Hello, I am new to owning my corvette. It is a 1979 Corvette. It was given to me after I graduated high school about 3 years ago and has made one hell of a summer car. I have a rebuild 350 engine with maybe 2-3 thousand miles on it, a new transmission in it with hardly even 200 miles on it since it was dropped in, and the car is in pristine shape. The car has alot of sentimental value to it as it has been in the family since it was purchased by my grandfather in 1979, and is the car my dad took to prom, and was gifted to me after I graduated high school. It has just a little over 100,000 miles on it. The issue that I am having is that after I took it out of winter storage last year it has an overheating problem, to where the gauge comes close to the red line at red lights or when idling, and once I begin to drive it, it goes back down to about the halfway mark again. The previous year it ran absolutley fine and did not over heat at all, and my fear is that I will overheat the car and cause further damage. It sems to be holding coolant, and I changed out the thermostat but that did not prove to be the answer to the problem. I am planning on driving it out to California to be shipped out to Hawaii with me soon, and am not worried about the engine or the transmission as those are new, but certanilly do not want it to overheat and break down in the middle of the mojave desert or anywhere along the way. If anybody with the same car knows the issue, or any good corvette mechanic out there knows what the issue could be that would help me out very mucvh. Thank you!

 

Start with the easy and obvious checks first, and you may have done this...like a nest up under by the radiator; the air deflector in place; the shroud and radiator support seals in place; radiator hoses not collapsed with engine hot.

When the engine was done, did you have the radiator flushed? Pressure tested? 100,000 is a lot of miles on a Corvette but it sounds like it was run regularly over the years.

Hope this helps!

 

Check your clutch fan. It might not be locking up as temperature increases. Plenty of trouble shooting information on them in Google.

http://www.haydenauto.com/upload/Hay...n-clutches.pdf

 

Thanks. I replaced the radiator hoses at the beginning of the season and they have held up great. It could be a fan clutch, but it doesn't give off the sound like it is a fan. Is there any possibility it could be the water pump? That was going to be my next thing to check as well, but I do not know when the last time the radiator was flushed. It could be something as simple as that.

 

My vote would be for a water pump. They are inexpensive and easy enough to replace on our 79's, so you might give that a shot.

 

Thanks, that was going to be my next shot. Last thing I'd want is it to break down on a cross country trip from something as inexpensive as a water pump going out.

 

Since he is overheating at a light , I vote for the clutch fan.

Easy to feel, if very little resistance when you turn it by hand - replace it.

 

make sure that you have the spoiler under the front end ,that helps force air up to the motor!

 

Hi!
I have a very similar problem of overheating, did you get yours resolved?