Well, swoosh! through a puddle on Sunday night, on Monday morning a scraping clunk from underneath. As I need a new exhaust mid section, I thought it was that dragging on the kerb, but no. Driving on, there was a loud clunk, nearly a bang, from the N/S under the passenger seat. This repeated, and I stopped for a look, it was the fuel conditioner (or cooler) cowling/duct/housing which was hanging down. I could not bend it back, it seemed steel and plastic, very tough, so drove on carefully. Arrived at destination, and there was another clump, whereupon I became paranoid and drove at 30MPH or less all the way home, reversing over speed bumps. Flip it, I must have reversed about 3/4 a mile today, including over level crossings, what a pain in the neck.

Anyway, I got the thing off. Two of the bzzzt! pssst! bolts sheared off and I was lucky to get the third out from in the "hole". The "radiator" inside has come off, the snap rivets have dissolved (electrochemical action) by the look, and the "rad" waggles about.

So.

I can pop-rivet the "rad" back on (the ends of the old rivets seem buried in the fins, is it OK to poke them out, it would damage the thin metal zigzag bits?), or strap it on with cable ties for the time being.

I could warm up the cowling with a gas torch and bend it back into some sort of shape, perhaps.

I could buy a second-hand cowling from a scrappie for about £20 and re-fit it.

I could do what's suggested elsewhere in the forum and get rid of the conditioner.cooler/rad altogether, but what would I do with the fuel pipes, how to connect them, and would it make a difference to the running of the van under any circumstances?

Any advice over a virtual pint?

Happened to me twice...second time for expediency then I removed the plastic cowl and cable tied the the cooling rad and fuel pipes up out of the way...was going to attend to this later. However 12 months on and it still remains. I have had no problems so far and am minded to leave it as it is. Lucky for me the rad did not fracture and the fuel pipes did not leak. I imagine an inline fuel pipe coupler could replace this rad? Really appreciate any thoughts on the wisdom of removing this?

Mine is currently cable-tied to the bracket, too. I thought I'd got some cable ties, but no - found some on nearby lamp posts! I'm thinking of heating up the cowling to bend it back, but the sheared bolts will be a PITA. Heat spanner I guess. I dare not take off the whole thing in case the bolts holding the actual bracket on shear off in the "chassis member" and sill.

I have been told that this fuel cooling radiator is only needed for the hot Mediterranean countries...I have tied mine up and think this might become permanent unless someone knows different. After the first went and I shaped the plastic cowling back with a heat gun-there was no fixing I could see for the radiator body, it just sat in the cowling-I was always careful thereafter when puddles were about...But one deep one caught me by surprise however and going pretty slow...it still flipped off and after 30 minutes laying in 9 inches of water I managed to tie it up...and there it stays to this day.

Andycabs said:

no fixing I could see for the radiator body, it just sat in the cowling

Click to expand...

The actual cooler sits on a metal bracket, and is (was) snap-riveted to it with four rivets in two staggered pairs. I can see the heads on the underside of the bracket.