Short Version:-- My heater core partially gave way today , and will need to come out.
Looks like the crimps and or glue separated at the bottom edge under high flow conditions. During this partial failure , -it sprayed me and wife. (not good)
--Long version; So after work today , I went home in my SPF. (1100 Miles as of this PM ) I waited until we had a 1000miles on the clock to do the final dyno-tune on my A9L with Dr. Sean as that would require WOT runs to 6000 RPM, ---with that out of the way Friday night, -- 6 dyno pulls and tweaking and I am happy to say it zips very well. (more on that later) .
Last night I did a couple of runs down the expressway -- no problem....-- so I had been taking it easy on my motor for the first 1000 mi. (no shifts above 4000-4250 etc) so I go home, park car for 10min, going to grab wife and go get a gelato in LG. (Saturday tradition)
Fire up car- idle-idle-idle- install wife , head down street , burble-burble-burble--
-turn onto San tomas expwy - point car towards los gatos ,
===light afterburners, wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, 5900/6000, whahhhhhhhh, 5900, whhhhhaaahhh--*#@&$@*&$ -coolant (hot coolant ) starts coming from under the dash starts hitting transmission tunnel , like someone pouring / dumped a cup coffee.-- and uh...its hot..!! -- and wife alerts the pilot with the issue, with a shreek...
---backed off throttle, and now I see drips but no pour/flow , check temp --OK and look at dash -- ok, so only under high rev...
--limp home (around long city block) doesn't seem to be leaking now---short shift 2500-3200-- burble-burble--
start cursing myself that maybe I missed a clamp, maybe there is a slice in a hose...etc...etc..
get home and mop up , dilute
antifreeze on (tan) carpet. (mop-mop-mop)
ok, so check clamps -- all secure.
-huh...- check hoses ..-no slices. huh....dry some more.(mop-mop-mop)
ok, so where did the
antifreeze come from>?
-- so being a good tester , I check the coolant lever in over flow tank, still pretty full, check 13LB cap , works , releases pressure when opened --huh-....
so I fire up the car to replicate the problem -- and look under dash and bring up revs /rev engine;
4000 -nothing
4500- nothing
5000 -nothing
5200 - leak-leak
5500 - whoosh...&@*#
the bottom mating portion of the heater core , aluminum core crimped over ABS side tank, -- looks like the the seal fails under high flow.
OK, so wife still needs gelato -- take heater core hose out of heater hose loop, top off coolant, drive to los-gatos (gelato) and santa cruz and back. --
-- anyone know what the heater core setup looks like in this thing >? (mechanical dwg >?) it is nothing like the ERA setup for sure and I didnt get that far into the ventilation system during my build.
-- there was no need, we just checked hose clamps.
--Questions ;
1. where does the heater in the SPF come from.
2. defective heater cores happen to anyone -- i am sure i can get a repl.
3. are there mechanical drawings of this heater box >?
4. why is the current SPF heater box designed in this manner.>?
-- (Ethaline Glycol Soaked )Steve