Help -- I'm in Arizona and I can't turn the heat off. No matter what I do
with the controls, heat comes out of the dash vents and floor vents when
those vents should just be blowing fresh/outside air. Right now my best
option seems to be directing the fresh air (which is now heated all the
time) to the dash vents and then closing those vents. But still hot air
leaks in, especially on my feet -- not pleasant when it's 105 degrees
outside and the AC system is hardly the best in the world (I have factory AC).

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. But that's an inconvenient solution (I don't want to lose
heated defrost, for one), and at any rate it doesn't ring quite true to me
... I've had the van for a year now and have used it quite a bit in hot
weather with no problems whatsoever -- until last week, when the heat
started coming out of the fresh air vents.

This seems to me different than the hot foot syndrome, which as I
understand it is caused by heat seeping through the floor from the coolant
pipes on the underside of the van. My problem is that my heater is now on
all the time.

Any ideas what's going on? I've checked the archives and so far can't find
what I need there.

Mark Pry
1990 GL