Hacksawbob wrote:whats there to be confused about? that website has a picture of a knackered pipe. new ones are not available any more replace with stainless from brickwerks or try some marine wet diesel exhaust as suggested in another thread recently.
I was confused because although the metal ferrule has moved out, the plastic 'barb' is still in place......this i feel is impossible, so i assumed it was an alternate design.
Replacement originals are avaiable at VW Classic Parts, just over £100 ea
Many thanks for all your comments, reference articles and advice. I will update with my repair shortly.
Just to confirm alewing, my feed pipe also looks like yours. As others have said, the metal inserts work their way out over time - constant heating and cooling and vibration I guess. Eventually, I think they pop out altogether, allowing the hoses to work loose and coolant to leak out. As tencent says, it is possible to remove them, clean them up and epoxy them back in. If you are on a tight budget this may be way to go, but it may not be permanent repair. As everyone else has said, stainless pipes are available and are best long term answer. I will be going the third way, which is with new plastic pipes. I got one cheap from small ads on here, the other came from VW Classic Parts, Germany. They were in stock earlier in year. Its a slightly cheaper option than stainless pipes and I would expect them to last another 20 years before the inserts fail again. Interestingly its only the feed pipe that has the problem on my van, return still looks ok, but once I have dismantled everything to get at it, I will replace both with the new items.
Hope you get it sorted, then all you have to worry about is the other 20 or so parts that corrode/split/burst/leak in the cooling system!
