>
> My mechanic replaced the heater control valve, but the problem persists.
> He
> says this problem is common to Vanagons and that many owners here in the
> hot climes have solved the problem only by bypassing their front heaters
> altogether.

If he was my mechanic, I'd ask him how the hot water is getting to the
heater core through the brand-new control valve. Heaters that won't shut off
are indeed a common Vanagon problem, but the solution there is to make sure
the valve doesn't leak and that throwing he lever closes it all the way. If
he replaced it, your heat ought to shut off when you push the lever all the
way over to cold. My guess is that he didn't adjust the cable properly and
it's not closing al the way. The quick way to fix it for now would be to
drop the spare, crawl in there on your back, eyeball trace the heater hose
to the valve, and tweak the valve by hand to make ure it's closed all the
way. This should solve the problem for the immediate future until you can
get back to the mechanic and have him adjust the valve cable properly. If
turning it off by hand DOESN'T solve the problem, there's something wrong
with the new valve he put in because if there's one thing a valve should do,
that's cut off water flow.

Alternately, you could go with the "non-factory" solution of installing a
plumbing valve in-line with the heater hose where it come out of the floor
and goes up to the dash behind the footwell air deflector in the middle
there, where you can reach it. It certainly sidesteps the irritating task of
getting that finicky cable adjusted right. You can either buy one from Terry
Kay for $25 (as someone else mentioned), or go to anywhere that carries
plumbing supplies and buy two 5/8" hose barb fittings, a hand-operated
shutoff valve they'll fit into, and a couple hose clamps and pay five or six
bucks.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"