[T3] Fan Fell Off

[Jim Adney]

On 26 May 2015 at 9:37, Chris Sheridan wrote:

> Heading into work today I hear a rattle like the muffler is about fall off.
> then the generator light flashed and then came on steady.
> I pulled over and looked down into the fan belt inspection hole and found
> the belt was still on, but the fan itself had become disconnected and was
> cocked sideways hanging out into the shroud. I nursed it back home and
> rented a car. Hoping I don't have to tear it down too far to try and
> re-attach it and get it back in service.

Ouch, that can't be good.  ;-p

I think you're describing the pulley, not the fan, which is further 
inside. (Even thou the pulley has some fan blades cast into it.)

You need to figure out if the bolt came loose or if it broke. If this 
engine ever had AC, then there was a special bolt for this, which had 
an early version that was flawed and sometimes broke. I never heard 
of one of the standard bolts breaking. If your pulley has the black 
plastic cap over the center, you have the standard bolt; if not, it 
could be either one. I have standard bolts if you need one.

You have to screw in and torque that bolt. I think it takes a 1-3/16" 
socket, a short extension, and 90 lb-ft. You won't be able to torque 
it properly without locking up the crankshaft.

To lock the crankshaft, you need to remove a spark plug and stuff a 
bunch of rope down that hole. But to do that properly, so that the 
piston is pushing against closed valves (so you don't bend valves) 
you need to rotate the crank using the pulley. So you need to start 
by tightening that bolt as well as you can without locking the crank. 

Note that there's a pin on the end of the pulley that has to drop 
into a mating hole in the fan. It's very important that you not try 
to tighten that bolt until the pin is in the hole. You will have to 
rotate the pulley until you feel the pin drop in, then start 
tightening.

Once you have the pulley as tight as you can get it, remove the dist 
cap and rotate the crank until the dist rotor points to the #3 
position, then remove the #2 spark plug and stuff rope down there. 
Now you can torque the bolt. The crank will turn until the #2 piston 
comes up against the rope.

Once you've reached torque, use the belt and pulley to turn the crank 
backwards enough to take the pressure off the rope, then pull the 
rope out and replace the spark plug.

Tightening this bolt with the pulley shroud in place is difficult. 
You may want to disconnect the large cooling air bellows at the 
engine end to get better access. Tuck the engine end of the bellows 
back inside itself to get it out of the way.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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