Vent fan quit working on our 2005 LTV. Suspect it was the switch that stops the fan from running if the cover is not open since it wasn't the fuse or a circuit breaker. But since it had seen a lot of duty and needed a thorough cleaning I decided to just replace it.
It's a pretty straight forward process:
- Pop off the four screw caps and remove the four screws on the inside fan trim and take the trim piece off.
- Remove the 16 screws on top that hold the fan to van roof.
- Use plastic/steel putty knife to break the bond the adhesive has between van top and fan and take off the old fan, remove all remaining adhesive around the fan opening so new fan adhesive will make a proper bond.
- Cut the wire to the old fan, attach wires on new fan with crimp connectors.
- Place adhesive strips around the fan opening using a nail or something to note corner screw holes.
- Place new fan in place being sure screw holes in fan base match up with marked corner screw positions and put in 16 retaining screws.
- Place special caulk (Dicor 501LSW-1 Epdm Self-Leveling Lap Sealant-10.3 Oz. Tube, White, 10.3 Fluid_Ounces) on top of all 16 screws and around the base of the new fan.
- Replace inside trim piece with four screws and screw caps.
Unfortunately, the descriptions of the process didn't emphasize how difficult step 3 was (at least for me). I had the tools (both a plastic and steel putty knife) and the plastic putty knife was usable to remove the caulking from around the base. But getting the adhesive holding the fan to roof to release the fan was something else. I went around it pushing completely through the adhesive (with strong resistance) all the way around the fan and then tried to separate the fan from roof. No movement whatsoever.
After scratching my head, I remembered a comment I had seen to use denatured alcohol to help remove the adhesive from hands/tools/etc as it could be a problem. So luckily I had some denatured alcohol and decided the best way to use it was to use an empty Windex spray bottle to get the liquid where I wanted it. I sprayed it around the old fan base and immediately could detect that the putty knife went through the adhesive much easier so I pushed the putty knife through the adhesive all the way around the fan base again with plenty of denatured alcohol. I was then able to pull the fan off with no problem. Removing the adhesive on the roof was also doable by spraying on plenty of denatured alcohol and rubbing with a sturdy rag and a lot of elbow grease.
See photos below:
Old fan separated from roof.
Adhesive remaining around fan opening.
Opening cleaned of all adhesive remains, old fan still attached to 12v power leads.
As mentioned above, a straight forward project except for the adhesive removal effort needed.