Anders Flodin

Whack the dove tails


Clean commutator (sanding and clean out the grooves between commutator contacts)


Stuck brushes, clean out gunk


Compressor away and fan can be removed at corner
I had a problem with my fans on my ´86 turbo. Clark's (RIP) write ups was very useful and I did a few things that I have not seen documented so I thought I could make small contribution.

First of all removing the fan:
On the turbo it is quite cluttered so removing the whole shroud with fans is not easily done, if at all doable....

Here is what I did.
1. Remove AC compressor tensioning turnbuckle.
2. Remove the 2 bolts (17mm and 13mm) holding the AC compressor so I can be moved hanging in the hoses.
3. Remove the serpentine belt.
4. Remove the nuts (not the bolts) that attached the fan to the plastic shroud. 3 nuts using 10mm small socket wrench
5. Unplug fan
6. remove the 6 screws holding the plastic shroud (and fans). The one in the upper middle can be reached from underneath quite easily
7. While holding the compressor out of the way it is now possible to open up the shroud enough on the driver's side to get the fan(s) out.

Now to the more interesting stuff.
My fan was very hard to turn by hand, like the bearings were seized up but when I attached 12 volts to it, there seemed to be some life in it so I thought that I could not make things worse by opening up the fan and see what was casuing this.

1. remove clip that holds plastic fan to shaft, flat screw driver
2. tap out shaft gently and pry a little on the plastic fan with a screw driver. The plastic was quite tough and despite brute force I did not damage it.
3. The motor housing consists of 3 pieces. It is not made for opening but by whacking on the dove tail joints it is possible to plastically deform them so that it is possible to part the housing into its 3 pieces.
My motor was full of gunk and the brushes were stuck
4. Clean out the gunk and excercise the brushes. (I used WD40, air and CRC electrical cleaner, maybe there are better products)
5. Reassemble (hard part is to get the brushes over the collector and that is why you have to part the housing on both front and back. I lubed the bearings too. whack the dove tails
I attached it to 12v and Voila; like new


New fan is 500 bucks on ebay, a used one is 75+shipping so worth the 30 minutes of work to clean out the e-motor