Vacuum actuators for 72 Newport-where do I find these?

[justthatguy]

I'm trying to figure out why the heat doesn't work in my newport, and according to the service manual, I'm pretty sure it's one of these actuators. I believe it's the heat shutoff door actuator. I can tug on it and hear slurping, I'm not sure as of yet if it's the line or the actuator. For sourcing's sake, is there any place to get these? I can't seem to find them anywhere. It could be a clogged heater core too, but I doubt it, especially as the rest of the car was well maintained.

It's starting to get into the 20s here so having the heat is a must. I'll do more troubleshooting tomorrow.

 

[justthatguy]

I'm not sure who's dumber, me for taking his word or the prior owner for not looking, water valve wasn't opening.

 

[CBODY67]

I suspect that a "well maintained car" is no guarantee that the heater core will be "open and flowing". Have to do your own investigations to see what's what. Using a heat gun thermometer on the heater hoses can be a way to diagnose things.

Glad you got it working!

CBODY67

 

[justthatguy]

The coolant is nicely green and the car appears to have been cared for, issue now is the blower motor spinning slowly but driving it around town should give me some ram air and that will do for now but I will need to address that soon.

I used the how bad does this burn my hand method lol, I found that the heater hoses were cold and moved the valve the opposite direction and lo and behold I have heat. All I have to do now is fix a leaking exhaust gasket and she's ready for the purpose of a daily driver

 

[Sixpactogo]

If the blower motor is spinning slowly as you described and you have it on high speed there could be a couple things causing it.
1. The blower motor resistor may have failed or have a bad connection. Do you have all three speeds? If so, it is not the resistor.
2. The blower motor itself could be the culprit. When they get dry and corroded, it takes a lot of current to spin them. That can cause the wires to get hot and melt connections and or the switch. You need to be careful and find out the problem before those things happen. My guess is the motor is the problem.

 

[justthatguy]

It may just be an dirty connection on the switch itself. The wipers and light switches all had the same issue, but I'm planning on taking the motor out Sunday and having a good look at it, and testing voltage at the motor harness. Given the car was never driven in winter, I'm inclined to think that the motor is probably dirty and rusty because it was never used.

 

[CBODY67]

On the factory a/c cars, when the control is 'OFF", the motor will run very, very slow. But operates normally when the control is not "OFF". The a/c compressor also runs in "OFF", too.

Supposed to keep some air circulating over the evaporator core to minimize the fogging of the windshield when the defroster first runs. But only above 32 degrees F, as I understand. Which also means there's an outside temp sensor somewhere in the system, too. One of the "upgrades" for the a/c system in '72!

As you move the temp level to the right, about 1/2 way to full hot, you'll feel a click in the lever. That's turning off the a/c compressor switch in the system. You can also reposition the cable end on the water valve to be off with the level just past the click, too. I did that on our '72 Newport to hopefully help the a/c performance. Plus to help general performance with the a/c off, too.

Also, you might notice that the heater air is biased toward the driver's side of the floor. What I did to equalize the air flor, side to side, was to take a piece of masking tape and put it over the top of the lh outlet, making it 1/2 the size on the housing. THEN the rh side got more flow and my mother didn't complain about cold feet, which made my father happy. And EASY fix!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[justthatguy]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know at what temp the hot light on the panel trips? Car doesn't have a temp gauge and it cools as it should, I was just curious.