I also have an '85.  (I don't have a bed as my rear
seat, so it does not lift up.  It is mounted with two
bolts!)  My rear heater also leaked coolant.  I
disconnected it and jumped the hoses together as a
temp fix.  Six months later I pulled another one out
of a yard and installed it.  It leaked after driving
for 30 minutes.  Being frustrated, I replaced (outside
the cab) the two hoses with one so the coolant flows
freely through the system as if it was still attached.
 It is a quick fix I know, but I don't like having to
keep taking apart the back of my van and cleaning it.
I am eyeing a Rear Heater Core from the Bus Depot for
$69.95 (part number  867 819 121A) rather than wasting
my time and money pulling another one from a yard and
having it leak again.
Good luck!

--- Paul Borghese <paul98@PRODIGY.NET> wrote:
> Date:         Mon, 27 Mar 2000 23:10:09 -0500
> Reply-to:     Paul Borghese <paul98@PRODIGY.NET>
> From:         Paul Borghese <paul98@PRODIGY.NET>
> Organization: Prodigy Internet
> Subject:      Re: Antifreeze Sauna
> To:           vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> Taking the seat out is not a big deal but I can not
> figure out why he would
> need to remove the carpeting.  The most suspect
> place as to where the steam
> is originating is from behind the rear seat which is
> very accessible.  This
> may be a dumb question but do they know that the
> seat lifts up?  I one time
> spent two hours at Pep-Boys stranded 300 miles from
> home while a bunch of
> mechanics looked at my Van.  Only to have the
> mechanic come out two hours
> later confessing that they could not find the
> battery (step one remove
> ground cable from battery...).  You should be able
> to remove the box
> surrounding the rear heater with a screw driver and
> ratchet set.
>
> I an very leery with the secondary heater.  Last
> year I was driving from
> North Carolina to Atlanta and found a Vanagon on the
> side of the road with
> smoke pouring out.  I jumped out with my fire
> extinguisher to find the smoke
> was from the rear heater box.  The entire thing was
> on fire and starting to
> engulf the Van!  By using the extinguisher through
> the now melted lower
> vent, we were able to extinguish the fire.  The Van
> looked quite salvageable
> with just some smoke damage and a destroyed seat.
> Of course another few
> minutes and the van would have been a total loss.
> Just like in your case
> there was a huge amount of steam from the
> anti-freeze, mixed with the real
> smoke was quite an impressive site.
>
> I looked at the dash and noticed that the rear
> heater was turned on.  So it
> looked as if the fan was running and somehow caught
> on fire.  I have not
> used my rear heater since :-).
>
> Do not ignore the problem just realize to get to the
> rear heater is a 5
> minute job (20 minutes if you seat is filled to the
> rim with stuff like mine
> :-) requiring a screw driver and ratchet set.  You
> may want to take a look
> yourself before paying $60/hr to have someone else
> do it.
>
>
> Best of luck,
>
> Paul Borghese
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: - Lauren Pelzer <VeeDubVan@AOL.COM>
> Newsgroups: groupstudy.vanagon
> Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 7:01 PM
> Subject: Antifreeze Sauna
>
>
> > Hi!  I'm hoping someone out there can shed some
> light on my problem:
> >
> > My '85 Vanagon overheated the other day, and
> became a sauna of steam
> smelling
> > strongly of coolant.   The steam came from the
> secondary heater vent under
> > the rear seat.  I'm guessing it's the heater core.
>  I can't emphasize how
> > much steam there was...it poured out of the open
> windows for at least 10
> > minutes after shutdown.
> >
> > Anyway - it is in the shop now.   Not my regular
> shop, but these guys have
> > worked on the van before.   They called today and
> told me that it was
> going
> > to take longer than expected because (and here is
> my concern) they need to
> > take out the seats and pull back the carpeting to
> get to where the steam
> is
> > coming in.
> >
> > I realize that the Vanagon is engineered like
> nothing else, but...I'm very
> > nervous about this.  It just seems to me there's
> got to be a better way.
> Has
> > anyone else experienced this?  If so, I'd
> appreciate any light you can
> shed!
> >
> > Thanks so much!
> > Lauren
> > ---
>

=====
Dominick
Atlanta, GA
1985 Vanagon "Gretchen"
VWCA
LiMBO
SEVWC

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