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Date:         Mon, 9 Jul 2012 21:21:54 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Recommendations, anyone?
Comments: To: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <CA+n284N0TuwmjY2BHp+qkeA_LHuSnZez_kWSD7GQrFoGTt+Ucg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

lol, I'm with ya for sure. heck ...some of the brand new decent quality waterboxer hoses I get don't even fit !

I'm of the school...check and monitor everything carefully .. replace tired things for sure, keep decent things in service, pay attention to the rig on a frequent basis .. to the degree that 'working on it' is not a 'bad thing' ..it's a good thing, something rewarding to do. Plus it saves money.

'some hoses' on vanagons last nearly indefinitely. Some do not. After a while you learn which ones are more prone to failure, and which ones seldom do. Really though, vanagons have some of the very best hoses I have ever seen. Lots of them are 20 to25 years old and still hangin' in there.

About 'recently distributed' ..I get nervous about anything that has not been touched in a long, long time. Corrosion builds up for one thing. I frequently find very corroded aluminum parts under the ends of hoses. You let that corrosion go on for years .....it can get so bad there's no hose nipple left under the hose.

it's good to work on things on a regular basis. I hear "I haven't touched those head gaskets in 160,000 miles" and I get REAL nervous ... the corrosion that can occur ..just awful sometimes. You break a waterboxer stud off down at the bottom of it ...you have a serious problem ....usually caused by corrosion and neglect. I consider 'corrosion' the main enemy of vanagons . whether at head gaskets, head studs, metal coolant pipes, aluminum cooling system parts .. or seam rust, or electrical conections deterioration from age, heat, current flow and corrosion.

damn ..if people 'just treated for corrosion' enough ..vanagons would not even wear out much ..plus lots of lubrication on endless small spots too of course. And treating for corrosion is SO EASY ! .. I can stop a rust spot ...bad surface rust on the side of a vanagon, say, for years , in about 30 seconds. Not kidding either. Seam rust is harder of course. Body cancer rust is very hard ..but to stop the surface rust on the metal remaining ..that's silly easy. I happen to live where there is basically no rust or corrosion .. bone dry climate, no salt on the roads in winter....that sure helps of course. But rust is very stoppable ..

'most' electrical connections need some kind of treatment etc. The two 'biggest things' in my mind are ........treating corrosion and preventing it, and lubing every tiny part that moves in contact with another one.

for example..the horn contact ring wears badly at the 9 o'clock position , or whatever it is, where the metal tab rides on it..always the same area wearing since we are going straight most of the time. I have never seen any vanagon that ever got any lube on it's horn contact ring .. yet a little shot of some good lube once a year or so ...and those two parts would not wear much ever.

I take a fire extinguisher on test drives - it's Mandatory equipment.

Waterboxer head gaskets ....in my opinion their practical life is 80,000 miles or 8 years. I find slightly burnt exhaust valves commonly too, especially on 2.1's.

I bring them back to health in priority too. right down the line ....legal equipment like lights working ..,,instruments and warning lights working .. engine / trans/driverrtain reliable and working right. cooling system in general ....'the area' that is most likely to get you ... aside from some weird running/electronics thing electrical system needs to be right .. tires are up there of course, ..cv joints and boots.....eventually shocks. it goes on and on sometimes. but it's all fun ! Scott www.turbovans.com

On 7/9/2012 4:20 PM, pickle vanagon wrote: > I'm just going to voice a little friendly disagreement. > > I think it should not be considered necessary for every vanagon owner to > replace all of their coolant hoses before driving everywhere. > > It is quite expensive to do so. And do the hoses really fail that often? > I wouldn't be surprised if head gaskets blow more often than hoses which > have not been recently disturbed. And surely we aren't going to tell him > to do his head gaskets preventively before going anywhere. > > For most of us vanagon repairs have to be prioritized. I would prioritize > replacing a radiator before replacing "all coolant lines" and the radiator > is a lot cheaper. > > Fuel lines are another matter. Yes we should all do our fuel lines. > Should he skip a trip this weekend until they are done? > Maybe.... The point of doing fuel lines is to minimize the probability of > catastrophic failure. I don't think skipping one trip while he gets his > ducks in a row is going to change that small probability that much. He can > always do a quick check for any obvious leaks before leaving. And carry a > fire extinguisher! (really!) > > > I do carry one of these emergency hose kits in our van: > http://www.amazon.com/Victor-RADIATOR-HOSE-REPAIR-KIT/dp/B001B58ZPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341875892&sr=8-1&keywords=emergency+radiator+hose+kit > > Although, in more than 10 years of driving these vans, I have never > replaced a coolant hose, and never had one fail. Do make sure your > coolant level sensor is functional. > > > On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 11:19 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote: > >> Gab, two things to do for certain before going on any trips: Replace all >> the coolant hoses, and all the fuel hoses. When you replace the fuel >> hoses, make sure you eliminate the connector at the front engine bulkhead >> (firewall). The hoses, and particularly that plastic connector, if not >> known to have been replaced, are a fire in the making. They are 26-27 >> years old. The same is true of the coolant hoses. Though they won't start >> a fire, they will stop you, absolutely, and damage your engine if they >> fail. At the same time, replace plastic parts in the cooling system. >> >>


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