Tom Neal's procedures just worked for my similar problem.

    Carl Smith

>
>  A couple of things to try if you like before replacing the cable:
>  Bend the wire back straight.
>  Adjust the switch so the wire is driven straighter down the sleeve as the
>  lever is moved.
>  Squirt liquid graphite lubricant down the sleeve and move the level back
>  and forth a lot to work it down.
>  Pull on the lever some to make sure it is seated properly.
>
>  Open and close the valve directly at it to make sure it
>  fully opens and closes easily.
>
>  Worked on mine.  YMMV.
>
>  Cheers, Tom Neal
>
>  On Sun, 27 Feb 2000, Mike Finkbiner wrote:
>
>  > Volks -
>  >
>  > It's been warmer in Moscow lately, so when I was coming back from getting
>  > groceries, it was too warm in my '87 Westy.  I reached for the heater
>  > control slider, the second down from the top, and tried to move it from
> the
>  > full right position back to the middle.
>  >
>  > There was an instant of resistance, and then then, with a metal-on-metal
>  > dragging feeling, it moved, but felt very strange, not like the normal
>  > smooth slide.  The heat didn't change, either.
>  >
>  > When I got home, I took the ashtray out, and looked inside.  The wire
that
>  > hooks to the slide handle was bowed up, pushing the end of the wire that
>  > went through the handle down against the metal plate, which is where the
>  > metal-on-metal feeling was coming from.  By holding the wire down with
one
>  > hand, and pushing the slide handle with the other, I was able to move it
>  > back and forth.  If I didn't hold it down, moving the slider just bent
the
>  > wire.
>  >
>  > I pulled the spare tire, and looked at the heater valve.  The cable
looks
> OK
>  > at that end.  I couldn't move the valve by hand with the cable attached,
> it
>  > did move when I held things in place up top.
>  >
>  > Looks like I need a new cable.
>  >