Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 12:19:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject: RE: eurovan alert
>I am the owner of a 1993 Eurovan MV (weekender) that experienced severe
>engine overheating requiring complete engine replacement ($5000). The only
>alert I had of trouble was the blinking of the 'temperature indicator"
>(idiot light) on the instrument panel. The temperature gauge read only
>slightly above normal. The engine was destroyed within 1-2 minutes of the
>onset of the blinking light.
>
>The problem was a factory defect in the connection of the hose feeding the
>heater core(exchanger). The hose part # is: 701819 and can be located right
>of center,behind the engine, against the firewall where it is beside the
>return hose from the core.
>
>The defect is quite simple. The feeder hose is secured by a "pinch" clamp
>that was not placed over the "collar" of the heater core feed-in line. I
>was able to go 74,000 miles before this hose came loose and resulted in
>catastrophic damage.
Yeeeouwch!
Barry, I'm going to moderate my tone in my whining about the V6anagon's
clutch problems-- at least they didn't eat the entire engine! :-O
Would you mind a naive question or two from someone who has never
looked under an EV hood (do EVs even *have* hoods?)?
Th engine damage was due to running out of coolant, I assume, when the
hose came off the heater core and leaked it all out, and the temp gauge
didn't show anything serious?
And, the clamp on the hose, was not up close to the core where the core's
feed tube extended inside the hose; but was farther away from the core and
feed tube, essentially clamping the hose to nothing?
What are the chances that this hose has ever been pulled off the heater
core by some mechanic in the last three years, while he was trying to get
to something else, and then put back on incorrectly? If you haven't already
gotten this question from VW, you probably will soon. Or, might this hose
have been pulled off, say for draining or bleeding the cooling system,
and then replaced incorrectly?
If anything like that had happened in the car's history, then it would
be the mechanic's fault, not VW's. In this case, the only leg you might
have to stand on, is the strange circumstance of the temperature gauge
not indicating severe overheating. I wonder why it didn't? If a temperature
gauge doesn't indicate this, then what is it for, at all???
I know nothing about your situation or the car's history, of course, aside
from what you were able to cram into a single post, which is necessarily
limited. So my musings above, are pure guesswork based on no real evidence,
and have a good chance of being flat wrong-- a common condition for me.
But VW's first reaction, might be that a hose that stays on for 74,000
miles over three years, can't possibly be called "defective from the
factory", clamp or no clamp. In fact, many other manufacturers (Ford, for
one) call for replacement of all coolant hoses before that, usually at 30K
or 60K miles. I don't know if that's true for VWs-- I've never owned one
that had a factory-installed water cooling system. Vw might be able to get
you for "That hose had exceeded its design life and should have been
replaced",
or "if it was replaced, then it's the replacer's fault".
This could be a tough one. I feel for your loss, especially on such a nice
car. The circumstances were strange, to say the least. Good luck... keep
us posted, OK?
______________________________________________________________________
_ ______________
______//________ Steve Maher smaher@gi.com //__][__||____\\
/o _ | -| _ \ San Diego, CA 75461,1717 (o _-| _ o|
`-(_)=======(_)---' '(_)-------(_)-'
'66 Mustang Coupevertible '89 Son Sherwin '80 VW V6anagon
http://www.lookup.com/homepages/76242/home.html
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"From each according to his means, to each according to his needs."
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