# Heater control valve location



## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

Recently my 1996 Altima, has been having heating and idle issues, I brought it to a dealer and they sais the heater control valve is leaking anitfreeze externally and needs to be replaced, $220. Where is this component located, is it all so called a water control? Is it on the fire wall with a cable attatched to it? or is that something else. All so how difficult is it to replace?


Thanks
Frank


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

LONDONDERRY said:


> Is it on the fire wall with a cable attatched to it? All so how difficult is it to replace?


yup, its the black thing with the cable attached to it. not difficult to replace at all. just messy. if you can, replace the heater hoses too. save yourself some heartache later on.


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

AsleepAltima said:


> yup, its the black thing with the cable attached to it. not difficult to replace at all. just messy. if you can, replace the heater hoses too. save yourself some heartache later on.



Is it necessary to drain the antifreeze out of the system before I replace this valve? Hmm I wounder why the dealer wanted $220 to replace this part? I priced out this vavle for $40 to 50.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

LONDONDERRY said:


> Is it necessary to drain the antifreeze out of the system before I replace this valve? Hmm I wounder why the dealer wanted $220 to replace this part? I priced out this vavle for $40 to 50.


its only necessary to drain the system below the level of the valve. that should make the minimum amount of mess. they probably charged you dealer price for the coolant and maybe even hoses. other than that, they got you for the obligatory 2-3 hours of labor at dealer prices...


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

AsleepAltima said:


> its only necessary to drain the system below the level of the valve. that should make the minimum amount of mess. they probably charged you dealer price for the coolant and maybe even hoses. other than that, they got you for the obligatory 2-3 hours of labor at dealer prices...



Considering there labor rate $75.00 per an hour


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

LONDONDERRY said:


> Considering there labor rate $75.00 per an hour


exactly.


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