----- Original Message -----
From: Stucco <spaddock@DEN.WANTWEB.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 11:35 PM
Subject: Unusual Achilles heel discovered...

> Hey Listees,
>
> So I'm having my mechanic do a simple job for me- the (PVC?) conduit that
> under my van that carries the antifreeze back to the engine developed a
slow
> leak up front after I drove over something or another and was bugging be.
> Time for a fix.  He gets that battle won in next to no time and is letting
> my van run to test for air in the system and general cooling health when
> *POP* and loads of steam!  This funky little "T" shaped affair designed to
> route coolant to the rear heater falls apart!  It's roughly, just in front
> and above the passenger rear tire.  Well, I'm glad it happened there,
> needles to say, but upon further inspection of the remains- what is this
> plastic?  I mean it's oddly sized (the straight legs are 5/8" and the tap
> leg is 1/2" and made of thin (and decayed) plastic!  What would I have
done
> out on the roads someplace? My mechanic had a replacement from a '91 he's
> parting out, thankfully.  I was considering something a bit heartier like
> copper or something, but as he had the part and it looked loads better
than
> my busted one...
>
> Has anyone dealt with this under engineered little ditty or am I a
> trendsetter?  :)
>
I've never had one actually break.  I have an '85 and I'm pretty sure mine
are original.  I've replaced a few other more expensive plastic cooling
system parts like the expansion tank, the large hose connection fixture
(with the bleed screw) and the "H" shaped plastic piece close to the coolant
expansion tank.  I just hope those big pipes under the van never go!

_________________________________________________________
Donald Baxter
onanov@mindspring.com  (home) 404 325 1991
donald.baxter@transcore.com (work) 770 246 6261
    www.mindspring.com/~dbax

"It's not the end of civilisation--it is, however, the end
of civility."
   Mrs. Cage