Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 10:16:40 -0500
Reply-To: Michael Townsend <townsend@RTP.ERICSSON.SE>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Townsend <townsend@RTP.ERICSSON.SE>
Subject: Re: Unusual Achilles heel discovered...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi,
Nope, you are not alone. My mechanic replaced mine as preventetive
maintenance when he was doing some hoses for me. He showed me the stress
fractures around the joints where the side hoses join the main vertical
pipe. He said the material is the same as that composite plastic / aluminum
stuff that newer cars use in their radiators that fail every 60k. I don't
remember the technical term for the material. I remember that it was an
expensive part -- but was certainly glad to replace it before it blew. My
van was only 9 years old at the time.
Michael Townsend
90 Carat
-----Original Message-----
From: Stucco <spaddock@DEN.WANTWEB.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 11:47 PM
Subject: Unusual Achilles heel discovered...
>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"
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