Had some time to pull the fridge on my '82 Westy. Last time I did this was 2
years ago when I cleaned the fins and did the "turn it upside down trick".

This year I removed the stock fan on the condenser, it was not working. On
examination I saw that one of the connections on the end was loose, was not
pressed into the plastic securely. I opened up the motor and found that the
end connections are integral to the "brushes" (thin copper strips) and that
the wobbly one would allow the brush to slip off the commutator, ergo no go.

I replaced that fan with a 4" muffin fan, attached via a new aluminium
bracket using the stock fan bracket holes.

I also cleaned the dust off the fins and made sure of all the electrical
connections on the fridge.

I was inspired by the blue LED indicator lamp idea and I picked one up from
a local parts store (Pacific Coast Electronics), just choosing one form the
bright LED display stand.

Its a very easy replacement job and the new LED shines so much brighter than
the old one. I didn't buy a frosted LED, its more like a 15 degree beam
spread. So gross off-axis viewing is not the best, but standing outside the
van on a bright sunny day, I could easily see that the fridge was lit, LED
was quite bright from that angle.

I measured the interior temp of the fridge after 1.5 hours running. I got
4.8 degrees C, outside temp was 31C, and the fridge side of the van was in
the sun, and the external fan had kicked in.

I swapped a smaller 12V muffin fan for the one I had been using for a few
years inside the fridge. The smaller fan is attached to the top of the
aluminium fins, on the right hand side.

Very pleased with the LED indicator lamp, I recommend the upgrade.

(also pleased that the fridge started first try)

Alistair

--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://members.shaw.ca/albell