Date:         Tue, 21 Oct 2003 08:53:17 -0700
Reply-To:     laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Delanty <laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM>
Subject:      Fan vibration fixed...
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This summer I had the cooling fan on the Westy kick up to
high speed a couple times while climbing slow steep roads in
the summer heat.

The first time I ever heard it kick into high speed it scared the
hell out of my passengers and me. It was quite loud and *really*
vibrated the van.  I figured it was about time for a new fan.

Last weekend I had the spare tire down and I took a look at
the fan. There didn't seem to be any significant play in the
bearings and everything looked O.K. Hmmmm....
I jumpered the temp switch to force the fan on high and it
vibrated like hell. Nasty, noisy thing!... turn that off!

I took the air hose and blew all the dust and dirt away from
the fan area and while I was at it I blasted into the area
between the fan and the motor (the fan kind of fits around the
motor and there's a gap there.)  A LOT of dirt came out from
inside the hub area.
I also blew air into the ventilation holes on the motor and
got a lot of black carbon dust (brush residue) and dirt from
inside the motor. (wear respiratory protection for this, the
carbon dust id bad for the lungs!)

After I cleaned all the trash out of the motor and inside the fan
hub I fired up the high speed again and to my delight it was
MUCH quieter! It still makes a bit of noise on high speed, but
it's mostly wind noise and the vibration is gone now!

Guess I don't need to buy a new fan motor yet... (-:

Steve
EJ22 -> '86 Westy "Escape Pod"