Keep an eye on your Heater Taps.

[VS_Pete_1]

My girlfriend`s VS has about 130000k on the clock and it was due for a coolant flush.
So I got all the hoses, thermostat, and heater tap just incase.
As far as I know the heater tap has never been replaced and the car never leaked and held the coolant.
As soon as I took one of the hoses off the tap the bottom pipe broke off.
The plastic taps are shit I had to change mine it was leaking at the bottom pipe as well.

[MR.HG]

is there an aftermarket brass fitting available?

[Adds_05]

yeah my vn used to blow hot air through the air vents constantly. turned out the heater tap had basically broken up and the hoses where just holding it together except one part had broken off and jammed the tap open. wouldnt have suprised me if it was the original tap

[VYMAD]

is there an aftermarket brass fitting available?

I would like to know this too.

[Brett_jjj]

Yeah,the plastic goes really brittle,it breaks just from looking at it,its probably from the heat radiated from the exhaust manifold that causes it.I doubt the coolant would get hot enough to make it go as brittle as it does.I moulded a thick square piece of silver thermal tape around a new heater tap I fitted.Its been there 5 years now,I wonder if its stopped the plastic going brittle,I will have to check it and find out one day.The pacemakers I fitted run even closer to the tap than the normal manifolds did,so they probably make the problem worse..

[greenacc]

They are definiately a weak point in the cooling system, along with the plastic side tanks.
I was driving to work one day in the VS, got about 5 k's from home and slowed down in the traffic when my car was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of steam. pulled over and found the bottom fitting and hose had blown clean off the heater tap.
That reflective foil sound like a good idea.