Question re BRM oil cooler coolant hoses

I'm working on timing belt #2 change on my BRM, and would like to (per Bentley) disconnect one of the coolant hoses to the oil cooler to drain all of the coolant from the engine. Good luck! They're somewhat oil-soaked and have swelled (a bit) and melted onto the oil cooler. I'm scared to be too brutal with them for fear of tearing.

I'm thinking I should just replace them. (One goes to the [DSG] transmission cooler and the other goes to the engine block, I believe.) Are there VW part numbers (having trouble finding those), or would bulk 1/2" ID heater hose (Gates greenstripe) work?

[UPDATE: I found the part numbers, thanks. Feel free to comment on tricks for uncoupling 160K mile melted-on coolant hoses, though. :-0]

Mac brand cotter pin removal tool. Never use it for cotter pins, but use it daily for all kinds of tasks, including stuck hoses. Use a little carb cleaner to break the seal.

I'd find out what is leaking that caused them to swell in the first place, as those rarely ever fail on their own. Oil cooler seals, maybe tandem pump gasket or the tandem pump itself, or the injector harness connector o-ring... over time those could all add up to something.

oilhammer said:

I'd find out what is leaking that caused them to swell in the first place, as those rarely ever fail on their own. Oil cooler seals, maybe tandem pump gasket or the tandem pump itself, or the injector harness connector o-ring... over time those could all add up to something.

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Probably just oil that's dripped down from the filter canister when I change the oil. I also have a crankcase bypass filter in the vicinity that may leak a little.

Do you think I should just leave them alone, and not sweat getting that last 3 liters or so of coolant out of the system?

I will check into the Mac cotter-pin removal tool; thanks for the tip.

You should never lose a drop of oil from the filter if you are changing the oil correctly. You loosen it first, a few turns, and let it drain down into the engine (that is what the long "pin" with the o-ring on the end of the filter is... a drain), then drain the oil from the drainplug, and by the time the rest of the necessary services are done, there will be nothing left really to drip from the filter that a paper towel under your hand cannot catch.

Cannot comment on a bypass filter, other than the fact that if it is leaking it should be made not to leak.