Eber b2L rebuild - should I do it or not?

[chrisevans]

I tore down my Eber as the fan motor was noisy. Over a year ago ! I have the replacement bearings , but some consumables such as gaskets are NLA. Eberspacher helpfully advised me to junk it due to its age as they advise replacing the heat exchanger every ten years. I had to Re tap on of the thread on the exchanger as a bot had snapped inside( alloy bolts).

The question is do I trust myself to rebuild it safely? I am reasonably mechanically minded but the thought of petrol being ignited automatically underneath you is a sobering one. Any thoughts?

I have all of the documentation thanks to oldiebutgoody .

[jpennington]

I say go for it!.
Although I must admit that I am slightly biased. My Westie has the same heater; it is running fine at the mo (crosses fingers), but if anything happens it would be good to know how repairable it is.
Would be great if you could provide a write-up and some pics.

About 10 years ago I felt that my fan motor was a bit noisy so I dropped the unit off the van and had a look inside. All looked nice and shiny but it seemed a bit tricky to remove the motor so I just gave it a squirt of WD40.
(Yes I know now that WD40 is pretty useless as a lubricant). It sounded a bit quieter so I haven't bothered since.
Actually the fan noise is louder outside the van, inside I can't hear it above the radio, so I reckon it's someone else's problem.

IIRC the glowplug should be replaced every few years - mine is the original, so 28 years old. Are they NLA too?

As far as the fire risk is concerned, I reckon it's minimal compared to all the other things in life. The flow rate from the pump is pretty low, and the unit is a solid lump. Eber designed the electrical control system to provide adequate protection - various temperature sensors. So unless you do something stupid with the wiring there is no risk at all.

So if you go ahead - good luck and I shall be following you with great interest. (From a safe distance, of course)

jp

[Oldiebut goodie]

If it does ever fail totally - don't forget to keep the casing as you can fit a Webasto Airtop 2000 in it quite nicely and keep it under the van.

[chrisevans]

I think you can get the spark plug from gunzl . Everything else is unavailable . The reason I stripped it was that the heater seemed a bit stinky , gave me a bit of a head ache when I ran it for 30 minutes then kept tripping out and not re lighting, so if figured the fan wasn't running fast enough.

[Oldiebut goodie]

There should be no smell from the heater - if there was the heating air must be being drawn from the outside somehow or the exhaust has been terminated under the floor pan and is seeping into the interior. Unless you mean that it was smelling of something else.

[chrisevans]

Back on to this now. I need some help on this: I have to reassemble the fan assembly but I can't find any notes as to what order it should be in

I have one shaft , one spring washer, on c washer , two bearings and two fans. All to go into the assembly. I can probably experiment and work it out but if anyone has been through this recently and could help ! I will take some pics as I go through for others contemplating this.

[Shaundon]

heres mine semi dismantled - also trying to get it running again



unfortunately my fan motor has burnt out
anyone know where i can get a replacement?

[danmetallic]

Can anyone tell me whether it's possible to access the temp switches and / or the glow plug without removing the whole unit? Can I just remove the bottom cover?

[Shaundon]

not sure now as i took mine off about a year ago and its been lying in bits since - quite easy to take off though and will make getting at switches much easier.

[danmetallic]

not sure now as i took mine off about a year ago and its been lying in bits since - quite easy to take off though and will make getting at switches much easier.

Unfortunately the jubilee clips are pretty rusted on and I don't want to damage the hoses

[California Dreamin]

Can anyone tell me whether it's possible to access the temp switches and / or the glow plug without removing the whole unit? Can I just remove the bottom cover?

The spark/glow plug can be removed, however, the 100 & 250C switches are located on top so would be inaccessible even if the lower half of the housing were to be removed.

Besides, dropping the box off its mountings is the easiest part of the job.

Martin

[California Dreamin]

I just cut through my hose clips with a large pair of side cutting pliers...easy to do without any hose damage.

Martin

[danmetallic]

I'll will give it another go tomorrow. Getting the flexi exhaust off has been taking me an age.



It's fused on.

Re the mounting of the whole box. Do you unscrew the bolts that go straight into the floor or the ones that are on the sub frame below the floor?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Exhaust is shot - don't faff about, cut it off.

[Shaundon]

On the fan motor issue - anyone know where I can get one?

or failing that if i get another type fan motor from ebay and attach it somehow , what sort of rpm should i be looking for?