<italic>Wally the weasel 84  westy decided to blow a heater hose on the
way home

from the bomb plant tonight. the hose that blew was the small one from

the top of the cyl head to the rear heater core. Seems like two of
these

(one connects to the metal pipe thing that goes to the water bottle.
Are

these regular heater hose hoses? Or special VW only metric ones to

special order?

</italic>Funny coincidence - just replaced the same hoses on my '85
while replacing the engine. Mechanic and I were going over all the
things that might need replacing, and he said he'd just done an engine
and although the hose seemed to be ok the metal pipe was completely
rotten. We decided to look at  mine and he easily pushe a screw driver
right through it. We  replaced the metal pipe with some parts from the
hardware store and the hoses (different diameters) with stock material
by the foot. We also replaced the T fittings where the hoses branch off
to the rear heater. Apparently these metal parts are prone to failure
even before the hoses. Maybe it would be worth looking at the pipes on
the rear bumper side of the engine. They are also prone to rusting. One
from the water pump housing  and the  other from the water pump (driver
side) to the block and head (passenger side).  One of these is in two
pieces with a  bit of rubber hose in between. This one in particular
seems likely to fail. The short part was leaking 5 years ago when I
bought the van the longer part was about to leak now. Very expensive
and somewhat difficult to get at unless the engine is out. The other is
expensive but easier to get at.

Much has also  been written about replacing high pressure gas line
before it leaks and causes a fire. The condition of mine made it clear
that it was time. Cost only $25 in material and about $14 in
miniclamps. Worth it for piece of mind. Also worth looking at is the
condition of the intake manifold - mine was quite rusty and mechanic
said he's seen them at the same age with perforations. We sand blasted,
fiberglassed and painted these, as well as the pipe from the water
pump.

Alan Pickersgill

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada

'85 Transporter (modified as camper) 183,000km