Electric VW Bug: Brushes replaced
The rear end of my car has been making quite a bit of noise lately. It seems to only happen when I apply power, and I wasn’t too sure of what it was. If I put the car in neutral or pushed in the clutch it would also go away, so it seemed to be related to the motor. I was guessing it was the brushes; on the two brushes per section, one seemed worn about 1/8″ to 1/4″ more than the other. The brush springs aren’t worn out, but I figured they might need replacing:
So, I got some of the newer better brushes (with 4 wires in the top) from EVWest.com .
It shows how much wear has happened, assuming the original brushes started out this size. I put them in and ran the motor on a 12v battery for a while (not too long before it was dead…I’d charge it a bit and run it again). I then did some slow driving for about 80 miles…still lots of noise. So, it wasn’t the brushes, but the new ones should work better.
Brush change electric mileage: 37,550.
So, I did some searching on bugs, and it seems to be the CV joints (Constant Velocity joints) on the old VW bugs. I pulled the CV Joint dust cover off, and a ton of oil poured out! I wasn’t expecting this; they are supposed to be filled with grease, so now my ground has a big oil stain on it. It turns out the cap on the transmission popped out, and allowed transmission gear oil to seep into the CV Joint. This low viscosity oil is not good for the CV joint, and it caused it to wear away. I see visible grooves in the joint from the bearings, and lots of bits of metal. So, I got new ones from Bugformance in San Jose. I’m going to just replace the ones next to the transmission. HI bought the good german ones (more expensive).
Unfortunately..even after changing out two CV joints, it still is making quite a bit of noise. It is either the motor or transmission; I’m going to just drive it…
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