Date:         Wed, 12 Jan 2000 21:35:46 -0700
Reply-To:     Stucco <spaddock@DEN.WANTWEB.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stucco <spaddock@DEN.WANTWEB.NET>
Subject:      Unusual Achilles heel discovered...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hey Listees,

So I'm having my mechanic do a simple job for me- the (PVC?) conduit that
under my van that carries the antifreeze back to the engine developed a slow
leak up front after I drove over something or another and was bugging be.
Time for a fix.  He gets that battle won in next to no time and is letting
my van run to test for air in the system and general cooling health when
*POP* and loads of steam!  This funky little "T" shaped affair designed to
route coolant to the rear heater falls apart!  It's roughly, just in front
and above the passenger rear tire.  Well, I'm glad it happened there,
needles to say, but upon further inspection of the remains- what is this
plastic?  I mean it's oddly sized (the straight legs are 5/8" and the tap
leg is 1/2" and made of thin (and decayed) plastic!  What would I have done
out on the roads someplace? My mechanic had a replacement from a '91 he's
parting out, thankfully.  I was considering something a bit heartier like
copper or something, but as he had the part and it looked loads better than
my busted one...

Has anyone dealt with this under engineered little ditty or am I a
trendsetter?  :)

Scott Paddock
'87 Vanagon Wolfsburg "Rolf"  (who no longer marks his territory with
antifreeze)
'93 Eurovan GL "Gita"