Don;

I would be tearing into those heads right now I'd there was even one other symptom, like an uphill temp spike or a coolant smell from the exhaust. 

Jim

On Sep 8, 2011, at 9:03 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

>   I think you are in the Denial phase....
>   Aren't you going to admit that all those hoses blowing off and pressure tanks and stuff....you really know you have a head problem, don't you?
> 
>    At least, if this were my van behaving this way....I'd be all bummed, knowing that fixing ruptured and blowing hoses is pretty much  going to keep on happening till I fixed the real problem.....
> 
>   I hope I am way off base with this, but my oh my....what the heck is causing all those hoses to blow, those tanks to split, all that?  Over pressure and over heat....
> 
>   Good luck though....
>   
> 
> On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 6:05 PM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am no stranger to Vanagon 2.1 cooling problems, but I could use some
> opinions as how to proceed with my daughter's 1991 GL.
> 
> She let it get low on coolant a year or so ago (weird leaks, she has
> actually taken pretty good care of the car). But in a year and a half or so,
> it is split two primary coolant bottles, popped a hose or two, blew a chunk
> out of the rear heater valve housing, and blown the big bottom hose off its
> plastic pipe. There have always been other explanations as to these blowouts
> and such, but as always those can be rationalizations as much as
> explanations.
> 
> It is the plastic pipe problem that I have been dealing with lately. Some
> time ago the metal end pulled out of the pipe. I did what I have always
> successfully done which is to epoxy it back in and never think about it
> again. But today she was driving and it popped loose and drained all the
> coolant. She refilled with water and got to my house and I put in an epoxy
> lip around the end of the plastic pipe as I had done many years ago on a
> 1990, and never had another issue with it. I actually did a better job on
> hers than I did on my Carat, yet the hose blew off with the epoxy lip
> minutes after startup.
> 
> I suspect that I have a leaking head gasket overpressurizing the system, but
> there are no other symptoms suggesting it. I have not kept coolant in it
> recently long enough to tell exhaust gases are dirtying the coolant and I
> have not done the overnight cooldown test where you start it up and run it
> for 30 seconds to see if that puts pressure into the coolant system.
> 
> I am going to try this weekend making a wire lip that sits in a groove that
> I will dremel into the end of the plastic pipe and see if that holds by
> sheer mechanical force.
> 
> Any other suggestions? I especially want to hear from anyone who has
> converted to coolant hose to replace the plastic pipe and has details to
> share.
> 
> Jim
>