W108 Heater Levers

[dirkbalter]

To the bilingual members of the forum.
The heater mechanism on my 108 needs attention. My warm / cold lever came apart, likely due to a hard moving valve in the heat exchanger.  In the hope that it is less involved than on a 113, I am looking for some basic understanding on what needs to be removed or done in order to get access to the mechanism as well as the heat exchanger?
Thank you for your help.

[badali]

You need to pick out the broken plastic then the lever will fit in the slot from the front.  It needs to be centered.  These are finicky to get the lever to tighten.  It is still better than removing the entire system.

[dirkbalter]

Thank you.
I already spend some time trying to insert the lever back into the slots with no luck. The problem is that it will require some force to move it. I believe, to address the real problem, I need to get access to the mechanism and possibly the heat exchanger.
That's why I was looking for some bullet points on the approach.
 

[badali]

I think the heater valve is buried deep in the under dashboard.  The heater core was built and the car was built around it.  I removed a heater core on a parts car and every thing had to come out including the steering column.  I would remove some under dash panels to see if the valve is visible first.  You may get lucky and be able to get to the valve and pull it clean it and put it back with a new o ring.  I don't remember if it was in reach...

[dirkbalter]

Thank you. That's what I was afraid off.

[BobH]

If you do have to remove stuff for access, this might help, although it's from an earlier car, there may be similarities

http://www.jaimekop.com/2012/02/w108w109-heater-levers/

[dirkbalter]

Appreciated. Thank you.

[ja17]

On the W108 and W109 sedans the water valves are directly behind the ash tray. Remove the ash tray to view the water valves. You can also remove the glove box to gain more access.

Heater lever replacement with originals is a bit more difficult on sedans than the W113 cars. There is a hidden phillips screw on two lower controls which locks two control cables. The screws are only visilble by viewing from the outside of the car, through the windscreen and into the speaker opening (speaker removed). And then is only visible when the lever is moved to a certain position. You will see it emerge in an opening in the casting. At this point the screw can be loosened and the cable removed. In addition the top left lever on sedans is more complicated than W113 since, on sedans the heater fan switch is built into the control lever itself.

The "Durolevers" that you have, were a fix to avoid all the work of replacing the originals, but you will still need to free up your heater valves.

To free up your heater valves, drain the radiator add radiator/engine flush and water. Run engine until full engine temperature 180 f , then attempt to move the valves. The heat and flush chemicals will usually free up the water valves. You might have to let it work for a while. In the end they should move smoother than ever. Don't forget to drain the flush out and add new coolant when finished.

[dirkbalter]

Thank you very much. That's perfect.