Date:         Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:04:54 -0400
Reply-To:     Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Subject:      Re: Coolant pipes replacement
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2006062617414152@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

At 05:41 PM 6/26/2006 -0400, Roger Sisler wrote:
>Lastly, if you have power steering, corrosion is about to make a hole in
>one of those lines too. Maybe replace these , at the same time.If you drop
>the tank, maybe put new gaskets in to reseal it.

...and while you have your gas tank out of the way, and you are under there
anyway, take a good look at your brake lines, and your clutch line (if you
have a manual tranny). All these lines are factory steel, and all can rust
through. They seem to last a few years longer than the big coolant pipes,
but if you live in a climate that rusts one, it is rusting them all.

My westy came already retrofitted with the non-metallic coolant pipes, but
my factory P/S and clutch lines have both rusted through... I replaced the
brake lines before a rust-through (just barely, judging by how ridiculously
easy it was to break the old ones as I removed 'em).

Oh, yeah... those heater hoses are probably pretty well shot too (I'm still
taking chances on those, but I carry the parts to bypass the heater loop
inside the engine compartment and spare coolant at all times).

Frank Condelli sells an excellent hydraulic hose replacement for the P/S
lines, I used copper-nickel alloy lines for the brakes (from
http://fedhillusa.net).

The clutch line was replaced with a dealer part... after many calls and a
couple of in-person visits, I gave up on finding a hydraulic shop in the
greater Baltimore area that could bubble flare a 6mm line.

Tim