Hi guys, apologies for the long winded story. I was cruising at about 55 on the M25 when the the van suddenly developed a droning noise and vibration through the body. When off the motorway I realised that the van made a noise like an exhaust blow when you revved the engine whilst stationary so established it wasn't gearbox which was my first fear. At home I took the belt off and the noise wasn't present so its in the fan area. I dropped the engine out this afternoon and found some of the foam engine bay seal had got sucked into the fan. My question is would this be enough to make the van vibrate? also could it have gone past the fan and should I check anything else before popping the engine back in?
Not unknown for foam to get sucked in if it's not in good shape. Take the fanshroud off and pick any remaining bits off the cylinder heads, if chunks have made it through the fan. All easy to get to.
I've had a fan split around the bolt (I posted it about half way down this page https://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/79-ex-tv-van.9867/page-4) I had previously got foam sucked into it so it may hve been a factor. Hopefully for your sake it's just the foam
Its possible smaller chunks went through and are blocking cooling air passages. Taking off the tinware may yield other debris like straw, dead insects and older foam fragments, even a free spark plug ... Its essential when putting the seal back that the bit that goes past the fan is in the slot . I start pushing the end of the seal from left to right from just to the left of the fan housing and making sure all the bits I push in go in the groove. Feeling over the top of the fan housing eventually you can feel it coming out on the right and then you can grab and start pulling it and pushing it across. I can just about get my finger tips to feel the foam in front of the fan, certainly to tell if the top edge of the foam is in. I usually keep working it round until the end is further back on the right. Then push the rest into the gap. Check underneath the seal isnt still pinched in the gap. Then I refit the air cleaner.
Thanks guys, good advice. I will take the shroud off later and give it a good clean out with some compressed air. Fingers crossed that's the end of it, I'll no later on today.
I was driving my beetle a while back when suddenly it started to make a deep rumbling exhaust blow type of noise along with a bad vibration. It turned out to be a 2 inch square of foam that I had used to cover a hole in the bulkhead about 30 years ago.
When you change the pollen filter in a Vauxhall Mokka it’s common for a tiny piece of leaf to get in to the heater fan. You would think a helicopter was landing inside the car with the noise and vibration that makes
Sorted!!! cleared all the foam out, engine is back in and running sweet. there was a load of foam in the cylinder fins as well so glad I took it all off (not a 5 minute job getting the tin ware off though) time for a cold beer!
I am probably going to have to do mine as we followed a truck carrying straw for miles going to Keiths Field . The engine bay was full of bits of straw afterwards.
