Club 80-90 Forums

Replacing the plastic pipes with stainless.
I intend to replace heater hoses too.

My question; do you feed rubber heater pipes first over fuel tank, or stainless coolant pipes first over fuel tanks? Any tips, please. Ive dropped the fuel tank by about an inch a help.

I have done this before. But many moons ago. And l'm not a young man anymore.

Regards
Stuart

New and shiny pipes



Feed pipe broken at both ends and full off crap.

Id put the smaller above as they could get squished by the larger solid pipes.

Stesaw wrote: ↑08 Mar 2025, 16:32 Id put the smaller above as they could get squished by the larger solid pipes.

Dust stop play! Just got a face full of it in my right eye.
Trying to syringe it clean with warm water.

Enjoy yourself… definitely need to wear some safety glasses when doing this job. I remember getting caked in crap and getting a neck full of old coolant for good measure.
David.

jrt wrote: ↑09 Mar 2025, 17:03 Enjoy yourself… definitely need to wear some safety glasses when doing this job. I remember getting caked in crap and getting a neck full of old coolant for good measure.
David.

Oh yes! Pulled one pipe off and directed in to a bucket. Nothing! I must have collected all the coolant then? So pulled other end apart without a bucket and got a face full of it!

Given up trying to protect the driveway. Will give it a good scrub afterwards.

There is a waft of petrol in the air now. So may have dislodged a pipe going to an expansion bottle in wheel arch.

New heater pipe delivery expected tomorrow. Meanwhile cleaned up the auto tranny cooler and fitted new seals, and added pipework to refit on transmission

Before



And 45 minutes later.



With associated pipes attached

Nice one Stu - unfortunately I can’t remember how i did it when i changed mine (the ol’ brain aint what it used to be), but know i dropped the tank cleaned everything up and waxoyled in that area above the tank.

Nice one J. Thanks for the tip.

Stu. It might be worth considering sourcing something like this. I have read about the internals in the original cooler failing and the coolant and transmission fluid mixing.
External cooler kit for automatic transaxle vanagon – GoWesty

Cheers Rob.

I have read the same. The internal walls between coolant and the ATF are very thin apparently and can corrode and collapse with age. So blocking the coolant supply and relying on air cooling is a bulletproof cooler upgrade.

But, for now, funds dictate using the original setup.
I cleaned out the cooler with brake cleaner and examined it's flushed contents, and it is absolutely 100% clean. No corrosion or swarf whatsoever.

Both my auto campers run with correct coolant strength levels and regular ATF changes (every three years) . And both change gear so smoothy it's barely noticeable. Hopefully cleaning up the cooler and fitting new seal with keep it running properly for a few more years.

Thanks to this forum, l have learned many important and interesting things about these iconic and fantastic vans. And paramount is regular servicing.