turning heater off

[andyj007]

hi clever people , how do you turn the heater off?  can seem to stop it blowing hot air,? hi guys, on an  s2 , i have the rocker switch., the pull lever under the arm rest front, and the vents under dash ,  but this always blow hot air, I'm guessing the lever by the arm rest when pulled out is supposed to open the heat valve,  but when closed cold air,, I'm guess somewhere is a valve that is stuck open?   any ideas?

[jbcollier]

Heater valve is the brass, round-shaped thing with two hoses going to it, between the air cleaner and the coolant swirl pot:

[jbcollier]

Very common for it to not fully close.  To temporarily close, squeeze the hose with a shut off clamp.

[jbcollier]

You can a modern shut off valve if you would like to keep the possibility of heat.  I used an inline valve from an early VW Golf/Rabbit.

[SilverBeast]

 

The lever in the front of the armrest should close a valve in a hose in the engine bay when pushed in (towards the back of the car). I have a Twin Cam not an S2 so I'm not exactly sure where (in the Twin Cam the valve screws into the thermostat housing).  It won't be instant though as the air still blows through the heater matrix and this has to cool down. There are flaps under the dash (next to the knee nearest the tunnel to stop it blowing down, but you can't stop it blowing at the screen through the top vents.  You should only get ambient air through the two eyeball vents TCS at either end of the dash as this air doesn't get heated.

I see I was too slow typing my reply!

[andyj007]

yes teh the vents work well the fast you go the more air,  but the heater is pumping hot air in..  i doubt its even needed to be honest will try to manualy close it .in  the engine bay.. i will get a stut off t and shut it off completly . i assume that teh hose to teh heater element just serves that purpose, so to cut that off just stops teh warm flow to teh heater core?
 

[BDA]

   andyj007!!

JB and Silverbeast beat me to it. The standard heater valve, which I believe is also found on several other Brit cars, can be hard to open and impossible to completely close with the cable actuator in the car. JB has a much better solution. Until you implement something like that, resign yourself to opening the engine cover and fully closing it for the summer and opening it for the winter by hand. There is significant resistance to its opening and fully closing that has to be overcome and the cable is just not up to the job.

Silverbeast described the TC setup very well. From looking at the S2 owner's manual (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/s2owner/index.htm) the S2 has similar capability but is implemented differently. There are levers on either side of the backbone that direct the air either to the cabin (i.e. your legs) or to the windshield. I would direct the air to the windshield during the winter (if you do get hot water to your heater/demister core, you'll hardly feel it when it goes there. In the winter, generally direct the air to the cabin. I think the S2 is similar to the TC in that the air intake for the heater is from a large hole in the middle of the front trunk. You could block that off if you find it annoying. The side "eyeball" vents will still work.

Good luck and I know we'd all appreciate it if you would post some pictures of your baby!

[BDA]

yes teh the vents work well the fast you go the more air,  but the heater is pumping hot air in..  i doubt its even needed to be honest will try to manualy close it .in  the engine bay.. i will get a stut off t and shut it off completly . i assume that teh hose to teh heater element just serves that purpose, so to cut that off just stops teh warm flow to teh heater core?

That's right, if that valve is closed completely, that should cut off all the hot water to your heater core and it shouldn't be hot anymore (at least till the water in the core cools down!).

[BDA]

Since I posted the user manuals I thought I should post the workshop and parts manuals (along with probably the most information on parts x-references, modifications, other manuals, etc. in one place). Bookmark it: http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/

[jbcollier]

The TC heater valve is famous for needing "help" to close fully.  The S1/2 heater valve is famous for not closing fully no matter what you do.

[andyj007]

thank you all for the quick responses will tinker tommorrow and report back

[dakazman]

I removed the shut off valve and found it fouled with all types of debris. After flushing I added a 10percent solution of muriatic acid and let it sit overnight. Worked 100 percent afterwards.
Dakazman

[kram350kram]

This company make a nice valve    https://kitplaneparts.com

[Exlimey]

I taped a piece of plastic over the heater intake hole in the front trunk.

[dakazman]

  In the water line?
  Dakazman