The diesel Vanagon owners on this list know that some of their coolant parts
have become no longer available.  One of the parts that is the most elusive
is the original diesel coolant tank.  These are no longer made and any that
you may come across would be NOS only.  This has been a problem for a while
and people have been epoxying their old tanks or buying used tanks to keep
their vans going.  Now I have a possible solution.

I have found that with the use of a newer style big hose (that large hose
that has two "T" connections built into it) and a newer style lower hose, you
can retrofit in the expansion tank from an '84-85 Vanagon.  These tanks are
much cheaper than the old tanks ($29 vs $95) and much easier to get.  I have
the parts available for someone to do this retrofit.  Here is what is needed:
1- Expansion Tank w/cap- $29
1- Upper coolant hose (big one with all the "T"s)- $120
1- Lower coolant hose- $90
1- Sender for coolant level (needed to plug the hole for this in the tank)-
$9
Your total before shipping- $248

The mounting of the expansion tank is a little different, however if you
could get a bracket from a junk Vanagon (84-91) or just fabricate one
yourself the mounting is quite simple.

This is just a suggestion.  If you balk at replacing these hoses along with
your tank, understand that at this point your hoses are probably almost 20
years old (if they have never been replaced) and one of these hoses (the
larger one) is no longer available at the dealer.  Now would be the time to
replace these hoses as well since their availability is not going to increase
over time, only the opposite.

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242

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