The only way that I have found to get to the front fan and core is to remove 
the unit which is of course impossible without removing the dash itself. It is 
a big job ,not too difficult, just tedious. Especially around the steering 
colunm mounting points. I had the same problem on an 84 vanagon that I pickd 
up for cheap. Once out ,the heater box has to be opened by removing the clips 
that hold the housing halves together.At that point lube the fan bearings 
liberally. It should solve the problem. before you put the unit back under the 
dash though apply a 12v. source and see how she runs .You may have to repeat 
the lube job a couple of times . Good Luck!  
Tom Czerniak 
 85 Westy  
----------66 Deluxe
>From: 	vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu on behalf of sw@smus.bc.ca
Sent: 	Thursday, July 04, 1996 10:20 PM

=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         
Subject:      Re: 1986 heater fan dead

>    To the hard core Vanagon Brains; 
>    
>    My front heat fan in my 1986 Vanagon GL is 
>    now blowing fuses and making a high pitch
>    squeeeel when it does run.  
> 
>    Any ideas as to a where I might drill a small
>    hole to add some spray lub to the bearings???
> 
Please post the results if you fix this - my fan now only works about 
once a week for 10-15 minutes, then slowly grinds to a halt...
After removing the fan in my Jetta in about 7 seconds flat, I was 
somewhat peeved to find the Vanagon fan isn't quite so easy...

==============================
Shawn Wright, sw@smus.bc.ca
'85 Jetta TD, 348k (Jenni)
'88 Westy, 331k (Kyra)
==============================