2023 a new year of Spyder maintenance and enjoyment. What are your plans for maintenance this year.

I didn't have any serious maintenance scheduled but after buying the AW11 project the Toy got jealous and overheated twice.... Bought her a hardtop to prove I still love her and she hasn't done it since lol. 

Jokes aside... Both overheats occurred after a cold start. When trying to cool the car down with heater on the heater blew cold, and radiator fans were not on until I engaged the AC compressor. Admittedly I haven't done the research yet but previous experience leads me to believe either:

1- temp sensor on radiator failed causing fans to not engage. This explains the fans not coming on but doesn't explain the cold heater air or the fact the coolant wasn't cooled by ram air from travelling at highway speeds. 

2- more likely I feel the thermostat was slow to open, causing the engine coolant temp to become hot (does dash receive temp signal from engine bay?) While the rest of the coolant system.. heater core, radiator, etc was still cold. This explains everything if my theory is correct. 

Addressing this issue before it becomes one again is now on the list for the year. Getting the top wrapped to "not red" and maybe some other paint/body. If no buyer bites on the blitz kit, and I get the AW11 up and running... Maybe I'll finally tear into the Toy and boost it too.

I would burp the coolant. An air bubble can get trapped from time to time and it just needs to come out. In addition to that I would fill up the coolant reservoir when cold a little past the full mark as that can help with dissipating bubbles. 

@marsrock7 The thermostat position has little effect on heater core flow because the heater core is in the bypass loop.  It is more likely that you have a great deal of air trapped in the cooling system, or you have a blocked radiator or your coolant pump is not pumping.  Have you been keeping track of the coolant level in the coolant fill tank?  One way to check the pump is to open the fill cap when you star the cold engine and observe whether or not a steady stream of coolant is flowing into the tank through the top hose.  You should always have a steady stream of coolant entering the top of the tank.

@dev @dblotii I find it odd to have a sudden air pocket when I haven't touched the coolant system in nearly 2 years with no troubles, but stranger things have happened. Maybe I have a small undetected leak. I have kept an eye on the reservoir every time I look in the engine bay. Slightly over full as seems to be standard with 2zz swaps. 

I will watch the reservoir next time I start the engine to ensure consistent flow. Knowing now the heater core is in the bypass invalidates my previous theory. An air bubble does make more sense at this point. Thank you both for your knowledge, as usual. 

Posted by: @marsrock7

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@dev @dblotii I find it odd to have a sudden air pocket when I haven't touched the coolant system in nearly 2 years with no troubles, but stranger things have happened. Maybe I have a small undetected leak. I have kept an eye on the reservoir every time I look in the engine bay. Slightly over full as seems to be standard with 2zz swaps. 

I will watch the reservoir next time I start the engine to ensure consistent flow. Knowing now the heater core is in the bypass invalidates my previous theory. An air bubble does make more sense at this point. Thank you both for your knowledge, as usual. 

2zz swaps are notorious for the air bubble that comes out of no where. Once you get it out the chances of it coming back immediately is rare. 

It is believed 2ZZ engines sit slightly higher than the 1ZZ in relation to the water level in the block so the hight of the coolant tank is not where it should be. The solution is easy as adding more coolant above the fill line. Mine is well above the full mark without any issue of overflow and it insures that bubbles will be dissipated.  

You can also do what I call the trick. This is where the engine is shut down for about 15 minutes.  Add some rags under the coolant tank to mop up any coolant that overflows. Very slowly twist the cap until you hear it hiss and start to bubble but have control to close it you go too far. If you are carful you can force some of the bubbles out this way like working a valve.  I did this once and it cleared but it is dangerous if you remove the cap all at once as you can get burned. 

I would not give this advice on Spyderchat anymore because there are some really dumb owners that would remove the cap and then blame me for getting burned. 

@dev I have used this trick before as well, the last couple of times I've had to mess with the coolant system. It can be a big time saver when done with care. Just took a glance and reservoir level is still in the usual place, matched up with the seam well above the old fill line. Maybe later this week I'll have time to mess with it. Still find it odd... I've driven at least 500 miles without incident after the two overheats. I figure if an air bubble purged itself the coolant level would've changed. 

@marsrock7 I assume the engine also overheats when you drive, not just when it is stationary?  If you want to try to bleed air out, use the procedure in the factory shop manual for refilling, and follow it to the letter and take your time because coolant flows very slowly past the closed stat to the front of the car.

@marsrock7 The other possibility is that you have developed a head gasket leak that is pushing combustion gasses into the cooling system.  There are testing kits available for this.

@dev That should not be necessary to remove air because the fill tank function is to continuously de-aerate the coolant.  Coolant and air and steam bubbles go in the top hose and only pure liquid is returned to the engine through the bottom hose.  Important to note that if the level in the tank gets too low, the level in the tank can get so low that it starts sucking air in through the bottom (at high rpm) and that air gets distributed throughout the whole system.  This is a good reason for over-filling the tank or adding a flow restrictor to the top or bottom hose, or trading the tank for an aftermarket one of at least 2 quarts capacity.

@dblotii overheats were both during driving after cold starts. The first was a prolonged idle as I hunted down a vacuum line that had a hole causing a bouncing idle. Temp parched the leak with e-tape then went for a drive, got hot 2 minutes down the road. Second time was just a couple minutes of idle then drive, got hot about 5 minutes down the road. 

Both times I turned engine off ASAP and turned AC on to force the radiator fans on and let it cool. Both times drove away minutes later with no further issues for the day. Been over 500mi of trouble free driving since the second overheat, hopefully not an inconsistent head gasket leak. 

Posted by: @dblotii

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@dev That should not be necessary to remove air because the fill tank function is to continuously de-aerate the coolant.  Coolant and air and steam bubbles go in the top hose and only pure liquid is returned to the engine through the bottom hose.  Important to note that if the level in the tank gets too low, the level in the tank can get so low that it starts sucking air in through the bottom (at high rpm) and that air gets distributed throughout the whole system.  This is a good reason for over-filling the tank or adding a flow restrictor to the top or bottom hose, or trading the tank for an aftermarket one of at least 2 quarts capacity.

 It should be but if there is any trapped air it needs a bit of shock to the system to rush the coolant quickly pushing out any trapped air which the normal flow of coolant can not dislodge. 

It has not only worked for me others have reported to work for them.  The 2ZZ air bubble issue is very common and that is why I overfill my coolant and I always keep an eye on the water temp. 

 I was reading a thread on Spyderchat where an owner filled up his transmission to full using the speedo plug. Says it was bad information that he read. 

 There is something really wrong as I am seeing this everywhere with a lot of owners that wasn't as prevalent ten years ago with rookie mistakes in general upkeep and maintenance. Is it because of FB. I have also seen many local owners tell me what they are doing to their car and a lot of odd information that was not there before.  

 I have helped a younger local owner with his car and he is not  knowledgeable which is completely normal but he knows how to ask someone that does and then cross references it to make sure. I enjoy mentoring him because he asks good questions just as I have done long ago with someone more experienced. 

@dev That's the way to pay it forward.  Thanks Dev.

Posted by: @uncle-mush

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@dev That's the way to pay it forward.  Thanks Dev.

That young guy is part of the Facebook group. For a while I was receiving texts from him for issues that wasn't his. Apparently he was trying to help others on FB because I think they were getting some bad advice. Not that I am an authority on this car as just about anything can be researched if you take the time to seek out correct information that is available. Some things might be on the top of my head and I have some experience but it's just a question of common sense approach which is more important for any repair.  What I see are those that jump on a quick fix to save money. No more courtesy so if they get burned on bad advice so be it. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a car from them. 

I got the new crush washers and thread sealant. It worked using a torque wrench set to factory specs. What surprised me is I was over torquing the bolt and in the process crushing the washer flat the last few times without the torque wrench. When you use a torque wrench it feels unreal as its not enough force but the bolt is snug which surprised me. It turns out that I did not strip the bolt the last time I tightened it so there is no need for the drain bolt repair kit I bought from Amazon just incase the bolt would strip and spin.  I would highly recommend using a torque wrench on the oil pan and transmission fill and drain plugs. I am convinced that we are over tightening these bolts which will eventually weaken the threads.

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