TheSamba.com :: View topic - 65 1600CC Metal Noise from Engine Compartment

Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:35 am

Hello All and nice to meet you.,

65 bug with a 1600cc Dual Carb setup.

I recently have had a scratching metal on metal type of noise that is very noticeable on Start up and at idle. Once moving the motor is loud enough to drown out any hint of the noise.

-Motor has no loss of power nor abnormal smoke

- Once the motor warms up and the idle increased the sound is not nearly as loud.

- It sounds like shit

My Guesses are:

- Start not retracting (Does the watercooled hammer trick work?)
- Fan bearing loose?

If anyone has any insight or questions i'll be glad to answer thanks in advance for any help.

The car has been a lot of fun, and I've replaced a few bits including the master cylinder and some suspension bits. I have already been ignoring my 80's vw too much.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:43 am

Take your fan belt off and spin the generator/alternator by hand and see if the noise is coming from there or if the fan is rubbing the shroud.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 10:53 am

ovalteen wrote: Take your fan belt off and spin the generator/alternator by hand and see if the noise is coming from there or if the fan is rubbing the shroud.

Will do thank you.

Are these fans made of metal?

Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:11 am

Yes, the fans are steel. You can also try running the engine for a few seconds without the fan belt on to see if the noise goes away. Try by hand first, sure, as suggested above, but sometimes the noises happen only at the speed of the generator spinning with the engine on. So, that should help reveal whether the fan bolt is loose, whether there's a bearing grinding itself to death, or whatever. I agree that your first thing to check is the fan/generator.

Another thing to try is (ENGINE OFF and belt removed) to reach into the fan housing, grab the fan and grab the pulley on the back and try to rock the main shaft through the generator back and forth (up and down, really). It shouldn't move. If it does, that tells you something.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:12 am

Also, look under the pulley on the engine tin. I once had a fan shroud plug, some how, end up under neath the pulley. That took me a bit to figure out what the heck the sound was, I couldn't see it right away. Happens.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:15 am

Yep fans are metal.
leave the belt on and just lightly push and pull on the shroud while its running to see if the noise changes. ie=fan rubbing
MOVING FAN AND FINGERS DON'T MIX WELL....BE CAREFUL...
Releasing the belt tension may let it move enough to not rub giving a false indication.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:58 pm

azbob wrote: Also, look under the pulley on the engine tin. I once had a fan shroud plug, some how, end up under neath the pulley. That took me a bit to figure out what the heck the sound was, I couldn't see it right away. Happens.

Screw drivers and wrenches can also be lost in there.

Thu May 03, 2012 7:50 am

This was fixed a couple weeks ago and I forgot to post the results.

Took the alternator/fan setup out. Couldn't find any points of contact or any reason for the fan to be scraping.

After 5 minutes of fiddling we realized that the fan was not torqued all the way with the nut (thanks PO!). 10 minutes later with a large breaker bar it is now permanently affixed and not scraping.

This also led to me realizing the idle screws and dual carbs were put in backwards and totally hacked together. We took everything off and reattached sync'd and tuned- Car is sweet again.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone very helpful!

Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:17 am

theMagellan wrote: This was fixed a couple weeks ago and I forgot to post the results.

Took the alternator/fan setup out. Couldn't find any points of contact or any reason for the fan to be scraping.

After 5 minutes of fiddling we realized that the fan was not torqued all the way with the nut (thanks PO!). 10 minutes later with a large breaker bar it is now permanently affixed and not scraping.

This also led to me realizing the idle screws and dual carbs were put in backwards and totally hacked together. We took everything off and reattached sync'd and tuned- Car is sweet again.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone very helpful!

The saga continued! About a week after this fix the noise came back. I drove around for a little while until it became too damn loud. Took everything off again and there was a huge crack in the fan from where the nut is tightened, this coupled with shot alternator bearings was the root of my issue.

New fan alternator on the way, and all should be well.