Part arrived this afternoon via FedEx.

Cool little design from Z1. There's even a "Z1" screen print on the bleeder valve that I will never use. Nice.

This is my crisis avoidance connector.

 

I'm going to have to buy that set of 16" angled pliers. I'm looking straight at the connector, and can get pliers on the clamps able to squeeze and rotate them a little bit (after some WD40), but I just don't have the leverage to move them over the hump. It's really, really frustrating.

Grr-r-r-r.

[edit]

Quick trip to Harbor Freight. And with the right pliers, I was able to compress the clamps and remove the original connector. And it's totally fine. No degradation at all that I can tell. Granted, it's plastic, but still it seems fine.

However I dropped my new connector into the engine bay and can't locate it. This means I have to get the car up on ramps and take off the undertray... except I can't do that while the heater hose is disconnected. So I have to put the original back in.

Oh. My. God. What a clusterfck.

 

I put the original plastic connector back into the car, this time with worm clamps. Then I put the car up on ramps, and disassembled my TBW engine tray. I was assuming I'd find the Z1 connector there (and maybe some other stuff ) But nope. I looked and looked and felt around everywhere from the firewall to the engine mounts to the fender, and I can't find the damn Z1 connector.

(sigh. seriously fcking heavy sigh)

Since I can't reclaim the Z1 connector, but I have replaced those insanely awkward compression clamps with two worm clams that I can easily remove, I can do this again sometime. Or not. Or next time the car is on a lift (like maybe next week), the little piece will still be there, lodged in place somewhere that I can't discover.

 

@Rochester Damn thing vanished? You didn't destroy the plastic one taking it out? Those spring clamps are a beast to move away from the center. Agree that the job looks really easy, for a hobbit.

If your have an Autozone or OReilly's close by, they carry the Dorman 3/4" to 3/4" connector I used: https://www.autozone.com/fittings-an...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Install one of these, bleed the air out of the system, then I bet the one you lost will suddenly appear :-)

 

I suspect it's sitting on top of that large aluminum plate/cross-member/whatever, but I can't eyeball or feel my way around while simply up on ramps. Yes, it's effectively gone until it gets on a lift, or more likely it will bounce loose and disappear on the road.

The car hasn't been driven in days, was stone cold, so there was only a little bit of coolant fluid leakage, barely anything at all. Not an issue.

The original connector was totally fine, and it's back on place with worm clamps.

This little project did not go well for me. Could have been worse, I suppose.

 

My guess is that the Z1 connector will eventually bounce loose and fall down onto the splash shield. If memory serves me correctly, you have the aluminum TBW one, so it will rattle and make noise once it falls, disclosing its existence. Now that the worm clamps are in place, it will take you 20 mins to change.

 

Well yes, that's a possibility predicated on my reinstalling the TBW. Except that I'm going to leave it off for the shop appointment so that they can change out the thermostat (and flush & fill the coolant), without having to bother with the undertray. So one of two things will happen: either we'll find the connector when the car goes up on the lift, of we won't. And if we don't, then I'll have to purchase a second one... even though my original connector seems 100%.

I do appreciate the optimism, socket. Thanks.

 

I'm not convinced the bleed screw is necessary. The generic aluminum red one I've posted from Amazon would work just as well.

I *strongly* recommend removing the assembly as a whole and changing the connector out of the car.

Hopefully there's no open holes on the bell housing of the trans...

 

I've driven the car maybe 50 miles since I dropped the hose connector in the engine bay. Like I said, after removing the lower tray and looking and feeling around everywhere I possibly could, I just couldn't find it. My guess was it had strategically fell on top of that huge aluminum subframe, and I just couldn't see or reach it. My hope was that wherever it was, it would stay right there until the car got on the lift. However, once up on the lift, we still couldn't find the Z1 connector, and assumed it had bounced out and was on the highway somewhere. (Which made me feel bad thinking I could cause a ding or cracked windshield for somebody innocently driving along. Oh well.)

And then this morning, I was driving out of my neighborhood onto the main road. Within a few yards I heard this loud "PING!" that wasn't coming from the radio. Now, I'm deaf in one ear, so I had no clue *where* the sound was coming from (because deaf), but I sure heard something. In quickly looking around I thought I saw a rock behind me in the road, but I didn't just swerve around it, so like... where did that come from? I'm quickly thinking about what just happened and whipped the car around, making a u-turn in the road, parking it right in the middle with my hazards on. Fortunately traffic was light

It was the Z1 connector! I picked it up real quick and hopped back into my car.

That was fun. The TBW lower tray is still off the car... I was planning on putting it back this afternoon.

 

HA! I figured it would show up at some point. I have the aluminum Z1 tray and one of the unwritten advantages of it is that I can easily spot things with a flashlight that fall down into the engine bay, it's also good for leak detection.

 

This thread (original post and discourse) is great.

For someone who has never messed with engine bay trim pieces and weather stripping around the windshield, is anyone familiar with a write up or video that shows how step 1 can be done without snapping clips, breaking trim pieces, etc.? Came up empty-handed after searching around

 

All you need is a flat-head screwdriver for the clips. Everything is held in place with clips. Just take off the battery lid and start popping clips up and off.

 

@mummy2 Posted elsewhere there's actually a proper tool for removing the OEM hose clamps:



It's only $7, and sure looks like it's the silver bullet for this frustrating task. Since I left my engine bay trim disassembled thinking I was going to buy yet another connector, after having lost my first one, then miraculously found it again (LOL), I went ahead and bought this tool with the intention that I use the correct clamps.

Guess I'll find out for myself. Hats off to mummy2 for his contribution to this topic.

 

For those that prefer to buy the hose clamp pliers in store.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-A...ers/1003096268

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

In the process of doing my G's connector, broke ON THE EXPRESSWAY in half.

She limed and threw check engine instantly hopefully everything is fine after i changed it, started fine to get on the tow truck.

So far the connector is a straight ****ing bitch to deal with atleast whats left, thought since it was split in half perfectly i could pull out each half easily, NOPE.
Recomend using a straight pick to loosen it from the hose inside, between connector and pick i wiggled a straight pick, this helped, used a pair of needle nose while pinching hose to chunk by chunk remove the connector pieces, making sure to vaccum after scraping out inside of hose.

I used the harbor freight three pack of hose pliers, used biggest ones for the clamp and hose pinching, and the smaller one to help scrape inside of hose clean.

Going to get replacement part now.


168500 miles, 2010 AWD