Funny how these things happen huh? Yesterday after a 30 min drive in the
highway I parked the beast and hear a low hum coming from the front. I say
to myself, hey that must be my radiator fan, I had never heard it go off
before so I kneel next to the van to enjoy the music when all of a sudden
i see the van has started pissing coolant in the back. Open the engine to
find out the T that connects the In and Out coolant lines to the tank has
rupture and is jet spraying coolant all over the engine. After a hike to
the Nearest FLAPS using the subway, bus and walking I patch the sucker
with tape and metal fasteners, fill er up with coolant and race back home
at 70MPH to keep her cool.

"Oh Shit, the highs and lows of Vanagon ownership" Now selling at
Amazon.com

Jorge

'85 Weekender Water Pisser
Betsy a.k.a "Plan B"

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003, SD Kraning wrote:

> Hi All-
>
> On my way home from work Friday, I noticed the a/c dropped to about half power (was on high speed) and then my battery light came on. Of course I said the obligatory "Oh SHIT!!" and started looking for a place to pull over. I was on the interstate, so I had to drive another 1/2 mile or so before I could even get to a shoulder. By then, there was white smoke billowing out of both rear vents and the temp guage had started to rise. Oh- and the power steering was out.
>
> Opened the engine compartment up to a big mess of coolant all over and lots of steam. Another "Oh Shit" followed by more cussing. The problem was pretty obvious - a belt was off and frayed pretty badly which connected three pulleys (I think the alternator / ac compressor / and the water pump maybe(??))
>
> Any ideas on what would cause this? I'm thinking that since the belt didn't actually break, one of the components siezed. Not sure which one, but I have a feeling maybe it's the water pump. It was just weird that it happened so fast - no noises or warning signs - just a/c lost some power and the battery light came on :(
>
> thanks,
>
> Scott
>