Greetings,
As built originally, there are no long hoses from engine to radiator
of course.
( though some people replace those with long runs of marine coolant hose
sometimes ) .
the original main pipes are plastic, with metal insert ends.
'the' weakness about these is that the metal insert ends slide out of
place, causing a leak.
Two pipes, makes 4 spots this failure can happen.
GW sells a repair kit I believe, haven't ever tried one myself.
'the hoses' themselves..
actually VW T3 vans have just excellent hoses on them.
take the two at the front, going to the radiator, I have never seen one of
those get tired, or weak, or fail, in any way, ever, on hundreds and hundreds of
vanagons.
generally ..
in automotive coolant hoses, the ones that fail the easiest are the ones
with the most heat in them ..which means, in normal cars, the upper radiator
hose ( but not in T3 vans ) So watch for hoses that get the most heat, and are
higher up on the engine.
or *any* plastic cooling system parts. Those ALL get brittle and
break on T3 vans eventually.
Syncro's are not bad in that regard though.
I have seen a small oil cooler hose split and leak.
Rear heater cores are notorious for leaking ( the valve on it should be
left at least half 'on' all year, so fresh coolant flows through the rear heater
core , if you have one, that helps it last longer ) .
the coolant pressure bottle ..those are well known for failing
eventually.
It's always a good idea to get as 'OE' grade of one of those you can
find.
And the pressure cap that goes on that bottle..
should always have a spare or two of those in the van.
there is a small bleed hose coming off the right side of the block, to the
right of the dipstick some ...
early ones may be plastic , the part screwed to the engine block with a
small hose nipple in it - those break.
Later ones are metal and are not a problem.
I have seen upon a few occasions.....
the hose in the pipe that goes below the crankshaft pulley ...seen a few of
those split . Not fun to deal with either.
I've also seen desperate corrosion on the aluminum thermostat housing
..
hopefully you don't have anything like that going on.
Not to mention badly pitted cylinder heads from not changing coolant.
Aluminum can deteriorate very 'nicely' if the coolant/a-frz isn't kept in
good condition.
and the sheer number of 'cooling system parts' in a Syncro T3 ..there are
so many you could hardly ever count them all. And if you trace the route
of the heater hoses back there, under the van ..
you wonder what on earth they were not thinking when they built that.
I'd say there are perhaps 15 chronic weak spots , and the rest is all
pretty good.
And two section stainless main coolant pipes ..
generally, those are better for sure.
what fun these vehicles are.
Scott
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:51 PM
Subject: [Syncro_T3_Australia] coolant
hose
Hi there,
I seem to remember a bit of a thread about preventive maintenance and
coolant hoses, one of the Achilles heels of our beasts.... Anyway, it has come
to our attention that we need to replace the long hoses which run to and from
the radiator. I know these are NLA, and I am looking into other options. I
think Roger Bayley and Ken did some impressive research into locally available
replacement parts a while back. Also, some people seem to have gone the
stainless steel pipe replacement route, via GoWesty or Van Cafe. This seems a
rather expensive option, including postage, but might give one long-term peace
of mind. Who would recommend this option from personal experience? For the
locally available plastic/rubber option, can anyone tell me which part numbers
relate to the bits I need, please?
Thanks a lot,
Francesca.
(Syncro taking a vacation while I hunt parts, but bicycle running
well.)