So I'm driving to pick up my kids from school and all of a sudden I hear this pop. Shortly after, white smoke. I pull into her schools parking lot to find the coolant bleeder valve has broken in half. WTH man...so I get a friend to bring me a new one from the stealership less than 3 miles away and I get back on the road. No leaks, no temperature increases to speak of after. Prior to the break, I was starting to smell a hint of coolant but all of the recommended checks I found on here yielded nothing. My question is what could have made the valve break? It has 179k on the motor, but nothing else seemed out of sorts. Appreciate any help.

 

The hose on this kept popping off when I bought my car. Turned out the rad fans were out causing overheating and this was the weakest link in the system in regards to holding pressure. It didn't break like that though.

For a good idea of what happened you really need to know if the temps rose before this popped or after. If after then it's probably just this part failing. I replaced that valve and the hoses coming off it with an aluminium pipe bent at an easy 90 degree. I added a flange and plug onto it so I can still bleed the system.

 

It's not a matter of IF the OEM plastic one is going to fail, it's a matter of WHEN.

I strongly suggest getting one of these.

https://www.z1motorsports.com/cooling/z1-motorsports/coolant-bleeder-port-heater-hose-p-11190.html

The only wearable part is the o-ring which is a standard size.

 

Temps were fine before the pop. Constant crawls under the car to see if there were signs of leaks from radiator, water pump area, t stat, nothing. The age definitely decided to show for some reason...

 

Oh this is nice. I hate that I just dropped about the same price for the z bleeder on the oem one...but I had to get on the road. Appreciate the intel.

 

Damn, i just ordered stuff from z1 today. Wish I knew about that part. Wouldnt have to worry about stripping the plastic oem phillips head

 

They have so much cool ****. It's not a G specific part so of course I never heard of it. They are so smart. I'm honestly surprised they don't charge more for their stuff.

 

Well I am about to see their worth. Ordered a stillen z tube with couplers. Lets see the delivery time and packaging, then inspect the quality. Over the phone customer service was ok. Not over the top customer service oriented but passable.

 

Yeah that's the best part about Z1 is they are AFFORDABLE. I usually order online because some of the people I've talked to on the phone were real ****** but every time I've called with questions for the techs they were all super cool so I think it's just the sales guys who are abrasive.

The one downside is the shipping is a bit expensive but it's not -too- bad it's just that Amazon Prime has spoiled me...

 

I hear you. Shipping was up there but its 2 day for what I ordered so I'm pumped!

 

The phone conversations were interesting. I would sometimes be greeted with "Z1 Motorsports this is XXX how may I help you." The next one would be "Z1 MOTORSPORTS.", so its split for me as far as attitude goes. I was once a Gamestop Manager and the "Thank You for calling Gamestop where you can get 20% off with your Power UP Rewards Card this is XXX How may I help you?" was the level of greeting I am use to. The greeting is the deal breaker in any customer service interaction. I have always utilized a welcoming and thorough greeting but I suppose the car scene is different. Still, overall I am satisfied so far.