928Myles

Hi, one of my cooling fan motors is making a 'dry bearing' sound. I have removed it and it feels rough. Has anyone experience with reconditioning these? I would be particularly interested in bearing no's and reconditioning tips. I carried out a search here to no avail. Also checked Nichols & Pirtles sites.

Cheers,
Myles Garmonsway

borland

I just bought a used fan motor on eBay. I'm planning on rebuilding it, and if sucessful, posting the procedure here and sources for parts.

It's a 944 radiator fan motor, but should be very similar to your 928.

Maybe someone has already done this.

Ispeed

I have 2 old ones laying around, I want to rebuild them as spares too.

dr bob

There has been discussion on this previously. Word is that many other Euro manufacturers used the same motors. Saab and Volvo, plus GM/Opel/etc family. You may be able to find parts or whole motors from those cars that will work.

RyanPerrella

Ive got a fan i can get rid of. I bought a pair to replace one that was noisy.

PM me

JHowell37

Which fan are you talking about? The blower fan for the HVAC? Or the electric fan in front of the radiator?

Jim bailey - 928 International

Radiator fans...by the way the 944 fan runs at a different speed...when fitted to an S-4 they are very slow ! as I recall

john gill

the fans can be rebuilt , you have to carefully bent over the tabs to allow the plate to eased out , it has very powerful magnets so dont get your skin between the plate & the frame or you will lose it , remember to push the tie pin out at the top of the shaft , the unit only has 1 bearing , in the plate that you will remove , I cannot remember the bearing but it is a common one from any bearing supplier, here in Oz cbc , bearing service centre etc , drill out the spot welds & replace with aluminium rivets , upon replacement of the bearing , check your brushes I have found that they last for a long time , simple replacement of the bearing will allow further use of the fan , I have repaired several in this manner without any problems (the bearing costs about $5 , the rivets a few cents ) .

When you refit the brush plate tie the brushes back in the housing with fine copper wire and release them after the brushes are past being in contact with the commutator .

928Myles

Thanks for that John.
I had sort of come to that conclusion myself, particularly when the local auto electrician said that it was 'not rebuildable' by them but they had a bearing that would fit. I will try to take some photo's as I go and do a write up. Any idea how much clearance there is for the rivets.

Cheers,
Myles Garmonsway

Earl Gillstrom

Here is one other easy fix. Drill a small hole in the back of the motor in the center. Drip some oil in the hole. The bearing grease is usually dry and the oil will "re-lubricate" it. Drip some more oil in every engine oil change an it may last a long time.

928Myles

Earl,
there ia a bush at the back of the motor & a bearing at the front. It seems to be the bearing that is the problem. As this is behind the fan it is unaccessible without removal. This makes a yearly oiling a PITA!!

Cheers, Myles

john gill

yes the bush at the back is a sintered bronze bush so lubrication will not help mush only permeate the winding eventually ,not good for an electric motor .

I used rivets that I had lying in the shed as small as you can get , 3 -4 mm should be ok from memory