A friend of mine suffered a similar failure to the stock level sensor in his '89 Westy when traveling through NC mountains along with my old '85 Westy back in 2001.  Thankfully we had a Jetta available to make a run to VW junkyard 2 hours away.  The part we picked up might still be in his Westy today.

Steven Smith <kewsps@YAHOO.COM> wrote:  Hello all,

Put a new, supposedly German, coolant level sensor in my 84 Westy about 2k miles ago, only to have it crack in half and leave me stranded during what would have otherwise been a delightful trip to the mountains yesterday.

Yes perhaps I overtightened it, but not enough to cause the top to separate from the threads at some random time in the future, letting the coolant out in one big whoosh! Large pool of water on the ground, steam coming from every crack and vent.

Fortunately, all is well (long explanation), although my confidence is shaken.

Went to the dealership today to compare their part with the one that broke and the one that I purchased to get me home and found that the dealer part is made of a shinier denser looking material, and comes with the right size O-ring.

I suspect I may have overtightened the aftermarket sensor when upon warm-up it immediately started to leak, which then led me to realize the O-ring that came with it was much smaller than the one on the original part, at which time I just switched O-rings and forgot about it. Beware!

Anyway, this part is only $23 at the dealer, as compared to the faulty one at $13. Stay away from it. Buy an extra from the dealer, and keep it in the van. If you are currently using one of these aftermarket things, change it. Don't spoil your day!

Steven

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