Water/heater Valve Problems

[92ls forhundo]

this past thursday i got in my beloved ls400 and couldnt get the heat to turn on...so i lfted the hood and saw that the the water valve wa crusted over with dried red coolant, ok no problem i thought, ill just scrape the crust with my finger and manually exercise the cable and will be fine, right? Well later in the day im driving and i notice that that there is steam coming fom the passenger side of the engine compartment and (horrer of all horrers!!!! seriously) my temp gauge is rising above halfway :cries: , so i get home ,leave the car running and pop the hood and see that coolant is almost pouring from the hose that goes right into the water/heater valve........my question is, besides losing probably a ton of that 8 month old toyota red coolant, does that seem like my only problem is the valve is just stuck closed, i.e., broken or am i in real trouble? I know that a new valve can be had for about $70 or so, but is install easy? and what else should i do or check when installing a new one,besides adding coolant? i noticed that the assembly appears to fastened to sorta to the firewall, does that just pull off? Please if anyone knows whats happening here let me know.

Btw it is a 92. Thank You in advance.

[93ls400walt]

I just replaced my water valve on my 93ls. It is simple but you will need some special tools. To get to the hose clamp on the vertical hose, the one closest to the fire wall, I bought a combo pack of a very long stright needle nose plier and an angled tip of the same length from Sears, $14.00. Get some new heater hose, I beleive it is 3/4 inch. I bought 4 new hose clamps, the screw type just in case. The only one of the clamps that I rep;aced tho was the top vertical clap the one with the cotter pin. And the two nuts holding it to the firewall are 10mm.

Unclip the cable and slide it off the pin.

Remove the top hose first and prop upright to keep any fluid from running out. There was hardly any on mine. And I did not drain the radiator.

Remove the two nuts.

I cut the vertical hose in half after I could not slide it off the connecter. The used a knife to split the hose down the middle. Then it peeled off easy. Carefull the connecter is made of soft metal.

I fit the new vertical hose onto the new valve with a new clamp. And pre placed the old spring clamp onto the middle of the hose. Make sure the squeze points are facing in a direction that you can reach with the needle nose pliers.

Then bolt the valve to the fire wall. slide the vert. hose onto the the connecter and slide the clamp into position. Now connect the upper hose to the valve and clamp.

Turn the car on and set the fan on and the temp to MAX cool. Shut car off, Move the are of the control valve clockwise to the stop point, Around a six o'clock position, Push the cable backward to hte point where it will slide onto the pin connecter on the arm. Hold it there and secure the cable by snapping the clip over the cable locking it to the valve bracket. Start the car and check for leaks. 30-40 minutes total time to replace. I did not drain the radiator and did not loose more than a cup of collent. And do this job with the engine cold.