A few years ago, I had the coolant t/junction piece blowout due to too much
pressure in the system.

Turned out to be a bad radiator.

Jim
Wilmington, NC

On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 9:05 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
>