Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 11:18:19 -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: <BAY101-F25534A6C4D5A27EB7E6CC9A0D90@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Like I said, I have never taken one of these out, but I have studied the
information put out by those who have, and looked at the pictures, and
studied the Bentley.
What I see is that the motor is inside a sealed box. You must take the
box out to break the seals to get to the motor. There is no way to
otherwise service the thing. And that requires taking out the dash.
VW makes clips to reseal the box with - it's a daler item - and they
knew full well this would be what has to be done when the things wore
out, and thus make the clips for application when the time comes. They
figured on the eventual failure of the motor.
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Dave Vickery wrote:
> Is there any way to squirt a small amount of oil or WD40 in there from
> the
> top vent or with the radio out? Or is sealed inside a housing that
> you have
> to do the whole dash de-installation to get to? I think these fan motors
> squeal a little bit long before they need replacing. My van came from
> Arizona and there is dust and very dry air their taking its toll, but
> I am
> sure a dab of oil would solve the intermitten squeal for a good long
> while.
>
> Thanks
> Not up for removing the dash to get at a minor annoying sqeaking.
> Dave in Denver
>
>
>
>
>> From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
>> Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Noisy bearing (?) on front heater fan
>> Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 00:24:38 -0600
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> Cheap talk?
>>> Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
>>> http://voice.yahoo.com
>>>
>>>
>
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