Stiff Heater and Defrost Cables

[jfriese]

Hello Folks,

My two cars have spent more garage time lately than they used to and I've found the heater and defrost wires have become incredibly stiff, even new ones that I put in one car a year or two ago. I tried to keep the turns as gentle as possible as they go from under the dash to the heater unit yet they still are stiff. Has someone come up with a lubricant they find works well on those lines?

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[SNOWBIRD]

I just did this.
Took 2 sized cables out.
Soaked in a Gallon of Rust remover from Rural King for a day.
then after freeing cable and buffing rust off.,hung up and ran a penetrate oil down them for a day,, Free as can be now. Back in car.

 

[jfriese]

Gord,

Interesting info. One of my cars has wrapped ends on the cables so pulling the center out won't be possible. I rather doubt rust is a problem for me since at least one set of the cable sets was new a year or so ago and garage kept since then. This IS Southern California and cars pretty much don't rust here. I rather think the light penetrating oil may be the final lubricating answer. The slightly heavier oil I lubed them with must have thickened up with time.

Thanks for the reply and info,

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[LSolheim]

I dribbled some very light machine oil (think sewing machine oil) down the wire to avoid the evaporation effect when using something like a WD40-type. PLENTY of chance for rust up here, John!

 

[jfriese]

Thanks Larry,

I may tear into the cars this weekend. I'll have to pull the cables from the heaters to do a decent job and, in my case, that means pulling all the stuff from the trunk and removing the trunk parts.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[LSolheim]

Befor you tear too much out, John, best to insure it is not the valve/flap pivots in the heater box that are sticking.

 

[jfriese]

Larry,

I'll do that.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[BrianF]

Hi John
Its Brian from Boston and I just did this job. The cable to the heater box was frozen and not moving at all. The last few years it seemed stiff and had to be exercised 10 or 15 times to loosen it up at the beginning of the season. This year I traced the cable down to the heater box/core, took the cover off and noticed some green crud at the end of the cable on the heater valve/shaft. Few drops of light oil and a good push got the valve to break loose and after exercising 10 - 15 times it seems good. So in my case it was stuck at the heater as mentioned above and it was not the cable.
I hope you already fixed yours. Its always something on these cars and your not alone.
Stay safe
Brian