Well, I was heading back to work from taking my lunch break - waiting at a
stop light when I suddenly noticed White smoke Billowing out of the side
vents of the bus. HOLY S*@t!

I got off the road as quickly as I could, pulling into a party store. Turned
her off and took a look - coolant pouring out of the rear of the van. My
heart sank and I feared the absolute worst.

I got the engine lid off and was looking from above and underneath - I
couldn't find where it was coming from - but everything was soaked. Again I
feared the worst.

I went in the store and purchased a couple gallons of water (I have coolant
at home used water just to get by) - I started filling the coolant tank
hoping the leak would make itsef' apparent - sure enough, water started
pouring after about half of the second gallon was in. So I found it. Turns
out there is a rather large coolant line above and just forward of the
engine - this line had a plastic coupler (close to the center) that had
broken. I was relieved to find it actually.

So happens there was a local mechanic right next door - he was kind enough
to loan me a screw driver and some needle nose pliers so I could get the
coupler out. When I showed him what had happened - he just happened to have
a coupler the same size in his tool box. I put in the new part clamped it up
- started the bus and checked for leaking. All is well.

The guy charged me $2 for the part - I gave him a total of $10 for his
kindness. Nice old guy - seemed to know a bit about VW buses too.

So there you have it - scary at first but no catastrophic failure. I noticed
the coolant light and the smoke (steam) quickly enough nothing over heated.
All that and I was only 10 min late back from lunch. I guess if something is
going to break that's the kind of problem you want. The Vanagon Gods were
good to me today.

have a great weekend everyone :)

--
Thanks,

Jeff
'90 Carat (Grover)
'86 (We call this one Parts)
'78 Bus (Melissa) Patty's Bus