Blower Fan Blues

[Jefferson]

Presumably 'Newbies' are allowed to ask the sort of naive questions you established and venerable Bongo elders have packed away long ago?
I feel a bit embarrassed about asking this 'tecky' question as, in a previous career/ life, I qualified as an electrical engineer. Nevertheless, I guess 'local knowledge' is invaluable So here goes
I have a Bongo with standard 'peasants' air con and not the posh climate control.
I have searched the forum and the members sections but have not found any reference to removing the blower motor.
My fan blower is squealing like a porker on slower speeds. It is now a case of fixing the blower motor or buying two sets of ear defenders All 4 speeds are working and the resistor is has been recently changed.
In an attempt to lubricate the fan bearing I have stripped out the top ducting and gained access to the fan blades, removed the fan retaining nut but have been unable to remove the fan section.Trying devious ways of injecting WD40 below the fan has been unsuccessful
To access the motor it now looks like a strip down of the bottom ducting housing? This looks a bit more heroic than the 'simple half hour job' described in several forum items.
The schematic diagram, in the members section,seems to indicate the fan might be retained by a screw set underneath the housing and that it
might drop out from under the housing??
Any advice about how to remove and repair or replace the 'noisy blighter' would be appreciated. Her Indoors is threatening not to venture out in the Bongo until it is fixed! On second thoughts, maybe I should buy one set of ear defenders and leave the fan as it is?
Prior to setting to and ripping the ducting apart I thought a line (??) to the old hands might save me 'swearing and sweating' time!
I grovel at the feet of the experts in hopeful anticipation .

[Lewy]

No grovelling needed dude

I have done this job and if memory serves the motor is secured from underneath by 3 cross head screws - they are a bit fiddly to get to but accessable by reaching round from the top - rather than from lying under the van. I do seem to remember that I did it using a ratchet screw driver as you can only get one hand in for the back one - try not to drop the screw too.

Drop the motor out unplug it and strip it down and clean it out done this too so if I can do it believe me anyone can.

G' luck

[Jefferson]

Lewy you are a star.
I will be out there with the 'ratchet' in the morning. "No not you dear you can stay indoors and groom the cat"
Mind you if its that easy her indoors can change the motor and I will polish the cat

[brorabongo]

The other way is to take the whole unit out, as in the ducting/cover it is sitting in. It's only held by screws or bolts and the wire from the control panel lever for adjusting the flap , (I'm guessing for selecting air from outside or recirculation.) It's all easy to get to.

[Jefferson]

Thanks also to 'brorabongo' One way or another I should be able to find a fix.
Got all psyched up to wield the spanners on Thursday morning but 'her indoors' insisted on the ASDA experience! Not to be put off got tooled up again on Thusday afternoon but the weather decided to hiss down This fan repair looks like being a long drawn out affair?
One bonus of the shopping detour was picking up two self-inflating mattresses from Aldi for less than £20. These roll up to a slim tube for storage and will make a good flat bed space upstairs or on the messanine floor of the Bongo.
Rains easing! Spanners at the ready! Up and away!

[Jefferson]

Job Done and Boxed Up!
Thanks to Lewy and Brorabonga for the 'insider information' which made the repair straightforward.
Fan is whispering away in the background, only trouble is that 'her indoors' is now happy to Bongo along!
In some ways life was more peaceful when the fan was squeaking!:roll:

[2sticks]

Congratulations on a successful fix Jefferson, please don't leave it too long
before you find something else wrong, your narrative and humour
brightened an otherwise gloomy day.

[Lewy]

Well done dude - glad it was a good fix. You might want to check the small hole and drain pipe that is in the middle of the windscreen bottom guttering - you'll see it when the bonnet is up - they can get bunged up causing water to cascade into the engine bay and ending up in the bottom of the fan motor - that what siezes them up apparently.

[mikeonb4c]

Textbook result Jefferson (thanks to the BFers and their textbook advice). Like you humour, I got lucky with the Bongo cos my wife made it clear she wasnt going to be seen in a fan with windows and a roof on top and that was older than the car I got rid of to buy it. At first I was disappointed, and then I thought.........

[brorabongo]

Well done Jefferson and have yourself a pint, what with all that money you saved and "browie points" from the misses, you deserve it. Easy enough job was'nt it. You will now be thinking what can I do next!!

As lewy said, and is mentioned on quite a few threads, keep a check on the drain hose for blockages.

[Jefferson]

Cheers Brorabongo,mikeonb4c and the rest of the'brotherhood of the Bongo' (Now I will be accused of sexicsm but I don't care, I can say anything if her indoors is out of earshot. )
The guy I bought the Bongo from learned about the drainage hole to his cost. Hence mine arrived with a new resistor fitted and a warning to check the drain frequently.
He must have been lucky with the seized fan( ) as it only started to play up after we had it a couple of weeks Praise be it was fixable as new ones seem to E-bay at about £120. My other half was not inclined to act as a 'Punca Wallah' just because I had delusions of being fanned and cosseted as we wafted along on our magic carpet.
I have been surprised how quickly the drain blocks up, sometimes in the space of a few days to a week, wondered if anyone had found a way of enlarging the drain hole or even waterproofing the resistor and blower system?
Bit like life really? We spend our time trying to cram fluids and assorted
solids into a small orifice and are often overtaken by blockages and restrictions in our overflows? Now where did I put that laxative ?

[mikeonb4c]

Jefferson - Like you, I find mine blocks up again quickly (overdue for a check now). I wonder if it gets constricted over time with gunge. I've bought a compressor and airgun and am going to try and blow some air down it next time instead of using a thin piece of wire.

Mike

[Jefferson]

mikeonb4c,
Good idea, I think I might try that next time I use a garage air line. Meantime I carry a short length of earth wire and a zip tie, twisted/attached to the battery clamp. Every time I open the hood it is then handy for giving the drain hole a quick fettling.

[Vanmanerik]

I just had to do a repair on the heater fan resistor and found the previous posts vey helpful.

To access the resistors in the case some peeps cut the plastic sides off, others file the rivets off but I found that using a pair of small pointy nosed pliers you could squeeze the four tags in the bottom plate and then remove the casing, after repair just replace the casing and open out the four tags with a small bladed screwdriver.

I found the soldering very easy, I placed a piece of thin card between the resistor joints and the case, pushed the reistors (there were two on my case) onto the contacts using the back of a knife and briefly held the soldering iron till the solder melted, removed it and waited about 15 seconds for the solder to cool - job done. No extra solder was required.

While I was at it I removed the fan and housing completely from the Bongo, removed the fan from the housing and then dismantled the fan, and the motor, cleaned the bearings and recharged them with light oil - there is a felt pad all around the bearing to retain oil and keep the bearing lubricated - I think it is a sintered bronze bearing which is full of tiny microscopic holes which retain the lubricant and suck it up from the felt pad as required - so it will now last a few more years.
While I had the motor dismantled I cleaned the commutator and checked the brushes, there was more than adequate length still on them and they moved freely.

But now to the HORRIBLE BIT.
When you remove the fan housing you expose the heater core and it is dirty, manky, blocked solid with crud of all descriptions you wonder how any air at all is passing through it and then think YEUK what about the air that has passed through it!!!
So I tried sucking it out with a vacuum cleaner but without much success athough I adapted it with a smaller piece of fuel pipe taped to the vacuum cleaner nozzle to get easier access into the heater matrix. So I gave it a bit of thought, 'there is a drain hole in the bottom where the condensation from the air con drains from so it may be OK to use soap and water', after a trial with plain water it appears that it will drain away quite happily. So I soaked the matrix with soapy water using a soft paint brush, repeating every 15 mins or so untill the crud had softened then I got the hose on it very gently and managed to clean it out very successfully. I then gave it a squirt of one of those kitchen sprays that kills germs, left it 10 mins then washed it out again before re-assembling it all.

Well the fan worked again but what a difference in the amount of air it now pushed into the cabin, nearly blew your head off.

OK sun you can shine again - I got me air con working........

[mikeonb4c]

Interesting post Vanmanerik.

Do you think it was putting in a new, free running motor that cuased the air volume pushed through to increase rapidly, or was it due to clearing out all the crud. I ask becuase I think I have a freee running fan myself, but I'm not especailly impressed by the volume of air that comes out (though its not at all bad and certainly quite adequate so it could be the best the Bongo can do anyway).

Thanks

Mike