Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 00:24:38 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Noisy bearing (?) on front heater fan
In-Reply-To: <20061202053807.72215.qmail@web54309.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but ---
When the bearing goes, you don't just replace a bearing. The whole motor
gets replaced. And to do that you have to take the heater box apart. And
to get to the heater box you have to remove the entire dash of the
vehicle. There simply is no way around it.
That's right - take out the entire dash. Only then can you get to the
heater box to dismantle it to get at the motor. For that much trouble,
you don't just replace the motor bearing, you replace the motor. It is
also the time you renew the padding that all the heat and air flaps seal
against.
I have not done this myself, but others have, and there are some
websites of list members that show how it is done, plus descriptions of
it in the archives. My understanding of it is that it takes about a day
if all goes well, two days if you run into little snags along the way.
While you have the dash apart, you can do repairs, new wiring, etc, etc.
Maybe someone will post the locations of the websites that show how it
is done.
Good luck.
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Michael Hart wrote:
> Firstly - thanks for all the great advice regarding 'dim headlights'
> - I'll be trying to clean the lenses first and adding a better ground cable
> - after that, the relay & bulb upgrade
> - if that's still not enough I may consider the SA grill (when they're back in stock)
>
> On to my newest problem;
> - The front heater has a squeal at speed settings 1 & 2 (seems to go away on 3)
> Searching the archives, I found articles (latest from Gerard Masar 11/14/06) on this,
> and it sounds like this could be a major project
> My questions are;
> - Seems this is likely to be a dry fan motor bearing?
> - Do I really need to remove & dismantle the heater box to get at the fan bearing?
> (this sounds like a lot of time...)
> - Any idea how long the bearing could last without attention?
> - Any fire danger (or other - blowing other circuits, damaging heater core....) from just continuing
> & letting it eventually fail?
>
> Thanks in advance for your excellent advice
> Mike,
> '87 Westy
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
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