Date:         Thu, 9 Nov 1995 10:53:07 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jlfoster@siu.edu (John Foster)
Subject:      RE: Volkswagen 'quality'

Tim---

Saw your note---


>I must have missed the note that this is responding to, so please bear with 
>me.  Hopefully I won't start another insulting exchange on the list...

My note below started this one.  I was not trying to start a fight over the
state of the world or auto industry----the intent was to inform other
Vanagon owners that they might save themselves significant inconvenience by
checking a critical, but vulnerable part, and carrying a replacement with
their spare drive belts if they had the wrong one.  
 

>I came across a reference in the archives to a cooling system flange
problem and want to flag this to (at least) 86 vanagon owners...and probably
several later years.  On the 86, a cooling hose enters the engine block
under the alternator through a plastic flange. (See Bentley p19.14--lower
right of the diagram with the 20 Nm designation.) This flange easily snaps
off if any of the drive belts break.  VW apparently discovered this problem
and has a replacemnt flange 025 121 160D made from steel which apparently
solves the problem. 
>
>As best I can tell from Bentley the equivalent to this part on the 1983-85
models was made of metal.  My Bentley does not go past 1986, but I assume VW
changed to the metal replacement sometime after 1986.  I recommend (from
painful experience five years ago) that you check to see if you have the
plastic or metal version.  If you have the plastic version, order the metal
replacement (about $10 with new o ring as I remember) and at least carry it
with you until your next coolant change when it can be easily installed.
>
>I was extremely fortunate that mine broke while in the St Louis region and
that one (of the then half dozen dealers in the metro area) actually had the
replacement part in stock.  You clearly risk major engine damage driving
with this part of the cooling system not functioning.

At the risk of starting a fight over the broader questions, (just as I am
getting off the list) there is no doubt in my mind that cars, in general,
run better and longer now than they used to.  Consumer Reports has powerful
evidence for this in their 40 years of annual owner surveys  [e.g. see pp
285-286 April 1995 issue].  I assume the  flange mentioned above was part of
the movement towards plastics to save weight that all manufacturers have
followed.  This particular part seems to have been a mistake (given its
vulnerability), and it appears that VW recognized this...at least after a
few years.


                                              John Foster