Lost engine coolant
 

I was driving to my DZA club meeting on the Loop 202 freeway. Cruising about 65-70 when all of a sudden, my check engine light came on and my automatic tranny started downshifting by itself and I had no throttle response. I pulled over to the side and shut it down. Sat for a moment, and decided I would try to get off the freeway. Started the engine, and all seemed good, so I took off for the next exit. Then I noticed the temperature gauge was higher than normal and climbing. Then I lost power again and I decided I better shut it off as the temperature gauge was still climbing. After i stopped on the side of the freeway, I noticed steam coming out from the back of the hood. I called AAA to get a tow. They asked if I was in a safe spot and I told them I was on the side of the freeway next to a travel lane. I was westbound almost under the Center Street overpass. They said they would set up a tow as a priority. I waited 50 minutes and called AAA again to see where is the tow truck. While I was on the phone with AAA, I saw I had a text coming through. It was the tow company, and they had been dispatched to 202 and Southern Avenue, which is about 5 miles from where I was. They said they would send the tow driver but he was about 15-20 mintes away. After I had been on the side of the freeway for 1 hour and 20 minutes, my priority tow showed up.

There is a plastic coupler that joins two heater hoses, and it had broken and I lost the engine coolant. To replace the plastic coupler and all three heater hoses the intake plenum had to be removed. Almost $500.00 labor and the entire repair was $818.19. My 370Z is a 2013 model with 74,651 miles. The plastic coupler is a common failure of the VQ engine.
I also complained to AAA about the mixup, and they have given me a $99.99 credit on my next renewal.

Z1 makes a replacement piece that it made from aluminum.

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...aaf37dc50a426a

Your local auto parts store likely carries an aluminum variant as well. Dorman #47291. In case you need the part quickly to get the car back up and running, and it’ll perform the same thing as the Z1 piece


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Thanks for the advice. I had it fixed prior to my post. I recall that there was an air bleeder on my 350Z that I used to have. I didn’t realize that the 370Z had one. The repair shop showed me a picture of the coupler, but it didn’t look like it had a bleeder valve, but it makes sense that it would have one. Maybe the picture they showed me was from the bottom of it. I doubt that I will own this car if it becomes an issue again. I only put 3-4K miles on it in a year now.