Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2013 16:11:57 -0500
Reply-To: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Fw: melting lower thermostat housing
In-Reply-To: <513A47FB.40304@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Scott, do you think it is fine that people are driving around with decades
old coolant hoses? Of course you don't.
Did I tell them that they must buy the hoses from me? No, I did not.
I get so many calls from people who, because a small and rather inexpensive
coolant hose blew out, lost their head gaskets, or even the whole motor. I
want to bring people out of the false sense of security that they have. I
highly agree the the plastic coolant parts should also be replaced at the
same time with either new ones or metal replacements. Again, I am in
business, so yes I would love people to buy things from me. However
foremost I want people to prevent catastrophic failures on their vans. To
protect their engines so they can get many more years of enjoyment out of
them. This is not a cheap sales pitch. It is something vital that needs
to be discussed since many people are ignoring this issue completely. They
feel that ignorance is bliss. It isn't. It is sitting on the side of the
road, with steam coming out from behind the license plate and feeling
stupid. If I can prevent that by warning people, I will continue to do so.
Sincerely,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 3:20 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> the only thing missing here is 'Limited supply. Order yours now !'
>
> I suppose for 'regular people' it would be good to replace all or some of
> their hoses.
> I'm not finding them to be much of a problem.
> I have more problems with plastic cooling system parts breaking ......even
> just crumbling.
> I'd be more concerned with those than hoses.
> Hoses you can find or make up if you have too.
> But the one-application only plastic parts like a 2.1 Coolant Distrubution
> tower ..
> and the 2.1 t-stat housing ..
> those will fail for sure and there's no substitue for those. Thankfully
> they are being reproduced in metal ..
> as well as 1.9 plastic parts that break too easily when old.
>
> Same for the plastic main coolant pipes ....mid 85 and up.
> The metal insert ends of those slide out of place ...
> a most favorite spot is at the forward end , above the spare
> tire..probably on the feed-to-the-radiator pipe.
> Took me quite a few tries to repair one of those out on the road once good
> enough to continue over a big pass in the summer time.
>
> yeah ..the plastic is more of an issue than the rubber stuff in my
> experience. One can almost always come up with something for a hose if
> needed...but that plastic stuff .......
>
> have fun !
> scott
> www.turbovans.com
> On 3/8/2013 3:45 AM, kenneth wilford (Van-Again) wrote:
>
> I agree with Frank. What I have seen is that the original hoses went a
> good 15 years without needing replacement unless they were contaminated
> with oil or overheated. However there are still folks out there that have
> original hoses on their vans. If your van is a 91 that means your hoses
> are 22 years old. They just graduated from college! Don't you think it is
> time to let them go and live their own lives :-) If you have an 84 Vanagon
> the hoses are 29 years old. They have already gotten divorced, lost their
> jobs and are living in the basement. You need to kick them out! It is for
> their own good. :-)
>
> Hoses get old, they wear out. Unless you like sitting on the side of the
> road waiting for a tow truck on a cold, dark night, why don't you replace
> your hoses this spring and have a fresh start. The aftermarket hoses are
> good for at least 10 years so you won't have to worry about it for a long
> time, if ever. And you can have the peace of mind that at least, you won't
> be broken down waiting for me to ship you one of those special preformed
> hoses express mail so you can continue on your trip this summer. :-)
>
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16www.vanagain.com
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 5:51 AM, Frank Condelli <RAlanen@aol.com> <RAlanen@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> That's a bit excessive. Cost of doing that is $500 ~ $600 IF you
> can get all the hoses ! As someone who works on these van all this time
> for the last 10 ~ 15 years I have not seen this as necessary. Yes, some of
> the hoses need replacing now and then but every 2~3 years ! Most folks
> would give up on these vans if that were true.
>
>
> On 2013-03-07, at 9:21 PM, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:
>
>
> Hoses, crack and deteriorate from the inside out. And should be replaced
> every 2 to 3 years! They will look great on the outside, and be cracked
>
> to
>
> pieces on the inside.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> '87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel
> Trains (Collection for sale)
> Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the
> Ottawa Valley
> Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
> BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 06 ~ 09, 2013
>
>
>
>
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