Hi there,

This part can be replaced by being a bit creative among the brass fittings
at Home Depot.

 I looked for the same part at Camelback VW, which is not far from my home,
and after a while of searching, we found it on their fiche.  Bad news was
that the stupid little piece of plastic was over $20.  Figured if I had to I
would, but went and checked the brass tubing fittings area at Home Depot
and, sure enough, found parts to work.

The larger hose is 12 mm (1/2 inch) and the smaller is, I believe, about 6mm
(1/4 inch).  You'll want to bring both with you so you can actually try the
fit (in other words, don't trust my memory on this!).

I found a fitting which was 1/2" on one end and somewhat smaller than I
needed on the other, so I bought (or actually they gave me) a 1 inch length
of clear plastic hose to fit over the small end.  One end or the other, or
maybe both are threaded, but that doesn't seem to matter.

This was a slip fit and worked pretty well, but there were no barbs  to hold
the assembly in place so I used a hose clamp on each end.  This has been
working for over 200K miles.

If you need a photo of this, let me know, but it will take a little while.

Good luck,

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: Donald Baxter <donald.baxter@TRANSCORE.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 6:56 AM
Subject: Need Vacuum hose connector part

> Hey folks,
>
> I discovered why my van wouldn't idle with the AC running--a step down
> connector for a vacuum hose has broken.  While I tried to super glue it
back
> together (it worked for a day), I need to find a replacement.  VW (dealer
> Jim Ellis, Chamblee, Georgia, and one of the banes of my existence) so far
> has been NO help--they don't even show the part in their diagrams.  This
is
> odd since Bentley show the part very clearly in their diagram of the
vacuum
> system.
>
> If any of you have this part on a used bus (it would have to be one with
AC
> and power steering) and would sell me one i would be forever grateful.
This
> part is for an '85 model.  There are two white switches against the back
of
> the passenger side of the van behind the air box--mounted on the firewall.
> These switches boost the idle when the AC is on or the power steering is
> turned fully to lock.  There is a "Y" hose that connects those two
switches
> to a larger vacuum hose and there is a connector (plastic/nylon) that
> attaches that "Y" hose to a larger vacuum hose.  The connector is what i
> need.  This is diagrammed on page 24.24b of the Bentley manual for the
> Vanagon.
>
> Jim Ellis VW says they'll run a search for this part for me--but if my
> experience is ANY indication with them; I'll not hear from them again.  I
> think they're too busy hawking New Beetles to sell parts on 15 year old
VWs.
>
>
> ___________________________________________________
>
> Donald Baxter                   TransCore
> dbax@mindspring.com             (home) 404 872 0351
> donald.baxter@transcore.com     (work) 770 246 6261
>
>                                 www.mindspring.com/~dbax
>