Steel pipe leaking.

[mikelamb]

Hi All,
Not been on for a while so hope your all well!
Just noticed a leak from the van. After getting it up on a lift I have found a small hole in the steel pipe under the drivers side. Its quite a long pipe and connects to the hose which goes to the top of the rad. Can it be repaired ? I E cut and rejoined with a short piece of hose using jubilee clips? Or should I get a new one.
Mike.

[wonkanoby]

You can try it

did a temp fix on mine with a bike inner tube round the out side

2 days later it was leaking 3 inch further along,and on cleaning had several holes in it

best bets bite the bullet an fork out the 50 quid

[mikelamb]

Thanks for your help. 50 quid for a bit of steel pipe! Makes Me want to cry!!

[dave_aber]

Presumably, making these pipes out of stainless would help, but would potentially accelerate corrosion of aluminium components - like the cylinder head ?

[mikelamb]

Anyone got one for sale by any chance ?

[mister munkey]

Worth a cople of PMs

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... m.php?f=67

[M 80NGO]

Do you have a plumber mate who can fabricate the pipe out of copper, i had a steel pipe rot out on my old T25 vw it was an obsolete part and had quite a few bends aswell as 4 branch offs in varying sizes but Brian the plumber made me one out of copper pipe for £30

[mikelamb]

Its quite a large pipe. Would it be ok made out of copper ?

[M 80NGO]

Its quite a large pipe. Would it be ok made out of copper ?

Yes buddy it'll be fine and last longer than steel too, some central heating systems are almost 30 years old and are still going strong, the pipe Brian the plumber made for me went down a storm with other vw owners with the same problem i believe he made and sold over 20 of em

[M 80NGO]

http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... 0_0402.jpg

[wonkanoby]

ali heads copper steel liquid

hate to think what reactions that might enspire though

[tay]

hi,iv'e also had a leaking steel pipe which i replaced yesterday.pipe number 3 on the drawing
http://www.lushprojects.com/bongopartsm ... 1of02.html
it was a bit awkward to change but on closer inspection there was a couple of different areas
along the pipe which had corroded,so i think it was just a matter of time before they started leaking too.personally i would bite the bullet and replace the whole pipe for peace of mind.cheers tay.

[mikeonb4c]

Its quite a large pipe. Would it be ok made out of copper ?

Yes buddy it'll be fine and last longer than steel too, some central heating systems are almost 30 years old and are still going strong, the pipe Brian the plumber made for me went down a storm with other vw owners with the same problem i believe he made and sold over 20 of em

Did I read somewhere that you have to be careful not to get galvanic corrosion (or some such) in the coolant system if you use the wrong metals adjacent and conductive to each other?

Not sure but thought I'd flag it up in case it rings a bell with anyone

[haydn callow]

I know brass is a No. No if you are using red long life coolant (also lead/solder)....probably applies to copper....
I wouldn't use anything other than ali or steel myself.

[g8dhe]

This article on Wikipedia seems pretty good and the table at the end in conjunction with the recommendations;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion
The only aspect that they don't mention is that Alu. is not so much of a problem because only under conditions of constant abrasion do you actually get Alu. the rest of the time its Alu. Oxide which is very resistant to corrosion and also pretty abrasion resistant as well!