt expensive. Id prefer it not to be plastic.

What about the metal tee? Do they sell JUST the tee?

I plan on replacing all the rubber hoses up in the area of the heater valve, heater core, and overflow tank, since they are 20 year old factory hoses pressed on with metal fittings. I think its about time they be changed. Does the parts house sell the associated molded hoses?

The bottom 90* hose that runs to the bottom of the pressure tank. Where do I find that? Dealer??

Do NOT suggest open conversion, as I am quite happy with my XJ running at 190*F all year round.

Thanks for any help.

Sounds like you're running RENIX (and I understand - I've had five RENIX rigs, and the hottest one was the one I bought converted. I'd not have bothered...)

That metal T isn't available from the dealer, and they were the ones that told me to cut the crimp sleeves off (they're aluminum) and use worm clamps to hold the new hoses on.

That control valve (that's what it is) should be available in the aftermarket, I just don't recall the part number.

However, let me refer you to a page of mine - http://www.geocities.com/JeepI6Power/coming.html (pic near bottom of page - scroll down. Click for hi-res version.) I'm still not sure if I'll put this into full production or not, but I did it on my 88 and I've been happy with the mod. Why did I do it? Because I priced the moulded/angled hoses I needed to do the job, and there had to be a cheaper way to go about it. There was - all that copper ran me a bit less than what two moulded header hoses would have gone for. All copper line in the pic is 1/2", and fittings are sweat-soldered together. I've also included a backflushing T and a "force backflush" valve (open the valve for normal operation. Connect a hose and close the valve to force reverse flow, exhaust through the surge tank.)

I haven't found my notes yet, and I know I need to refine the idea just a bit, but (as I said,) I've been running that way for years and I've been happy with it. Servicing my heater hoses now costs about four bucks (since all that's left are vibration stubs.) The heater control valve has been eliminated - again, with no significant ill effects (I may revise the idea and see about putting a cable-operated valve in or not - I haven't decided yet.)

Very nice! Ive never seen anything like that before. You should sell that!!!

88XJSport said:

Very nice! Ive never seen anything like that before. You should sell that!!!

Click to expand...

I should, but it would be a pain in the arse to ship. That's what's been stopping me (that, and I don't have a "tubing beader" to make proper ends for the hoses to mate with. Yet.)

The main thing, however, will be shipping copper lines that are ~three feet long, and making sure they don't get wrecked in transit.

(Believe it or not, that's "quick and dirty." I think it took me not quite an hour to make all of that...)

Very cool... Might take a shot at that myself...

Jon-- you might wanna put your CCV gromet in the valve cover for the next pic:moon:

jk-- that's something I've not thought of-- yet one more project to keep me in the garage for an evening

I noticed TeamCherokee has the original hoses in a set. I noticed they all look like they have different ID's on the ends, 3/8 7/8, etc...Could I just get away with buying bulk hose from the parts house and just buy the one 90* hose for the bottom of the tank at the dealer? If so, what size bulk hose should I buy? Thanks!

88XJSport said:

I noticed TeamCherokee has the original hoses in a set. I noticed they all look like they have different ID's on the ends, 3/8 7/8, etc...Could I just get away with buying bulk hose from the parts house and just buy the one 90* hose for the bottom of the tank at the dealer? If so, what size bulk hose should I buy? Thanks!

Click to expand...

The bulk hose used in the pic is 5/8", with the exception of the one to the thermostat housing (3/4" ID.) The "elbow" under the football is OEM - I haven't sorted out how to tube that yet.

All tubing is 1/2" copper, sweated together. To go under the 3/4" hose at the front, I used a 1/2" copper tube union overtop of a 1/2" copper tube stub, and it worked rather well. A bit of RTV black is used at all hose/tube junctions, to make up for the tubing not being beaded.