At 02:04 PM 3/7/2013, raceingcajun wrote:
>Hoses, crack and deteriorate from the inside out. And should be replaced
>every 2 to 3 years!

Given what a set of hoses for this beast costs, that's never going to
happen for...I'm willing to bet more than one or two people on this
list, if that.  But fortunately those ridiculously expensive hoses
are of insanely high quality as well.

The gotcha there is that because of that, you may have a bunch of
original hoses in there; so you should be examining the possibility
of replacing as many of them as possible.  Any hose showing swelling
is in the process of failing as its internal cords rupture.  I've
experienced mostly two types of failure with Vanagon hoses:
deterioration/splitting/rotting at the ends, or a 3/8" long rip in
the middle of an otherwise normal-looking hose.  In fact I had four
coolant failures in the first three months after I put my present '89
White Star on the road, three rips and one split/rot.  On one
occasion a temporary bandage to such a rip (silicone self-fusing
tape) left on too long resulted in the hose adjacent to the repair
swelling dramatically, but I caught it before it actually
burst.  I've not felt any cooling hose except the little
cloth-covered ones to the bleed manifold show any signs of
hardening.  Rather, even new Vanagon hoses feel flabby compared to
what I'd been accustomed to.  My experience is primarily with
vehicles that have mostly been in temperate/rust belt climates.

Yours,
David