78 westy

chuckspence
Posts: 297
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:42 pm

Re: 78 westy

Post by chuckspence »

No need to purchase shaft rebuild kits, the shafts come apart easily and usually just need cleaned and lubed, lil C clip holds em together, not a difficult fix, unless your shafts are all buggered up, if your wiper is just slow they're probably rebuild-able, if they're loose & wobbly they may need replacement...
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ohiowesty
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Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 8:39 pm

Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Next step is taking linkages apart, and removal of wiper shafts for inspection, clean and lube.
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Linkage arms are kind of bendy, so I refrained from prying them apart. A battery terminal puller will do the trick. The cup at the end of the puller is too big so I inserted a bolt in between the cup and the linkage/articulation.
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somewhere under this grime there's a circlip that prevents the wiper shaft from pulling out
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After poking around with a pointy thingy, I found the groove; you can see one end of the circlip right by the tip of the pick
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Earlier in the day, I had a 20% off superbowl HF coupon and I got me a set of snap ring pliers for 5 bucks, and got a free multimeter with it.
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Yeah, I know they are not for this kind of clip, but they worked
Attachments
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

after removing the clip, I found a washer underneath
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one shaft slid out with ease, the other was really caked. I sprayed it on both ends with brake cleaner and worked it for a few minuted until it came out
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While cleaning the parts I discovered another washer, buried in grime at the base of the shaft
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It's a wavy little thing
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As a side note, I tried using an LED light to take better macro shots with my potato camera phone. My cat is not impressed...
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The camera detects the pulsation of the LED, and while focusing on a shot, I see black lines slowly scrolling down the phone screen; the lines come out in the pics too
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Notice the worn out splines below the threads; and the rusty area below the clip groove is actually slightly recessed from wear
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The other shaft was the stuck one; splines are also damaged, and there is evidence that water infiltrated all the way to the bottom
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I can gently sand down the rusty areas and pack everything tight, but there will be slop; my main concern is the damaged splines, which will cause the wiper arms to eventually skip.
IMO these shafts are shot and due for replacement. What do you think? Can I make these original ones work, or should I just get some crappy after market ones http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Wiper-Shaf ... m?CartID=1 ?
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

I also worked on the fridge. I never had a chance to try it out because the control panel wiring harness is missing. It's a simple unit that has no moving parts except the thermostat knob; the ammonia solution cycles through the tubes by gravity. I can hear the liquid sloshing through the lines; at least it's not crystallized! The fridge should draw over 5 amps so it will deplete the aux battery within hours, but it may be ok on shorepower.
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The plan is to check each component, figure out the wiring, and then test the whole unit, rigged to a house outlet.
As a reference, I am using the refrigerator section in the 78 Westfalia troubleshooting manual. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/ma ... manual.php
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Testing the heating element.
The yellow wire nuts and the electrical tape on the insulation mean that a PO messed with the unit.
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Removal of the bottom insulation reveals the heating element, hidden inside a tube welded to the coolant line
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you can see the tip of it inside the tube; admire the ghetto clamping screw!
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The heating element slides out easily; the first problem is that there are four wires coming out of it, instead of two
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Notice the stamping for both 12v and 115v, which means that it belonged to a canadian model - with separate circuits for battery and shore power.
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Next I removed the fabric insulation to expose the entire length of the wires, so I can separate the 12v pair from the 112v pair. I assumed that the 12v pair was the one initially hooked to the blue and black wires on the socket; I actually lucked out on it.Testing is easy - just hook up the wire pair to the battery terminal - I don't think polarity matters
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the element started immediately, and was piping hot within 20 seconds
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So the heating element is good!
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Testing the 12V power supply
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remove the transformer cover
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it's supposed to look like this
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instead, I got this mess - see below - so I snipped both 12v wires
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The breaker box supplies power to the transformer.
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I removed the cover and inspected everything; the outlet turned out to be garbage - with wobbly connections even after tightening down the screws. I then powered the transformer by rigging the black and white input lines to a wall outlet, via an extension cord
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set the multimeter on 20v DC and checked for 12 volts across the freshly cleaned up red and white wires coming out of the transformer; It's good!
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Next is wire cleanup.
I installed a 20 amp inline fuse and extended the temporary test lines to the fridge.
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Figuring out the rat's next under the thermostat took a while; I could have hooked up the heating element directly to the transformer and call it a day, but I wanted test the dial knob too.
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Here is the diagram, the fridge wiring is the rectangle in the middle
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and here my hookups at the triple connector under the Tstat
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ohiowesty
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Re: 78 westy

Post by ohiowesty »

Fridge test
all hooked up to power! nothing blew!
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temperature at start of test
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temperature after 20 minutes
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right about now I had an epiphany and realized that I might burn my basement down, so I quickly unplugged the fridge.
this is how the heating element wire was routed by the PO, so I reinstalled it the same way: inside the insulation sleeve, along the piping hot line. the wires could melt and cause a fire..
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so I pulled out the heating element and installed the other way - with the wires opposite to the lines, and not touching a thing
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after an hour, dial on max setting: condenser is super cold and there is a film of ice on the side of it
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after two hours, temperature of the inner walls is 32
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Verdict: overall I am pleasantly surprised by how fast this little fridge starts cooling; I think that with intermittent battery use, and with a bag of ice in it, it will work just fine for a few days of camping. And with shore power it's great.
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Dual Port
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Re: 78 westy

Post by Dual Port »

Nice write-up! I'm going to have to step up my game...... ;)
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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