Club 80-90 Forums

Hello, wondering if anyone could give me some advice.

I have a 1987 t25 which has a 1.9dg engine which is water cooled. It was booked in for a MOT last week. The day before I went to move it and after running the engine noticed what appeared to be steam coming from underneath near the engine Bay Area.

In short I took it to the garage that was going to do the mot so they could hopefully fix the problem. They’ve said that the coolant return hose which I can see appears to run just underneath and around the rim of the engine bay just underneath the hatch, has a leak in one place. This was causing water to drip down onto the exhaust which was causing the steam effect.

The van had been at the garage for the last week and the mot has now expired. I went earlier to get an update and the guy said he has tried to source a “coolant return hose” and has tried a few different places but can’t locate one. Indicating they can’t replace it/can’t do the mot etc. He suggested I take it (on a lowloader) to a vw specialist which is about 30 minutes away. I have used them before and they were quite pricey.

The guy at the garage said that part of the reason they had issues trying to get a replacement part was because it’s a specific part to your type of van. Can anyone give me advice as to whether this definetly is this case etc? As I looked on just Kampers and they sell a coolant hose part J29458 for 87/t25/1900/water cooled. I wasn’t sure if this is what I need or is a coolant return hose something different?

Sorry this was long, any advice would be appreciated as he wants me to get the van moved within a couple of days.

there are dozens of hoses, please can you add a photograph showing the one you need and highlighting the leak as there may be a work around

Hi, thanks for the reply. The van is still at the garage I’m not with it at the minute. It’s the hose that runs just underneath the metal rim in the engine bay, I.e it runs the length of the engine bay at the back and the comes around the side I think to the coolant overflow bottle area behind the registration plate panel.

I will try go back and get some photos in a couple of hours. The part that’s leaking is furthest away from you if you were looking into the engine bay from the back. It’s just left of the centre hence when it was leaking it was dripping onto the exhaust.

The mechanic at the garage described it as the coolant return hose I don’t know if there is only one of those or more than one?

ajt1503 wrote: ↑02 Nov 2021, 14:00 The mechanic at the garage described it as the coolant return hose I don’t know if there is only one of those or more than one?

Is it the plastic ( could be metal) that runs around the hatch ? I think I have a spare

As already mentioned add a photograph of the offending item, if unable to get to garage and take a photo, search the web and upload a picture for a similar or same engine, if you can remember the layout.

Hi, thanks. I’m at work till 4 then will go back to the garage. It’s a black rubber hose definetly not metal. I spoke to the vet garage for advice and he has said hopefully the hose will have a part number which is three lots of three numbers in a row. I will see if that’s on there if it’s not faded. Will get some photos. Thanks

I've been to the garage and had a closer look at the pipe. My earlier comments off it definitely being a black rubber hose are wrong.. on closer inspections its 100 per cent a black metal pipe.... the pipe doesn't run around all four sides of the engine bay but runs around most of the three sides.

I've taken about 6 or 7 photos I don't know if there's a way to upload all photos in one post. As we added one and then it said we couldn't post another post so soon after the first...

it looks like the black metal pipe has small sticky out bits attached to the main body of the pipe in different areas and that these parts are then what some hoses then connect onto. It looks like one part of the metal pipe had a small metal elbow type joint which was connected to a hose and that for some reason probably age its sheared off completely...

When I've uploaded all the photos I would really appreciate it if anyone was able to confirm if this definitely is called a coolant return hose or something else just for when I'm trying to research where I could get a replacement part from. The pipe goes around the edges of the van hatch area and has another sticky out bit which is metal which has a hose which goes towards the coolant bottle this then follows further around to the right past the rear registration area where there is another bit which has a hose connecting to it which goes downwards into the engine area/engine.