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Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:19 am

When I decided where to drill the hole, I had a complete heater box sitting on the bench to measure. The hole needed to be a little higher but as you can see the sheetmetal doesn't allow for that. For lighting, I used a small LED headlamp that I pushed up over the intake lip and was able to get enough fingers in to aim it while looking through the hole. I also have a small flexible single-LED inspection light that works well for the purpose. I connected two of the lubricant tubes together with a tiny piece of hose to make a tube long enough to reach the bearing, without the can blocking my view into the hole. Really, it was easy! :wink:

Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:25 am

westyventures wrote: When I decided where to drill the hole, I had a complete heater box sitting on the bench to measure. The hole needed to be a little higher but as you can see the sheetmetal doesn't allow for that. For lighting, I used a small LED headlamp that I pushed up over the intake lip and was able to get enough fingers in to aim it while looking through the hole. I also have a small flexible single-LED inspection light that works well for the purpose. I connected two of the lubricant tubes together with a tiny piece of hose to make a tube long enough to reach the bearing, without the can blocking my view into the hole. Really, it was easy! :wink:

How big a hole do you think can be drilled there without creating problems? Could someone use a 1" or 1 1/4" hole saw and create one large hole to both run the nozzle up through and the light?

Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:33 am

I didn't want to drill into the metal on the front of my van so I tried the tencentlife method: drilling a hole in the bottom of the driver's side defrost vent. This way the damage is not visible, and doesn't leave any exposed metal to rust.

I needed a long drill bit to reach in there. Still couldn't see the heater bearing, but inserted a spray "tube" in the hole and sprayed away. Viola! Heater squeak is gone . . . I have a quiet heater on all speeds. Maybe I'll enlarge that hole so I can see where I'm spraying next time?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4043793&highlight=defrost+vent#4043793

Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:53 am

I definitely like Karl's trick much better than mine.

Thu Mar 04, 2010 6:54 pm

I just drilled an 1 1/4 inch hole in my parts van to see what kind of access that would give to the bearing. The hole is a couple of inches farther from the center of the van than the one Karl shows in his picture. Looks like I can easily hold a flashlight in one hand and use the other hand to spray the grease, and have good visibility all the while. Also when I was at my local farm store today I grabbed several of those small coffee stirring straws. Just the right size to slip over the original straw on several of the different spray cans I have laying about.

Wonder about the best grease to use. Have a variety to choose from:

CRC 2-26
Motorcycle chain lube
Spray silicone
Spray lithium
WD-40
Liquid wrench and a variety of other penetrants.
3 in 1 oil

Open to ideas and opinions as to which will give the best life on do the least harm to the motor.

Thu Mar 04, 2010 7:28 pm

I would use Wurth HHS... but I already have a can of it.

... something you won't mind breathing the fumes from
and that is light enough to get in there; yet heavy enough to do the job for up to 8+ years...

maybe the silicone spray; definitely not penetrating oil or WD-40

if your farm store sells lattes, then you must live in the PNW...

Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:45 pm

randywebb wrote: if your farm store sells lattes, then you must live in the PNW...

Can't buy a Latte there, but you can get a crude cup of joe for free. You have to be a little leery of what they might have used those swizzle sticks for besides coffee.

Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:36 pm

Just got done doing the fan motor bearings on my 83 1/2. Since I had drilled the fan rotor when I had had the fan assembly out 3-4 years ago, I was able to do both bearings easily enough.

Drilled one 1 1/4 hole 5" from center on the drivers side to reach the exposed bearing and another 1 1/4 hole 7" from center on the passenger side to lube the bearing hidden behind the fan. After playing with an old motor, I decided to use spray chain lube as I felt it would do a good job and I thought I could keep it out of the windings and brushes for the most part.

The occasional bearing chirp I had been getting is now gone.

I also mouse proofed the inlet screen while I had things apart, installing some fill pieces so mice can't enter the air dusts by squeezing behind the ends of the screen.

Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:48 pm

finally found it. squirted some oil and the squeak is gone. :D

Thanks carl.

Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:51 pm

Mine was the hardest to do so far.

Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:02 pm

Alaric.H wrote: Mine was the hardest to do so far.

what made it so hard?

Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:24 pm

whynotvw wrote: Alaric.H wrote: Mine was the hardest to do so far.

what made it so hard? Brush guard

Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:56 pm

Alaric.H wrote: whynotvw wrote: Alaric.H wrote: Mine was the hardest to do so far.
what made it so hard? Brush guard

In your case, removing the dash just might have been easier.... :D

Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:40 am

Only problem I had was on my 87 Westy, the bearing has a metal cover (cap) on it. So peering through the hole, that's what I saw.
I sprayed silicone anyway and got some relief from squeal, however, weather had warmed up anyway and less of a problem.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 1:18 pm

Well Terry, both Karl and I have done ours as have several other folks. If you look at my post on page two you can figure out the date that I did mine and you can probably go back and figure out when Karl did his as well. I will let you know if and when mine fails, assuming I keep my 83 1/2 on the road long enough for that to happen.

The hole creates no problem if closed off, even the two large 1 1/4" ones I drilled so I would be able to easily see what I was doing and to better access the bearing behind the fan hub. A smaller hole would not even need to be closed off. The only function I can see in the piece of sheet metal that the hole is being drilled into is it is a baffle that lessens the amount of water that is carried by the air into the heater box while one is driving in heavy rain. This metal seals nothing and is not structural that I can see. As for this being a temporary repair, in my years of owning Vanagon's I have had to replace or remove and lube the fan motor on each and every one, and in the case of my 83 1/2 the box had already been split at least once before I bought it. I would have to say that going to all the work to replace the heater motor is far from a "final" fix, it is something that must be repeated at all too frequent intervals.

The amount of oil I used is also very minimal and was directed right at the bearing that I could see very well, at least in the case of the one on the exposed end. I used an extension that put the oil right on the bearing and used no more than a quarter second blast.

I am sure your "VW mechanics" don't want this easy and effective repair to become well known. They are going to lose hundreds of dollars in potential labor for everyone who drills one of these holes and will make zilch on unnecessary parts sales.

Don't know what happens if you drill the hole and see a cover. Maybe this won't work all that well in that instance. The motor in my 83 1/2 does not have this cover, nor did the motor I removed from my 91 last year. BTW this repair would not have worked on the motor that came out of my 91 as the bearing had seized and I couldn't get it to free up even with the motor on the bench. But had I known of this repair before hand, I might well have lubed the motor before it ever got so bad and saved myself some dough and a lot of time. The new motor in my 91 will get sprayed the first time it ever makes a peep, and I will be able to do both bearings as I predrilled the fan before I put it in.

Thanks again to Karl for coming up with this cheap, easy, and effective repair.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:48 pm

I tried the Mullendore port fix. In the end I needed to remove the dash and go in and refurb the motor. The inner bearing was also dry. If the port had worked It would have saved me 4-5 Hrs, but I did get a chance to remove the dash, and now I have no fear of the process.

I also had to remove a mouse nest from the Heater box as well. Funny it didn't smell as bad as it looks.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:52 pm

mad.macs wrote: I tried the Mullendore port fix. In the end I needed to remove the dash and go in and refurb the motor. The inner bearing was also dry. If the port had worked It would have saved me 4-5 Hrs, but I did get a chance to remove the dash, and now I have no fear of the process.

I also had to remove a mouse nest from the Heater box as well. Funny it didn't smell as bad as it looks.

Seal around the screen on the front so mice can't work their way around it. Very common entry point. Before I fixed mine I had mice making their way into my van within minutes of pulling into a camping spot. I have to assume they had learned this entry route on other Vanagons that had been previously parked in the same or nearby spots.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:19 pm

It's just a better idea to pull the dash to inspect, and take a look at what ya have in the heater box over the years--

I haven't taken a look at a core plugged quite as bad as this one is, but they all do collect plenty of garbage flown in from the intake, and will slow down the air flow between the core & the blower.
The stock Vanagon heater core fins are packed too tight--and will grab anything that is a tad too big and jam in there pretty fast.
Just think if you had been blowing oil into that jam.

Plus--you can oil up the other side of the motor bearing if you want to--which you could never do from the outside.

I hate yanking the dash--just about as bad as I hate going to a Doctor..
But sometimes it's just necessary--and you will feel better when your all done--the Van's heat will anyway.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:10 pm

Terry Kay wrote:
Plus--you can oil up the other side of the motor bearing if you want to--which you could never do from the outside.

Never can be a pretty short time, can't it. If you look at my post from March 4, you will see that I was able to lube mine from the outside. Took an extra 5 minutes or so, will take less if I need to do it again. I had predrilled my fan when I had last had the motor out, but it could be drill easily enough in-situ.

Yes the heater core will get plugged with debris, which is why in the past I have either pulled the unneeded restrictor plates or modified them by adding lots and lots of extra holes. With luck I will never have to pull the dash on this rig again.

Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:41 pm

<<I was able to lube mine from the outside. Took an extra 5 minutes or so, will take less if I need to do it again. I had predrilled my fan when I had last had the motor out>>

And this is the only way--having a pre-drilled hub.
Just for the sake of conversation, how man vanagons have pre- drilled squirrel cage hubs?
Three?
Four?
For these very few an far between --yea it can be done.
But I'm talking about the norm here--not a miniscule minority.

<< but it could be drill easily enough in-situ.>>

I'm going to discount the word "easy" here and leave that for the guys into contorsionist situtations.
Maybe, possibly, the Harry Houdini's could get it done "easy".