Martin,

thanks for the advise.
 
I ended up going to Vincent VW/Buick.
  
I argued with the service manager and the mechanic, oops, I mean service
technician, and they stood firm on their 5 hour labor estimate.  They made it
sound like I was insulting their intelligence, I was, by questioning the
estimate.  Their suggestion was that I do the job myself.  Should have !! 

Since the van was at Vicents and damn near out of coolant and an unhappy boss
man in New Jersey, I opted to have them do it.

 In the end the service manager said he was going to cut me a break and
charge me $45/hr instead of their usual $64/hr.  Yes, I repeat, $64/hr.  I
think I will call VWofA just to let them know what wonderful dealerships they
have.  Probably won't do me any good but what the hell.

5 hours labor @ $45/hr ...............$225
Parts(hose,coolant,oil & filter)......$ 90
Total..........................................$338

I guess this the proverbial HOSE JOB!!

BTW It did snow in Rochester on Sat. nite.  Up to 4" near Syracuse!!

Boy do I miss California.

Scott Curtis 
SCURTIS269@aol.com
Process Engineer, Tenneco Packaging
90 Westfalia
85 BMW 325E
85 Volvo 240 SW