flaky heat temperature dial?

[longhaul747]

I have had this problem since I have had my 4Runner but lately my wife asked about it and how annoying it is. At the full clockwise position I get plenty of heat. Problem is as soon as I go one little click counter clockwise I loose about half the heat and after moving a few more clicks I loose all the heat. Even though the dial has a massive range between cold and hot its not useful. I get full cold by the time I am into the white. I feel no further difference going any further counter clockwise.

Basically its a minor but semi annoying problem because we can't seem to set it for a comfortable level and leave it at that. Its either to hot or to cold. Is this how they all are or is something wrong with my heat controls? If something is wrong is it fixable? I need to get in there soon anyway to replace the bulbs as 2 are burned out and I might be able to look at this as well. This is a 98 SR5 with the analog temperature controls.

 

[SkidPalace]

Crawl under your dash and you can see the heater controls in plain view.
Wiggle the temp knob and you will see how the control cable attaches to the heater box.
Perhaps the clamp that holds your cable housing has slipped and is throwing off your readings.
I would turn the knob to full heat, unclamp the cable and then manually throw the lever on the heater box to the full heat position. Then re-clamp the cable in that position.

 

[longhaul747]

Crawl under your dash and you can see the heater controls in plain view.
Wiggle the temp knob and you will see how the control cable attaches to the heater box.
Perhaps the clamp that holds your cable housing has slipped and is throwing off your readings.
I would turn the knob to full heat, unclamp the cable and then manually throw the lever on the heater box to the full heat position. Then re-clamp the cable in that position.

Thanks for the tip. It does not look to difficult to fix. I will have a peak this weekend.