I was turning the heat down in my car the other afternoon when I heard a lovely "pop" come from the heater control area as I was moving the slider. When I looked under, sure enough, the cable had broken. Is there a way to repair these, or am I going the replacement route?

I thought I remembered someone saying that cables for bicycles will work, seeing as they also must be strong enough to go through a push and pull movement. Any truth to this?

I'm not in a great hurry seeing as the weather is nice out, and it hopefully won't get cold again for a couple months. Just thought I'd ask before I stick my head and hands in there and try to hurt myself.

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The old white brick

Nope. Bicycle shift and brake cables never push—they're way too flexible to push against any kind of a load. They only pull against spring-loaded mechanisms.

Bowden cables (such as the ones that control your heater doors, or the throttle and choke on your lawnmower) have stiff, solid control wires rather than the flexible, twisted-strand ones found in bicycle cables.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Durn. Hmm, ok then, I'm guessing the local auto parts store? Or else, I'm going to have to get creative, and we don't want that to happen.

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The old white brick

Should be able to make up new cables by buying some generic mower choke/throttle control assemblies, disassembling the control head and shortening the cable and casing to suit your nefarious purposes.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

"There will be blood tonight!" Urm, I mean that's good to hear. I'll have to figure the length including the little wound coil that attaches to the slider. This could turn into a dangerous little project with outside applications. I love it!

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The old white brick