How to recondition a VCU yourself.

Guys, just come to do this, carefully cut the top off and dumped out all the discs, cleaned them, and there are holes for grease nipples ready for their arrival. But before I weld the casing up, is there a specific orientation for the discs, I notice the outer discs have the bent tooth and the inner have a notch at 0 and 180 fins. Is there a particular way they have to go back in?

I'm not 100% certain but I think the tabs pointed in towards the centre so half point one way and half the other but don't hold me to that.
If you take a look at the photo's I put up on the first page of this thread you might be able to figure it out.
I don't suppose it will matter all that much though.

bringing up this thread again. have a couple of questions. Ihave a bad VCU that I'm considering refurbishing. at the moment I'm planning to cut the top off, clean and drill the holes. re weld and re fill. question is what silicone oil can I use?
is this stuff good? https://www.siliconesandmore.com/en/silicone-oil-100000-cst.html or have also found this on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234258425126?hash=item368ae3e526:g:ToYAAOxyJX1S~Ufpbut problem is shipping and taxes as I need to have it shipped to Malta that's why I'm considering refurbing one myself versus getting a reconed unit from UK.
any help?

Charlot said:

bringing up this thread again. have a couple of questions. Ihave a bad VCU that I'm considering refurbishing. at the moment I'm planning to cut the top off, clean and drill the holes. re weld and re fill. question is what silicone oil can I use?
is this stuff good? https://www.siliconesandmore.com/en/silicone-oil-100000-cst.html or have also found this on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234258425126?hash=item368ae3e526:g:ToYAAOxyJX1S~Ufpbut problem is shipping and taxes as I need to have it shipped to Malta that's why I'm considering refurbing one myself versus getting a reconed unit from UK.
any help?

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I used the Ebay fluid and it worked well.
Only cut the top off if you're confident you can weld it fluid tight. If not you can drill holes and flush it out with white spirit or similar. Last one I did took about a week of flushing and turning to clean out.

Alibro said:

I used the Ebay fluid and it worked well.
Only cut the top off if you're confident you can weld it fluid tight. If not you can drill holes and flush it out with white spirit or similar. Last one I did took about a week of flushing and turning to clean out.

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Any idea if the other product is also good? As to buy the one from ebay it would end up costing me around 120euro in total to have it delivered to Malta. While the other should be around 45euro delivered.

Probbably drillig is the safest route to go. May as well go for it. Have done a lot of welding but never tested for airtight or watertight welds.

Charlot said:

Any idea if the other product is also good? As to buy the one from ebay it would end up costing me around 120euro in total to have it delivered to Malta. While the other should be around 45euro delivered.

Probbably drillig is the safest route to go. May as well go for it. Have done a lot of welding but never tested for airtight or watertight welds.

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It is probably the same product. Have you tried local suppliers for the VW T3 VCU fluid. I believe it is normal servicing to replace the fluid in them and it's the same fluid.

As for drilling make the holes as big as you can to ease the draining and filling process. It is slow and messy but can be done with patience, last time I tapped the holes and sealed them with grease nipples as I thought I might try injecting the fluid with a grease gun but never did in the end. They are pretty light though, so shouldn't effect the balance.
Do Not drill too close to the centre spindle as the case curves and your bolt will not make a good seal.

Alibro said:

It is probably the same product. Have you tried local suppliers for the VW T3 VCU fluid. I believe it is normal servicing to replace the fluid in them and it's the same fluid.

As for drilling make the holes as big as you can to ease the draining and filling process. It is slow and messy but can be done with patience, last time I tapped the holes and sealed them with grease nipples as I thought I might try injecting the fluid with a grease gun but never did in the end. They are pretty light though, so shouldn't effect the balance.
Do Not drill too close to the centre spindle as the case curves and your bolt will not make a good seal.

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Haven't chacked yet at VW. Good Idea will do see if they have any.
As for the holes. I was thinking about the same distance as the factory filler hole. 2 holes opposite each other so they balance each other if I opt for bolts instead of grease nipples.

Charlot said:

Haven't chacked yet at VW. Good Idea will do see if they have any.
As for the holes. I was thinking about the same distance as the factory filler hole. 2 holes opposite each other so they balance each other if I opt for bolts instead of grease nipples.

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So long as the head of the bolt can sit flat on the lid it will be fine. On one I did I drilled a little too close to the centre and needed to use a copper washer to seal it.
It's been a while since I did it so I can't remember if you're better drilling them both at the same end or at opposite ends. The fluid is so thick it's more like silicone sealant in consistancy so is hard to get all the way through the VCU. It takes almost as long to fill it as to clean it out.

yep. found this vid of the fluid and it looks pretty tick

BTW any updates on the rebuilt VCUs? any still going? any quick degrading compared to the origional ones etc..?

Charlot said:

BTW any updates on the rebuilt VCUs? any still going? any quick degrading compared to the origional ones etc..?

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I would not make any claims they are as good as a new oem VCU but as they are no longer available it's not really relevant. In my experience the refurbed ones worked fine for the year or two I had the cars after doing it. I can't comment on how they would perform longer term.

1 to to years is good enough for me. After doing it once its easier to do the 2nd time as all youd need to do is drain ghe old stuff, clean and re fill. It becomes a servicable item thich can easily be done every 2 years. Not expecting it to be as good as the origional one but feel and performance should be close enough if done right.

Charlot said:

1 to to years is good enough for me. After doing it once its easier to do the 2nd time as all youd need to do is drain ghe old stuff, clean and re fill. It becomes a servicable item thich can easily be done every 2 years. Not expecting it to be as good as the origional one but feel and performance should be close enough if done right.

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One of the advantages of using grease nipples is you can squirt more fluid in if you find it is not tight enough. After filling and bolting the VCU back on you need to run it for a few miles then do the OWUT to see how tight it is. I've refurbed 3 or 4 and once I needed to release some fluid as it was too tight but so far not needed to add more however having the option of the grease nipple means not needing to remove the VCU to add more fluid.

I am so time poor at the moment, I think I'll be taking mine to Bell Engineering. The bearings are also super noisy now... it just needs fixing. Not too difficult to DIY as Alibro has capably demonstrated, so I feel guilty - but COVID is still keeping me very busy!!!

rob_bell said:

I am so time poor at the moment, I think I'll be taking mine to Bell Engineering. The bearings are also super noisy now... it just needs fixing. Not too difficult to DIY as Alibro has capably demonstrated, so I feel guilty - but COVID is still keeping me very busy!!!

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Can understand your situation and Bell engineering are the best solution in my opinion. The problem for me is that I live in Malta and to have it shipped from the uk it would cost around 500Euro for a recon unit. Not sure if new ones are available from landrover but that would be upwards of 1k for sure since I checked last. And can't find any recon units closer to home , although I wouldn't know if I should trust them unless they had some really good reviews.
Mine feels tight when reversing on fuill lock so it on its way, although its only 4 years old and was new at the time but think they have a shelf life so may be be old stock. have an extra VCU which I can experiment with in the mean time. although don't have a lot of free time on my hands but should manage to find some time here and there for the process. As I said after doing all this it may be a bit easier to do in the future. Even if I have to do it every couple of years. And its a fraction of the price of the rest.
As for bearings I recently replaced the bearings on mine wuth a set of timken bearings and kept the old mounts and rubber as they were still in perfect condition. Only the bearings had failed or at least they wheren't as smooth as new. Have been on a year already without any probs.

That's a good approach - and an excellent idea to work on a spare unit and feel able to take your time and do it right

Cleaning them out can take a long time but doesn't have to be too time consuming if that makes sense.
Drill the holes and let the ooze flow overnight.
Next day fill it with white spirit and turn it a few times to mix the white spirit in and leave it for a while, then let it flow out.
Return after a while and repeat once or twice per day for a week.
If you don't mind it taking weeks then only go back to it once per day for a short time.
If you want to speed it up you can.

I did a couple of vcu refurbs on the daily drivers. Wife's has now covered 25k on the unit and still tests OK. I test it annually with the service.
Also, brake and clutch cleaner is a much better solvent for the silicone than white spirit. Paraffin is a good second choice and cheaper.

andyfreelandy said:

I did a couple of vcu refurbs on the daily drivers. Wife's has now covered 25k on the unit and still tests OK. I test it annually with the service.
Also, brake and clutch cleaner is a much better solvent for the silicone than white spirit. Paraffin is a good second choice and cheaper.

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I tried Petrol, Diesel and paraffin but didn't try brake cleaner. I didn't notice a big difference between them and white spirit but happy to be proven wrong.
I guess if for no other reason than it will evaporate easily and leave no residue inside the VCU brake clean sounds like a number one choice if it works.

If brake cleaner works, then it has the advantage over oil base cleaners, by drying off quickly, and not leaving a residue.