hose failure/s on a VAG motor. longish.

[mamn97@dial.pipex.com]

Hi/   sorry for writing to the Audi mailing list with a VW problem but 
I reckon u guys have a much better understanding/ more expertise 
than any of the other mailing lists (and I also have an 80 sport) 
AND these engines are virtually identical apart from the extra 
cylinder.
Anyway, my newer car's a '90 Jetta 16v with 140k miles. It's got 
FVAGH and is in good condition as u would expect. However, I've 
had 3 (water) hoses fail in the past 3k miles. And the guy who had 
it before me said it let him down once, recently when a hose burst.
Before he sold it me he also had the oil cooler fail (which I'm told is 
not uncommon on this era of VAG cars) and the radiator/fan was 
also replaced at great expense.
Anyway, over the past 4k miles I've had the car there's always 
been oil/mayo on the inside of the expander tank and on top of the 
coolant which I assume is from when the cooler went. Last week, I 
flushed out the water system with a standard radiator flush and got 
most of the sludge out of the expander tank - by taking it off and 
giving it a soak. Anyway within days I noticed that the sludge 
reappeared in the expander tank and there's another layer of sludge 
on top of the water. Here are my questions:

Do u think I have a more serious problem - head gasket? My theory 
is that I don't since water circulates the system, carrying the 
mayo/sludge left behind when the cooler failed to the expander 
tank which is less dense, hence sitting on top and accumalating, 
and the flush didn't get rid of all the mayo? but what do u think? Do 
u know any other symtoms which reflect a head gasket? - no white 
smoke or water in the oil. 
I also wonder if the sludge causes the rubber to deteriorate and fail.

I wrote to this group a while ago about high oil temp on the car. 
Anyway, I replaced the temp sender and now get readings of 
around 95- 105 Degs.C.  My water temp usually stays between 1/4 
and 1/2 when the fan kicks in, 1/4 in the cold weather or cruising, 
but between the 2 in hot weather or when driving hard.
I also 'feel' that the engines hotter than it should be and the coolant 
is always under pressure - and comes shooting out when u undo 
the cap. The hoses always buldge and look under pressure, and I 
can see blue dust where the coolants leaked past a plastic seal on 
the head and evaporated on the block.

So do u think I have a more serious problem or will replacing all the 
hoses solve it - and is this standard practice for a car this old? Any 
advise on the hoses I should use? VAG seems v. expensive. - 
They quote ~ £14 in their "low price catalogue" for the top hose 
which has just gone, and I was quoted £17 for a tiny 3 inch 
standard hose! (which I replaced for about £4 and have about 1.5 
foot left!) I also paid £40 for a T shaped special hose! 
I've also heard that they've lowered the prices of bit's u'd buy from 
an independant - like clutches, water pumps, discs etc. because 
they weren't selling many, but kept the prices of VAG only parts 
like ISV's, alloys, light clusters etc.. obsurdly high. If this is true 
doesn't it make u VERY angry!?

Hope u can help!

Ed
ps/ like the new look site!

'90 jetta 16v, 140k
'85 audi 80 sport, 230k