<italic>Wally the weasel 84 westy decided to blow a heater hose on the way home from the bomb plant tonight. the hose that blew was the small one from the top of the cyl head to the rear heater core. Seems like two of these (one connects to the metal pipe thing that goes to the water bottle. Are these regular heater hose hoses? Or special VW only metric ones to special order?
</italic>Funny coincidence - just replaced the same hoses on my '85 while replacing the engine. Mechanic and I were going over all the things that might need replacing, and he said he'd just done an engine and although the hose seemed to be ok the metal pipe was completely rotten. We decided to look at mine and he easily pushe a screw driver right through it. We replaced the metal pipe with some parts from the hardware store and the hoses (different diameters) with stock material by the foot. We also replaced the T fittings where the hoses branch off to the rear heater. Apparently these metal parts are prone to failure even before the hoses. Maybe it would be worth looking at the pipes on the rear bumper side of the engine. They are also prone to rusting. One from the water pump housing and the other from the water pump (driver side) to the block and head (passenger side). One of these is in two pieces with a bit of rubber hose in between. This one in particular seems likely to fail. The short part was leaking 5 years ago when I bought the van the longer part was about to leak now. Very expensive and somewhat difficult to get at unless the engine is out. The other is expensive but easier to get at.
Much has also been written about replacing high pressure gas line before it leaks and causes a fire. The condition of mine made it clear that it was time. Cost only $25 in material and about $14 in miniclamps. Worth it for piece of mind. Also worth looking at is the condition of the intake manifold - mine was quite rusty and mechanic said he's seen them at the same age with perforations. We sand blasted, fiberglassed and painted these, as well as the pipe from the water pump.
Alan Pickersgill Ottawa, Ontario Canada '85 Transporter (modified as camper) 183,000km |
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