VW's ill-advised use of plastic fittings is not
limited to the Vanagon.  I had a '76 Dasher wagon that
utilized a plastic T-fitting at a heater hose junction
and when that cracked I lost a lot of coolant.
Discovered the problem just in time to purchase a
costly (as I recall) replacement part.

Not quite the life/van threatening problem that the
fuel fitting is, but exasperating nonetheless.

Stephen

--- John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> >  And yes defensibly get rid of the plastic part.
> Can't imagine why they
> > put
> > that part on there.
>
>
> My guess is that it was  part  of some assembly line
> streamlining
> "modularity". Without the fitting,  they'd have
> either had to have a long
> piece of fuel line dangling off the body into the
> engine compartment while
> they fitted the engine, or a long piece dangling off
> the engine they'd have
> to fish under the body to attach to the fuel pump
> line after fitting the
> engine. The firewall fitting allowed a neat
> connection point for the fuel
> line. In typical VW fashion though, it turned into a
> terrible liability.
>
> --
> John Bange
> '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
>

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