I had much the same event happen, only the "blow out" occurred in one of
the hard plastic fittings that circle the engine cover latch.

chris

Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
> Sounds like you're doing the right thing/s anyway.
> I'd just check for obvious weak hoses and things like that.
> I'm more of the school of 'keep tabs on things' and stay alert,
> As opposed to just replacing hoses and things that are still good.
> If you want to go replacing hoses that are still ok.......fine I suppose.
> I regard vanagon hoses as exceptionally well made mostly ....
> The only one I know of that is prone to failure especially is on automatic
> trans vanagons,
>  - that hose over the bell housing and torque converter, other than that
> one, and carrying some good used spare hoses and clamps and other parts,
> like a spare t-stat say, ( or t-stat housing !  - or converting to the metal
> syncro one ) .....I just keep an eye on things.
>    There are so many cooling system parts through out the entire van, you
> could never replace all of them proactively, it would be cheaper to buy
> another vanagon, there are that many plastic cooling system parts and hoses.
> Possibly a hundred parts or more, all together.
>    There's this hose nipple like thing under the alternator, a small hose
> flange bolted to the block  - some were plastic, and they break.  I've
> gotten replacement ones that were metal.
> You might want to check that.
> It's rare, but that plastic water distribution box on the firewall, right
> side, underneath where you can't see it too well, I've not seen one fail,
> but I've heard about it.
>    It goes on and on, so many cooling system parts you could almost never
> know that every last one is new or nearly new.
> I still invite, or defy, anyone to count, and come up with a number, of how
> many actual small and large hoses there are on an 86 or later, either syncro
> with rear heater, or auto trans 2WD with rear heater, vanagon.   Engine and
> transmission area alone is about  15 or more hoses.
> scott
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Bill Stokes
> Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 10:24 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Overheated Westy '87
>
> While crusin' over a long bridge I threw my belts and the alternator
> light went on first, then a few minutes later the temp light went on with
> about 2 miles left to be able to coast into a service station off the
> bridge.  All the coolant was lost and it got so hot it melted the upper
> thermostat housing where the coolant escaped.   Since this incident, I
> have put about 700 miles on the car in city and highway driving
> conditions keeping close tabs for any coolant loss under the engine
> and/or oil consumption.  So far, there has been no evidence of any damage
> using these two criteria.  The car runs as good as it ever did.
>
> My question is what areas should targeted for more trouble shooting since
> this car got very hot.  Should all the hoses be changed because of the
> risk of integrity loss due to the high heat.  Also, what other components
> should be checked if any.  I don't want to have a catastrophic failure on
> a trip due to this heat event.  I am thinking positively and feeling that
> after 700 miles, no fluid loss, good running, and no oil consumption I
> may have dodged the bullet.  Any comments would be appreciated as to the
> best thing to ensure any future failures as a result of this event.
>
> Bill in St. Petersburg
>
>
>