Guest bastaad525 Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Ahhhh this car just loves to freak me out. If ever there was a car where I would believe it had a personality (a la Steven Kings "Christine"!!!!) or at least, a really muffed up sense of humor... this is the car. soooooooo I'm driving down the street last night, making my way to work, and I take off from this light... halfway thru the intersection boost comes on and my tire starts to spin pretty bad... not used to it letting go that bad, and before I realize it the revs jump way high, up to about 6000... not redline or anything, but enough to panic me, as my car runs kinda lean at anything above 5000rpm. Well... I limped to the next light... I hadn't heard any ping and it only revved for a split second, but since I just replaced my head gasket i was a little worried... I do NOT want to do that AGAIN (man I NEED to get a settable rev limiter). So I get to the next red, and there's this horribly junked car sitting in the lane next to me. And I'm hearing this sound... like this buzzy, tappy sound. And I'm thinking "damn this car next to me sounds like crap... not gonna be running much longer I think" then I tap my throttle and the noise changes, and I realize that sound is coming from MY car. Light turns green and I limp away, and I'm looking in my rearview and I see a little puddle where I'd been sitting... right at the same time I catch the strong wiff of coolant... And I"m thinking... man... I did it again... I blew the fuggin gasket again... this is all exactly what happened last time. Except for... it's not. Last time when the gasket blew the car instantly started running like crap... of course because one cylinder wasn't firing... but so far, the car seems to be running fine except for that buzzy sound... hmmmmm and of course... last time when it blew the car started smoking like crazy from the exhaust... but I'm watching my rearview like a hawk, and I see not one puff of smoke.... hmmmmmm So... I'm thinking... what's the deal here??? There are only three coolant hoses on my car, upper and lower radiator, and one that goes from the side of the block to the side of the head. My heater isn't even connected. And all three hoses are less than a 6 mos old. My water pump is also brand new... Radiator is near new, and I just replaced the radiator cap last week... what the heck??? What could possibly be leaking?? So I pull over... man this damn car... open the hood and there is coolant EVERYWHERE... anyways it turns out... somehow the lower radiator hose has moved. It has always been positioned in such a way, that it came pretty close to the front of the alternator... but not TOO close... like an inch or more of clearance between them (okay so that's probably too close). After how many months of it being like that... somehow the hose moved, and was right up against the alternator, and the alt's 'fan' had sliced a nice big gash into the hose, like a saw. Luckily it had just cut enough to spring a little pinhole leak, maybe 1mm hole. I opened the radiator and saw it was still near full (which I didn't expect considering the amount of coolant everywhere), so I decided to limp it back home. The temp stayed fine all the way and when I got home I checked the radiator level again and it had only gone down about an an additional half inch... Damn thing, and I just sprayed the engine bay down too!!! Sticky coolant all over EVERYTHING now!!! Well anyways... so I was relieved *whew* well I do have a couple questions for you guys First thing... I totally forgot which lower radiator hose I ended up using. The radiator is out of the same car ('81 zxt) that I got the engine from. Now, if I remember, the stock 240 hose is different than hoses from other years right? I dont remember if we used a 240 hose or a 280z or ZX hose or what. Which hose do I need to use for the turbo engine/radiator in a 240? Second... should I even use the same hose? I know everyone is always against using those 'universal' accordion looking coolant hoses, but I'm wondering if maybe I should use one here? Obviously if I use the same hose then the clearnace to the alternator may still be an issue. Or, should I just get the z/zx hose, and then run a shorter belt for my alternator? As it stands the alternator is out pretty far with the current belt, adjusted only about one inch short of the end of the bracket. Or should I just run that same z/zx hose and use some tie wraps or something to pull it away from the alternator, or both? What's the best solution here, guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 get a new lower radiator hose, some of them are cut to fit, cut it to fit so it doesnt hit the alternator fan, if its really close, you could always get a hose, slice it down the middle, and zip tie it over the closest part? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 okay your answer left me scratchin my head Not sure if you meant to get the stock preformed replacement, or get one of those universal types. Well no matter... I've heard enough people say the universal ones suck, so I'll try to hunt down a stock replacement, and zip tie it out of the way of the alt I guess. I still need to know which hose I need.... from what year Z? i'm gonna assume that because it's a ZX motor and radiator it must be the same year hose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Man I HATE f'ing coolant leaks!!! Always end up making the freakin biggest messes under the hood, on the ground... everywhere... Okay picked up a stock replacement from Napa. Same exact hose as the one that got chopped... same sticker on them and everything. So I stuck the new one in there and sure enough it fits very nice and is not too close to the alternator at all... somehow the other one moved or flexed... but it stayed that way. Even when I went to take it out it was sitting right up against the alt... so I dunno... didn't think these things could deform with heat or anything. I did use a large zip tie with some hose wrapped around it to secure the hose tightly to the radiator so as to make sure it wont happen again. I will also most likely pick up a shorter belt for the alternator. It's adjusted almost all the way to the end of the mounting bracket... I figure I can get away with a 1 or 2" shorter belt and move it even more safely away from that hose. Well... one thing... I messed up, and am really worried I may see the results of my mistake at some point down the road. I wanted to flush the old coolant out so I was running the motor with radiator drain open... and I forgot rule number one... after most of the old coolant came out of there and with the motor hot I went and dumped the new, cold coolant and water into the radiator with the motor running... Why am I such an idiot sometimes??? I did this same thing when my water pump went... and I have wondered a LOT if doing that had warped the head and ended up eventually causing my blown head gasket about a month ago. The head did end up being warped when I had it checked at the machine shop. And now I gotta wonder if I possibly warped it again by doing that I dont get it though... how the hell are you supposed to flush this thing w/o running cold water thru a hot engine??? I mean... whatever coolant is sitting in the engine wont come out until the engine heats up and the thermostat opens, right? I know when I opened the radiator drain and it emptied out, when the motor got full warm more water started coming out, that's when I started putting the cold water in. You guys think I warped it??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-ya Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Get either the molded lower hose for a 280Z, or get one of those flex hoses with the spring inside. I have the flex hose on my can it works fine. Also, check you throttle linkage for proper lubrication. You throttle should NEVER do that. Also make sure the throttle retrun springs are in good shape. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Cut some of your old hose and wrap it around the offending area and zip tie it on. Then get a thin piece of aluminum or sheet metal and place it over the double wrap. At least that way, if it does contact the alternator fan again, you will hear it right away.... Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 I have seen this happen on many cars, one of which was mine (non Z). I am not sure that this is what happened to you, but what happened to me and several other people I know was the mechanic who worked on my car put the coolant hose on backwards. The correct way it doesn't rub and backwards it does. That was the day I decided to that I really needed to get a car that was easy to work on, and one that I would actually want to work on, and never let another "professional" touch my car again. 3 weeks later I bought my first s30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Also' date=' check you throttle linkage for proper lubrication. You throttle should NEVER do that. Also make sure the throttle retrun springs are in good shape. Pete[/quote'] think you misunderstood bro... my throttle is working fine. The revs jumped way up because I was flooring it and suddenly the tire lost traction when boost came on and started free spinning. It took me a split second to realize what was going on (oddly i dont remember the tire making any squealing noise) before letting off the throttle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Tim - heheh trust me I heard it the first time... this horrible buzzing noise... just took me a second to realize it was coming from my car, because that junkmobile was idling in the lane next to me, I figured the noise was coming from him. But either way I did figure out something was up and was able to keep anything catastrophic from happening. A good idea though. Forrest - in this case, you can only install the hose one way, so I know it was on there right. Just odd how it's been fine for months and only suddenly somehow moved itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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