scurvy
Good Ol' Boy
My wife's 2000 NB has sprung a slight coolant leak. At first, I thought it was the typical cold weather coolant level drop and it just required a slight top-up. Since then it required several more top-ups and the last straw was the trail of expensive pink water on the garage floor. So I had a second guess 
that it was an actual leak.
I narrowed it down to the upper radiator hose, the one that goes from the radiator to the coolant flange on the left side of the engine (left as you're sitting in the driver's seat, not as you're facing it). There's a plastic union (1C0121619A) with a plugged port in the middle of this hose.
It appeared to be leaking from the plugged port. Rather do a temporary* fix than have the car unusable for several days, I drained out some coolant, took apart the union, cleaned & dried it, then gave the hose barb ends, the plug and its sealing ring/ring land all a thin coat of black RTV. Let it set up for about 10 minutes, reassembled the union, put it back into the hoses and waited a few hours to refill with coolant. Since then it's been leak free, but I'm keeping an eye on it over the next several heat & pressure cycles.
A couple questions: Has anyone else had this union leak?
It appears that the plug is a spot for a coolant temp sensor. What I'd really like to do is completely replace this three-piece unit with a single one-piece hose, eliminating three potential leak points. I haven't dug around too much in ETKA, but does anyone know of a replacement one-piece hose for later model years? It appears the BEW-engined Beetles have a one-piece hose in this location but I'd like to verify with an owner.
* 'temporary' in the Red Green sense - 'This is only temporary... unless it works!'
that it was an actual leak.I narrowed it down to the upper radiator hose, the one that goes from the radiator to the coolant flange on the left side of the engine (left as you're sitting in the driver's seat, not as you're facing it). There's a plastic union (1C0121619A) with a plugged port in the middle of this hose.
It appeared to be leaking from the plugged port. Rather do a temporary* fix than have the car unusable for several days, I drained out some coolant, took apart the union, cleaned & dried it, then gave the hose barb ends, the plug and its sealing ring/ring land all a thin coat of black RTV. Let it set up for about 10 minutes, reassembled the union, put it back into the hoses and waited a few hours to refill with coolant. Since then it's been leak free, but I'm keeping an eye on it over the next several heat & pressure cycles.
A couple questions: Has anyone else had this union leak?
It appears that the plug is a spot for a coolant temp sensor. What I'd really like to do is completely replace this three-piece unit with a single one-piece hose, eliminating three potential leak points. I haven't dug around too much in ETKA, but does anyone know of a replacement one-piece hose for later model years? It appears the BEW-engined Beetles have a one-piece hose in this location but I'd like to verify with an owner.
* 'temporary' in the Red Green sense - 'This is only temporary... unless it works!'
