I will assert that the engine cooling fans' motors dropping the inductor coil off the board is an engineering or manufacturing fail, due to being poorly secured- solder only.

Anyone have a different take on this?

Some Other Brand car.
Two fans at the radiator
Both had identical loss of component.

This coil seen fallen out here is an inductor designed to help keep motor noise out of the car's wiring. ALL the motor's current passes thru it. Therefore it is also a heater. Subject to vibration, and also mounted behind the hot radiator. Good manufacturing practice calls for electrical items to be mechanically secured [welded, crimped, etc.] AND [optionally] soldered.

Since this lack of cooling fans leads to overheating and possible engine destruction, this is kind of important.

Note that the brushes have lots of life left in them. Pretty much full length yet. The inductor was found loose within the motor.


0000%20FAN%20MOTOR%20FAIL%20sm_zpsrfg3hjkj.jpg?1432998314841

0001%20fan%20%20motor%20inductor%20fail_zpsdb6nsdub.jpg?1432998314841

 

Those are some really bad solder joints.

 

Joe P, anyone, care to agree or dispute that proper protocol requires mechanically securing each joint, and that solder alone is NOT sufficient to retain a heated vibrated heater coil/ inductor? On which the engine's life depends....

 

I agree, this is TOTAL FAIL for proper manufacturing practices - and it is definitely not MIL-SPEC. The leads should be bent over to secure the component in the through-holes prior to soldering.

Heating the solder and wiggling the component until it comes out is how I typically DESOLDER components from a circuit board at work.

 

Chris, I'm with Ken on that, if the solder breaks, it should not fall off. However, I believe the failure is that someone, somewhere, rated the solder for X vibration and Y heat cycles at Z temp, and either the car is old and past that, or it's running hotter, or bouncing around more than it should.

The problem with modern car manufacture is the pennies per vehicle. My company likes saving as little as 1 cent a car. If you can save a buck a car; you're a hero. This leads to things being hard to work on, being just good enough to get the car into planned obsolescence, and occasionally a massive recall as the engineers fell off the narrow path of cheap, but works. Adding 30% to the price of a vehicle would make the car 50% better. You can't cut overhead, you can't make it any more efficient to build than possible, and you can't cut profit, unless you're Hyundai/Kia, whose shipping props up their car business, so they can buy market share. So, the parts suffer.

 

Well at Fiasco Motors we used to make millions of ABS motors, a crucial element for safety, and all connections were welded.

Oh we had magnet drops and whatnot but never saw a joint failure.

The shame of it is that the motor had SO MUCH life left in the brushes, etc.

The danger is that of killing the engine due to overheating. And related consequential damages.

 

Both of the above, look at the left solder joint, the inductor lead was never hot enough and the solder did not bond to it. That joint was likely cold from the start and only made a connection from contact. That lack of support may have exacerbated the right joint failing.

 

Agree with all. What absolute crap.

Is that inductor made of copper or some other metal? The way the solder just didn't seem to bond to it makes me wonder if it's a metal that requires more heat, more / different flux, or different solder to properly bond.

I'm not any kind of a brand-name fan-boy (no, not even Olds... Sorry), but that is why I try to stick with the higher-end German brands when I can.
I've never had a part fail, take it apart, and say, "What crap." I always take it apart and say, "Wow, that was pretty well made and designed."

- Eric