I recently posted a question regarding taking care of a head gasket problem on my 90 van. One of the responses to my questions asked about all the hoses etc being checked before I was sure what the problem was - I trusted a mechanic who is not specifically a vw mech and he said all was well with the exception of the head gasket problem. Today driving around the block, I threw a belt and a hose toward the back blew off - actually the connection was obviously cracked and just completely broke off - hose is actually fine. Could this be the culprit - or is it an unrelated problem. The connection carries coolant and rests at the back of the engine compartment to the left. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated - I have to have the van towed back to the same mechanic and want to be able to get the right work done. Thanks so much:) melissa BTW to those of you writing about my husband - he seems to be comoing around - perhaps the long illness of "rollergirl" (the van) is working on him...