[Q] Toyota/Starlet radiator fan motor disassembly

[terrabytetango]

So my Starlet had a new radiator installed yesterday, because the old one's plastic tank cracked open and dumped coolant on Sri J'Apura mawatha. Root cause is a seized radiator fan, which loosens up just enough when warm/hot to spin, but is very stiff when cold.

Has anyone attempted to repair the motor? In particular, I'd like to know if it uses ball racers on both ends, or brass bushes. if the former, I can easily recondition/replace the bearings, but I hate dealing with bushes and would much rather install a new motor that used ball racers. the motor is a Denso unit, but I can't find clear pictures of one in a state of disassembly showing what I need to see.

Your feedback is as usual most appreciated.

Edited June 29, 2018 by terrabytetango

[Davy]

I've attempted to repair a couple of radiator fan motors when several garages said they need to be replaced. In all but one case, I was able to repair the motors successfully because they had failed due to worn out or stuck brushes.The failed attempt was because the coil was burnt, but even that I could have got it wound, but didn't bother because I found a recon motor for cheap. One of the motors actually belonged to @trinity.

They're pretty straight forward motors, so with the right tools and with a bit of perseverance,  you should be able to do a good DIY reconditioning job on them. If you can take off the racers, you could use them as samples and get compatible ones from a spare parts shop and use them.

 

[terrabytetango]

1 hour ago, Davy said:

I've attempted to repair a couple of radiator fan motors when several garages said they need to be replaced. In all but one case, I was able to repair the motors successfully because they had failed due to worn out or stuck brushes.The failed attempt was because the coil was burnt, but even that I could have got it wound, but didn't bother because I found a recon motor for cheap. One of the motors actually belonged to @trinity.

They're pretty straight forward motors, so with the right tools and with a bit of perseverance,  you should be able to do a good DIY reconditioning job on them. If you can take off the racers, you could use them as samples and get compatible ones from a spare parts shop and use them.

 

Were you able to locate spare brushes? My plan is to rebuild the racers (i've got some experience with rebuilding racers for my r/c vehicles). In either case the motor has to come out, I'll probably get to it on saturday. Thanks for your expertise (as usual) @Davy 

[Davy]

28 minutes ago, terrabytetango said:

Were you able to locate spare brushes? My plan is to rebuild the racers (i've got some experience with rebuilding racers for my r/c vehicles). In either case the motor has to come out, I'll probably get to it on saturday. Thanks for your expertise (as usual) @Davy 

No worries!

Yes, what I did was take the metal mounting plate the brushes are on to an auto electrician's shop and ask them to solder new brushes onto it (since I don't have a high power soldering iron. regular 30 - 50w soldering irons won't do). If you fail to find brushes that are of the correct size, you can buy sightly bigger ones and grind them down to fit.  

[terrabytetango]

@Davy just took apart the motor, the damned thing has a bush on the front, not a bearing. When i inserted thee  shaft from the opposite end, there didn't appear to be any noticeable play, and no noticeable rubbing of the stator against the magnets. What would be your advise on this, as I am clueless about bushes. Would installing a racer do the trick?

[Davy]

9 hours ago, terrabytetango said:

@Davy just took apart the motor, the damned thing has a bush on the front, not a bearing. When i inserted thee  shaft from the opposite end, there didn't appear to be any noticeable play, and no noticeable rubbing of the stator against the magnets. What would be your advise on this, as I am clueless about bushes. Would installing a racer do the trick?

Can you maybe share a couple of photos? If you can find the right size bearing, I don't see why it shouldn't work. But I guess the bush is press fit into the motor housing and getting that out would be a bit of a struggle. 

[terrabytetango]

On 6/30/2018 at 10:17 PM, Davy said:

Can you maybe share a couple of photos? If you can find the right size bearing, I don't see why it shouldn't work. But I guess the bush is press fit into the motor housing and getting that out would be a bit of a struggle. 

Sorry dude, was busy during the weekend and didn't get a chance to take any photos while taking it apart. The inside was coated in carbon dust, the brushes still had around 60% left. No ball racer, only a sleeve bearing which I sanded, and then cleaned it all up, but the commutator was cut up too badly, and there may have been a short in a winding because it kept blowing fuses only after a few minutes. I decided to scrap it and buy a used one for 4k.

Thanks for you input

[Davy]

19 hours ago, terrabytetango said:

Sorry dude, was busy during the weekend and didn't get a chance to take any photos while taking it apart. The inside was coated in carbon dust, the brushes still had around 60% left. No ball racer, only a sleeve bearing which I sanded, and then cleaned it all up, but the commutator was cut up too badly, and there may have been a short in a winding because it kept blowing fuses only after a few minutes. I decided to scrap it and buy a used one for 4k.

Thanks for you input

Glad you got it sorted anyway. Keep that motor with you. I'll take a crack at it when I'm in Sri Lanka for the holidays.