Questions and Answers
Subaru Heater Control
Q. I have a 1991 Subaru Legacy Wagon as a winter car. This meaning the heat should work :) It works but not well. The lever for the cold-hot will only go part way into the cold, and all the way into the hot. It never really gets that hot. I think that it needs to be adjusted some how so it can go all the way to the left (cold), in turn letting it go all the way to the right (hot).
cold hot
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It goes to about here on the cold side.I opened up the dash and looked at it and it looks like the lever controls a pull cord. Do you know where that is to be adjusted? Back there, or near the heater core? I figure if I can loosen it or tighten it, it will allow it to go all the way to hot.
A. That has a cable that opens and closes a door in the heater box. The door channels air to either flow through or bypass the heater core.
A couple of things can happen here. The first is, for some reason, the door sticks and the cable gets bent. Once the cable is bent it will not move the heat door anymore. I haven't had much success in straightening the cable. It would work for a little while, but it would eventually bend in the same place and I would wind up replacing the cable. Another possibility is the door itself is jammed. Either one of these would seem the most likely if the lever doesn't move.
The other possibility is one of the cable hold down clips popped off. This is more probable if the lever moves freely.
What you need to do is check the cable at both ends and see if it is bent. You may have to remove the heater control panel to check that end, but the other end should be visible under the dash, next to the heater box. If the cable doesn't look bent, then disconnect it from the door lever and try moving the door by hand. If it doesn't move, then the heater box needs to come out and opened up to see what is jamming the door.
If the cable is bent, then it's quite possible it bent due to a jammed door. So don't replace the cable without checking the door or the new cable will bend as well.