I never hesitate to take mine right to the local self-service car wash and let the high-pressure wand flush all the leaves and crud out.

Jake

 

Jake, while the car wash thing might help delay the type of problem I had, it could NOT have cleaned this.

So... after a dip in the pool to cool off, and taking the family out to dinner, it was fill er up and test drive time.

I got a half gallon of antifreeze in and she stopped taking it, so I loosened the bleeder valve on the thermostat housing. I could hear the air whistling out while I watched the level in the tank drop. Continued to add coolant, tightened the bleeder when coolant started coming out.

Out of the gallon and a half that drained, all but a quart went back in before I started the engine.

Fired it up, and let her warm idling. When the thermostat opened at 200, I cracked the bleeder again, got 20 seconds of air out, and was able to get the last quart in.

I let her idle (fans off till 220) in the driveway until she got to 213, then turned on the A/C. This time (since the A/C kicked on both fans) she GOT COOLER! Then I went for a test drive.

She is dead stable at 200 degrees. I seem to have succeeded, at zero cost except the loss of a Saturday afternoon. As wrenching on cars is a passion of mine, that is no loss.

Here's some pics. One thing you guys will see as I hang out here and learn this car is, I take and post a lot of pics. In another active post here this weekend, a member made a statement regarding the purpose of forums like this. To me, the biggest purpose is to learn. And the best way to learn is from someone who has done. And a picture is worth a thousand words. Everything we type here lives on. Every word will be here for a long time. Lots of people, including myself, stumble into places like this when they have a need, looking for knowledge, looking for help. NOT looking for some smart *** to tell them "it's in the FSM", or "search the archives."

For the next guy to need this... I followed the good but brief directions in the post I linked on the previous page, which I found with a search.

At least on my 93... 4 bolts (10mm) across the top, forward from the fan surround into the upper shroud.
Pass side... 2 10mm nuts, 2 13mm bolts.
Drivers side... 1 10mm nut, 1 13mm bolt. I had to remove the relays to get a wrench on these. There is a bracket bolted to the frame then bent to vertical, 2 10mm bolts into the side of the shroud here.

Then it gets tricky. There are 3 7mm screws on each side tieing the upper and lower shrouds together in front of the radiator, and they gotta come off. You can reach the bottom 2 on each side if you pull the horn on the pass side, and the AIR pump and horn on the drivers side. The top one is between the shroud and the frame, and it's just a bitch, Open end wrench and strong fingers.

Lastly, both coolant hoses and the top trans cooler line.

The shroud is free now, just gotta get it out. Fight the drivers side out first, you gotta bend it a lil, but it came out. Then from the pass side, work the drivers side as high as you can get it, and fight the lip out from under the a/c lines on the pass side. Again, itsa fight but it will come.

Then all you gotta do is take off the bottom trans line (put a pan under, it drips a lil) and lift out the rad.

I hope I got all this right, as I didn't have an FSM to refer to. I think I did, nothing broke, the problem is fixed, I didn't have any extra parts, and everything else still works. Here's the pics.

This is what I saw when the shroud came off!

I like this one. I stood the rad up against the garage door jamb, and got on the floor and shot thru it toward the light. As you can see, not much light.

Here's the upper shroud removed. If you look close, you can see the line of three lil holes, where those screws go.

And where they go in the car.

And here's the AIR pump and it's intake, which had to be removed for access.

 

Me too!

 

Thanks, I'll hit AutoZone next.

Jake

 

someone has cut a hole in your radiator shroud, just an FYI. I used a piece of plexi glass to cover the hole in mine.

 

a PO put something called a "vortec" intake on it, that where the air filter hangs thru.

 

Good pics, good work, you have the proof the LT1s don't have to run hot!!!!

 

I do indeed, and thanks! 300 miles so far this week, she runs at 200, period, all the time.

 

if i just want to take my shroud off do i have to pull off the ASR or AIR pump and the intake for it?? and i have to drain all the coolant out, i have to do a bleeding when refilling it?? omg sounds too hard for mee

 

It's not hard Derek, just take it slow and easy.

The AIR pump is just 2 bolts, 2 electrical connections, and 2 hose clamps, nuttin to it.

Problem ius those 3 small screws on each side holding the upper and lower shrouds together. You can see the screws if you look between the shroud and the frame rail, but you can only get a wrench on the top one, for the bottom 2 you gotta go in from under the frame, and that pump has gotta come out to do that.

Draining the coolant is easy too, pop the cap off the tank, and loosen the drain and out it comes. The drain is below the lower rad hose on the pass side, it's plastic, about an inch around, and has two "ears" that you can twist on. I had to use a pliers, be careful not to break it.

The bleeding also was much easier in reality than it was in the reading. On my 93, I only found 1 valve, it is a brass slotted screw on the thermostat housing, can't miss it. I opened it as I was filling the system (engine off motor cold) and could hear the air hissing out! When coolant started coming out, I tightened the screw. Once the motor was at operating temp, I cracked the screw open again, didn't get much air the second time at all.

Anyone can do this, it's not that hard, and it beats the heck out of getting raped by the dealer.

Judging from the amount of crud in my radiator, and the number of posts I've seen in the brief 2 weeks I've been active here, this is a VERY common problem.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/newr...y&p=1560650032

 

ok i took the shroud off let me explain....ok first off i had no heat when i turned the heat on was almost cool, my car would not cool off super fast like most people and heat would climb to 235 easy and quick. ok soo i took about 1-2 hours and i got the cover off. kept the ASR or whateve rpump on, and kept my coolant lines on also. alot more bolts than i thought, specially the super small 6 screws (3 on each) down towards the font on the sides...horribly hard to take out..so i got it off, not much debre but i couldnt see thew the little radiator lines and holes so i knew it was clogged with dirt, i covered my my engine and all the parts with towels and plastic. then busted out the hose. i looked underneath and saw soo much dirt and scum and was happy. covered everything up and started her up, the heat is hott, the engine still gets hott but cools quickly and the heat stays down lower with ac, didnt use to so im happy i see results. im sure if i took out the radiator or got a new one it would help alot but it was a good outcome, but now i have to add power steering fluid cause im fresh out, thanks everyone for the help and advice...time to drop a duece now sooo ill talking to ya all later.

 

Dats wut I'm talin about!