[Vwdiesel] cartastrophe

[peter blake]

  On a long climb out of downtown LA up the Glendale Freeway I
smelled coolant, by the time I was able to get over and off the 
freeway I had lost most of the coolant. The culprit?  A plastic
flange on the drivers side of the cylinder head which feeds the
heater core. It simply broke off! 
  Is it just me who wants to know why VW would use plastic in a
situation that begs for aluminum?  I had it towed home and haven't
assessed the damage yet. Worst case is the head gasket is blown
and the head is warped. Which sucks because I replaced the gasket
30k miles ago.  
  I'm not really asking any questions just venting to the list.
Peter