It was not a common fault until recently, when a bad batch of heater valves entered the supply chain. I believe them to be of Chinese origin, but the blame largely lies with the importer, who could have gone to a factory with proper quality control, or given them a proper specification to manufacture them. We get innundated with defective Chinese junk because we tolerate it, and the bunch of spivs who run significant parts of the Mini supply chain are prepared to go to the cheapest back-street Chinese factory to get shoddy bits made. People who take a different approach, assess their potential suppliers properly, and apply on-going QA procedures can get good stuff made in China.
I don't know where to get a good quality heater valve as of now, but you mat find one of the old, brass ones which were manually operated, and used on other A series engines such as the Moggy at one time, and on early Minis.
I suggest that next time, to get the answer you need quicker, you should start a new thread with a proper title such as "Heater valve problem" rather than tack it on to the end of a long-dead and completely unrelated thread. You get best results from forums, like everything in life, by using them correctly, and we only want you to get the best advice for your Mini.
