I would replace the whole thermostat housing and
coolant distributor as well. Both of those parts have
a nasty habit of splitting in half at the wrong time.
If one of those parts has a catastrophic failure, all
coolant flow through the engine stops immediately and
instead goes straight to the pavement. Hopefully you
can get the motor shut off quickly enough. Remember,
its 15 year old plastic that has been thermal-cycled
about 10,000 times.

Good luck,

Tim

--- Marla Stelk <mjstelk@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Hi volks,
>
> I'm in the process of replacing all my cooling
> hoses.  When I pulled off the one that goes from the
> upper front of the thermostat housing (if you're
> facing it from the rear of van) it was had about a
> one inch blockage of clay/dirt right where the hose
> meets the housing.  I've never taken apart the
> housing before, but it doesn't look too difficult.
> If I put a piece of wire through the nipple that
> comes out of the housing in order to clear the
> blockage, am I going to risk breaking anything?  Is
> it completely hollow?
>
> Peace,
> Marla
> '87 Westy Van "Morrison"Get more from the Web.  FREE
> MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

=====
Tim Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
http://photos.yahoo.com/tjhannink [Vanagon] Album

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