It was the first truly gorgeous weekend in 2020 with both days being sunny and in the mid to upper 70s at its warmest (actually I think we touched 80 on Sunday). My wife and I decided to go for a nice long drive to upstate NY to get out of the city and enjoy the weather even if it was just a long round trip drive. I figured since Sunday was going to be the warmer of the two days I'd take the Cayman out on Saturday and the S2000 on Sunday so we could drive with the top off and get some sun. First off, let's see how Saturday ended :(
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| Kay getting loaded onto the flatbed - 5/2/2020 |
Let's backtrack a bit to the good part first though. We drove up to the Hawk's Nest and followed the scenic route along the Delaware River. Although Hawk's Nest itself was pretty busy with bikers, the rest of the route was actually pretty empty and it felt great to hear the echo of the flat 6 in the valley.
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| Stretching our legs by the Delaware River - 5/2/2020 |
For the most part the drive was uneventful. We cruised along, enjoyed the fresh air, then turned around and started driving home. Half way home, my check coolant warning light came on. I thought that was a bit odd since the I had just topped it off last weekend. The engine coolant temps were stable so I just cruised slowly for a bit and it went away after a minute or two so I didn't think too much about it. I'd just double check the level when I got home.
Then I noticed the coolant temps creep up. Of course the useless dash coolant gauge didn't move because that's never accurate anyway. I have a
Scanguage hooked up to my OBD2 at all times showing me true coolant temps read by the ECU. The car normally hovers around 198F when warm and cruising but it had now gone to 210, then 220 and now 230. I stayed in 6th gear, slowly driving on the right. The rest stop was only a mile away so I wanted to make it there. I saw the temps go back down so I thought I'd make it, then all of a sudden, the check coolant light goes on, I see the coolant temp shoot up to 245 so I quickly pull over onto the shoulder. I don't see any smoke coming from the car nor was it making any strange noises but clearly something was wrong. I get out of the car and see this, a streak of fluid on the ground (thankfully just on the shoulder) and a pool of coolant all over my front right wheel.
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| Trail of fluid - 5/2/2020 |
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| Coolant pool - 5/2/2020 |
Thankfully we had just passed an exit and after a quick call to AAA, they had the flatbed there in 15 minutes (talk about service). We were loaded up and on our way just a few minutes after. We got the car up in the air and found the culprit, two unsecured hose clamps going from the front right radiator to the center radiator caused the coolant hose to work its way loose.
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| Coolant hose going to center radiator popped off - 5/2/2020 |
I had all my radiators replaced, new center radiator and roll bar installed late last year but hadn't really driven it much since then due to business travel and winter. The shop is taking full ownership of the situation and the car is already being retrieved by trailer to be taken in to be fully sorted today. Mistakes happen and I know this will easily get resolved. While I'm annoyed that we had to go through this, the upside is that this didn't happen on track and we didn't get into an accident. The point of this post isn't to place blame but rather a reminder to double check things after major work and also how important it is to have real gauges in your car to monitor what's going on so you can act appropriately before really bad things happen. Sadly, we might have caught this earlier on if this was a normal year since usually by May all my cars would've already been up on lifts and given a once over in preparation for the season but with the current situation the way it is, I hadn't gotten around to it. I love this car and can't wait to have her back on the road again very soon.
Determined not to let what happened Saturday afternoon dampen this weekend, we took "old reliable", a.k.a. Bumblestook, out on Sunday. With the top off, basking in the sun, it's everything that's great about roadster life. Heck, I even dusted off the "real" camera.
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| Top down (off) fun! - 5/3/2020 |
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| Top down (off) fun! - 5/3/2020 |
It's always interesting when I take Bumblestook out. She gets a ton of waves and thumbs up from young guys on bikes to old guys in old trucks, drivers of every kind. It seems there's something about this old girl that gets her love and respect and for a retired race car, that's all you can really ask for.
Oh, this Blipshift t-shirt I wore on Sunday summed up my week 100%...
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| The Truth!!! 5/3/2020 |
