Date:         Mon, 21 Oct 1996 19:42:26 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         SyncroHead@aol.com
Subject:      Re: Replacing water hoses

In a message dated 96-10-21 17:22:39 EDT, wise@ses.com (Tim Wise) writes:

<< My '87 Westy Weekender has broken two water hoses in the past six weeks
and 
 had a cracked coolant reservoir. I was wondering whether it would be a good 
 idea to replace all the hoses now or just keep fixing them as them break? 
 
 The dealer gave me an estimate of $550-$600 parts and labor to do them 
 all. Says there are about a dozen hoses from $15 to $55. He can have it
 in and out in two days, though if I order just the parts it'll be 3-4 days. 
 Austin VeeDub, who sounded like they didn't really want to do the work  
 ("Too many damn hoses on that car." :), ballparked it as $600 in parts. Is 
 the dealer estimate reasonable?  >>

I'd advise replacing them all at once.  Since the coolant is expensive and
the coolant/bleeding procedure is more than just "fill-er-up", one at a time
could be much more work.  I replaced nearly all of the engine area hoses on
my 87 Syncro a while back and the VW price was (if I remember right) closer
to $750.  I used mostly hoses from the local auto parts store and saved
hundreds of $$$.  I didn't find any hoses in the application guide, but just
walked up and down the hose aisle to find compatibly sized/shapped hoses.

Good luck,
Jim Davis