Date:         Thu, 18 Apr 2002 12:00:49 -0400
Reply-To:     Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Looooooong Coolant pipe replacement (not too long message)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Well after delaying the inevitable for about a year, I finally have come
down to replacing the long plastic coolant pipes in my '91 Carat Vanagon.

Some background:  As long as I have owned the van I had some coolant usage.
I could never find a leak, but the level would go down very slowly over a
period of months.  I resealed the heads and this seemed to slow it down even
more, but it would still use some.  Then I was going to a VW show and the
red blinking light came on.  Coolant was pouring out of the front of the van
near the spare tire carrier.  The plastic pipes have a metal piece bonded
into the end, and this had separated from the pipe on that end.  At the time
I was on the road so I just pushed the metal piece back up inside the pipe
as far as it would go and clamped the tar out of it with a new clamp.  It
stopped leaking or using coolant until about a few weeks ago.  Now the clamp
will no longer hold and pipe replacement is required.

I got my new pipes at the dealer for around $250 for the pair(ouch).  An
interesting note is that my original pipes say "West Germany" on them and
the new ones say "RSA" (yup South Africa!).  They seem to be made out of the
same material which I believe is PVC.

I just had the gas tank filled and wanted to at least attempt pulling these
without taking down the gas tank (hey it was worth a shot).  It took some
work reaching on top of the gas tank to cut all of the 55 tie wraps that VW
put on these pipes (someone's brother must own a tie wrap factory!).
Unhooking the pipes and trying to direct the coolant flow into a container
was a fun challenge.  I got a coolant bath for my troubles, but it almost
felt good today in the heat :)
I was able to pull them out from the top of the tank without dropping it.  I
just used a pair of ramps in the front.  It would be way easier (and
probably neater) if you had a lift.

I am currently inside drying off.  After lunch I'll go back out and see if I
can put them back without dropping the tank.  I'll try to post the
conclusion then.


Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-327-4936
Fax: (856)-327-2242