GoWesty Coolant Pipe Repair Kit - How Does It Work?

[crazyvwvanman]

I heated and tapped the metal ends back in with no barbs left on the plastic and double clamped those hoses, more than 30k miles ago.

Mark

[kalispell365]

Ultimately...
I would love to know still if anyone has had a failure AFTER installing the Gowesty kit?
This is a very interesting topic...

[Jake de Villiers]

I heated and re-seated and pop-riveted both ends of the hot pipe 3 1/2 years/37,000 miles ago and haven't heard a peep out of them since then.
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[funagon]

[16CVs]

These failed on my Dad's 89 diesel. I don't discount that they weren't looked at maybe the clamp was loose. But it pushed the insert out and my nephew kept driving it and cooked the engine.

Stacy
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[Robw_z]

This kit failed on me as well. I really wanted it to work. Ended up ordering the SS pipes.

-Rob

[Jake de Villiers]

[Merian]

change thread title to:

GoWesty Coolant Pipe Repair Kit - Does It Work?

or

GoWesty Coolant Pipe Repair Kit - It Does Not Work.

[Bombero]

I have a 1987 Vanagon and the metal insert has come out 1 1/2" on one of the front coolant pipes. I have been unable to push it in or out. Would it be ok to cut it at the edge of the plastic and would that affect anything when I go to put the hose back on?

[John Sullivan]

I put the Go-Westy coolant kit on my 87 in 2008. The end was coming out prior, I used a heat gun, warmed up the pipe and pushed it back in. Added the kit and no issues. In 2010 I installed a Bostig engine. This changed the coolant run slightly, by removing the angled hose at one end. I order just the straight brass fitting from Go-Westy and used that in place of the angled. So basically both pipes had the same type of fitting. This kit works great. It makes perfect sense. The brass fitting pushes against the end part of the plastic pipe. Ultimately they both butt up against each other and cannot move forward. A great design, simple and effective. 9 years later no issues for me.

[otiswesty]

GoWesty installed the coolant pipe repair kit on my 89 Syncro back in 2005. 100K+ miles later and 12 years and still working fine. Never actually looked at it though.
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1978 Sage Green P22 Westfalia
1989 T3 Syncro Single cab

Just a regular guy

[Wasted youth]

1987 with automatic transmission, daily driver with several family road camp trips.

I bought their bundle hose kit, plus the controversial brass fittings/clamp kit for the ends of the plastic pipes. This was about a year or two ago. None of it leaks. Never had to adjust anything. Save a grip of money on the bundle kit, and it almost all fit perfectly. The controversial brass fittings/clamps are fine.

Only thing about the hose kit bundle was an obviously wrong hose for carrying over the top of the auto trans. Calls to them and they tell me to "just twist it 90* and it will form up over time. We do that on all our high-end builds" Completely stupid advice for an incorrect part.

I called Van Café and got the CORRECT Audi/VW hose, and of course it fit up perfectly on the first try.

[metropoj]

Well, I put the GW kit in when I found one of the metal inserts starting to pull its way out.

I ended up heating the tube, used some JBWeld and then pushed the inserts back in and put it all back together.

I cannot validate how well it worked as I only put about 3k miles on it like that.

When I did my engine conversion, I used the TiiCo supplied metal inserts to extend my pipes. I bent them in a little like the GW kit to put pressure on the steel plastic pipe inserts and put that all back together with double clamps both ends

For 6k miles I have had no issues with my pipes.

The GW kit is sitting in a box and not sure what to do with it.
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John.
86 TiiCo powered Westy.

[SlalomVan]

One of my metal inserts is rusted and deteriorated beyond being able to push it back into the plastic pipe. All the inserts at the other ends of both pipes are in great shape - not sure why one would look like this and the others are okay. I know that replacing the plastic pipes with the the available stainless kits is the right way to fix this once and for all. However, I am not able to do that right now.

Are replacement stock inserts even available? I know that taking the insert out completely is not a good idea as the plastic pipes will collapse without them when the clamps are tightened. Will installing the GoWesty Coolant Repair kit help in this situation?? Anyone have suggestions on how to address this now without replacing the plastic pipes with new metal ones?

Thanks in advance!
G-
_________________
1989 Vanagon GL - 2.1 (White - "Northlake" Totaled/Gone)
1988 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg (Orly Blue - "Poulsbo" - Sold)
1989 Vanagon G - 2.1 (White - "Kingston") - Full rebuild underway - Last on the road in 1997

[vanagonjr]

I have metal ends I can give you. I would need postage only (since I've already shipped free items this past week on my dime).
See your PM - send me an E-mail and I can send pics. They are rusted, but I believe useable.

Mayne someone has a clean end. I had one before, but I doubt think I kept them.
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FAQ thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525798

[djkeev]

Resurrecting an old thread.

I've noticed that one can seemingly no longer purchase a compression fitting that dies not gave the tube insert piece.

When using a metal tube you obviously don't need the insert for the metal tube won't collapse.
But using any sort of plastic tube the insert is needed so the ferrule collapses on something solid.

You can clearly see the tube insert…..

This is in essence what VW did but they didn't use a ferrule on the outside of the pipe, nor did they use a nut or threaded anvil.

They just slipped in the reinforcment tube for the clamp to bear down on and called it good.

It obviously isn't good.

I've seen several of these metal reinforcements pulling out. They all seem to be rusty.

I cannot help but wonder if the rust factors into the failure and the movement out of the plastic pipe?

The plastic pipe isn't rusting.

When rust develops the item rusting is actually increasing in size as the rust grows. That is why things like the 2.1 plastic thermostat housings crack. The rusty bolt expands the plastic housing.
The rust is actually expanding the plastic pipe around the insert yet at the same time the crumbly rust is NOT firmly attached to the insert so it creates a situation where it in a sense is helping the insert slide out?
Almost like ball bearings growing on the outside of the inserts.

The rust is creating a slippery path for the reduced diameter insert (from rust scaling off) to travel upon out of the increased diameter plastic pipe (from the expanding rust pushing the plastic pipe away from the insert).

If VW had created a large compression fitting with a barbed hose fitting on one end …… it would probably never fail.

The stock factory Spring clamp just doesn't have the power to clamp that rigid plastic pipe to the steel insert tight enough to prevent failure.

Even if they had used a clamp similar to the PEX clamp ring used in plumbing systems today, and then slipped the hose over the plastic pipe and the clamping ring before adding tge spring clamp …….. things would have turned out better.

IMHO the pop rivet repair will last until the insert finishes rusting away.
The adhesive repair will last much longer as long as the adhesive blocks water from getting to outside of the insert.

Now……. if you glue AND pop rivet……. I think you just might have a "lifetime" repair.

My guess is the GoWesty repair will work if you stop the rusty insert from moving, but if you are going to glue/rivet the insert to prevent it from moving ……. You don't need their kit.

These photos from Duncan may be some of the greatest photis of this common failure ever taken!
They clearly show how the insert failed!

The engine hose end.

Dave
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