Hey guys,

So i'm getting ready to do some basic changes to my car. I'm going to be changing the brake pads and while I'm at it I figured I'd look into my cooling issues.

So here's the deal. If I let my car idle, my temps will shoot up to 220 degrees pretty quickly. Now, I've read that this will trigger the ECU to change a few things and affect the car's performance. I wanted to see what I could do about it.

The car has an unknown aftermarket Intake on it so I'm going to be cleaning teh filters on that. I was also thinking of getting an aftermarket thermostat (160), but I've read that I need to have the fan settings adjusted as well?

I'd like some more detail on this if anyone can provide it. I'd also want to know what else I can do to keep the car running cooler. Also, can anyone link me to the correct coolant to use, I've been reading mixed answers on this.

The next issue I had a question on is clutch noise. I got my trans rebuilt, installed a Monster Stage II clutch, a new RSD Snap shifter, and a new OEM slave in November of last year (through RPM Motorsports here in SoCal) and the car has been running great.

The only issue I have now is that, after the trans/clutch where broken in, my clutch started to make a groaning noise upon take off in 1st gear or reverse. Basically anytime it's stopped. It's been described as someone pulling a heavy chair across a floor lol.

I read up on this a little and it seems like it's not harmful and is simply a pain of having an aftermarket clutch, but I wanted to make sure of this as the noise can be pretty loud at times.

Thanks for all the help you guys have given this new young Vette owner so far, I love this place. I plan on posting a review of my new drivetrain soon.

 

question for u-whats a quesition?

 

Changing t-stat to lower running temps will do nothing without reprogramming the fan settings. Good to throw a bottle of redline water wetter in there when you do a coolent flush with the new t-stat, but you'll need a tuner or self tuner to achieve your desired results of lower operating temps.

You'll also want to hose out or use compressed air to blow out all the debris (from the back forward) that will be jammed up in your radiator and condenser...lots of crap gets caught up in that high pressure area under the shroud.

 

I did blow out some of the crap that you metnioned and it helped a little bit but it still gets pretty hot. I guess i'll have to take it back to someone that is familiar with tuning Vettes instead of my regular mechanic.

Any thoughts on the clutch noise issue perhaps?

Thanks for all the help man.

 

I think the clutch groan is fairly normal...the drivetrain on these cars aren't quiet. I always keep my clutch pedal to the floor when I turn the car off because I het all the noise the torque tube makes when you shut the car off with the clutch out.

 

If your Dexcool has never been compromised, then you should replace it with fresh Dexcool, which means I would not recommend mixing Water Wetter with it. By compromised I mean that your Dexcool has never been mixed with ANYTHING, and the car has never been driven with a low fluid coolant level. If I was compromised and the heater still blows hot heat, then I would pay for a power flush and switch over to the green stuff.

 

Yea I always shut off the car the same way, in first with the clutch down. I guess I was being paranoid about the noise possibly being something hurtful to the car.

I see, well I'm the third owner and I picked up the car with 13k on it so I don't think it's ever been compromised. I suppose I'll replace it with dexcool. Can I just grab it at a pep boys or is it something i'll need to go to a GM dealer for?

 

Remedies for a warm engine:

1) clean out radiator
2) corvetteforum.com/c5-z06-discussion/radiator-mod-for-more-efficient-cooling.html
3) Have radiator fan temps adjusted by someone who knows these engines. I think our stock thermostat is 190 deg, so the earliest you want the fans coming on is like 195, else they'll just run constantly

I've heard mixed opinions on low temp t-stats, and personally wouldn't use one on a street car unless the above three steps failed to fix my problem.

 

4) Get DeWitt's Radiator. But shouldn't be necessary for a car that isn't modded or tracked.

 

Personally,I would invest in a used Predator programmer specifically for your year/model Z, upload the performance mode, that will adjust your fan temps, also modify the shroud for cold air, that should expell much of the hot engine air. As far as the clutch issues, tranny chatter with these cars are very common. If the shifting is ok, I wouldnt worry about it. But abnormal noise may be a reason to have it checked out.

 

I thought of that too after posting, but didn't bother adding it.

 

Thanks for the link! You're the first person to tell me that a low temp t-stat can be a bad thing. Do you have any links or can you give me the bullet points on why they're bad for a street car? If your given suggestions work then I don't mind not installing a low temp t-stat.

I plan on modding the car in the future so I'll look into this.

I'll look into getting a predator, I've been tossing the idea around in my head anyway.

I know that the drive trains on these cars are noisy in general but after some reading it seems like aftermarket clutches have a 50/50 chance of making the noise i'm hearing. It's apparently some build up on the clutch disk that causes it. Some have said that launching the car at ~2k rpm will get rid of it for a bit so I may try that.

 

AutoZone has it by my house. They have the 50/50 or the full strength that you would have to mix with water.

 

Here's a few threads. Most conversations I've found about 160 t-stats include opinions from both its believers and detractors. I ended up deciding it wasn't for me, and my tuner later corroborated this position.

c5-tech/2653445-180-fan-turn-do-i-need-180-thermostat-too.html

c5-tech/3009142-160-or-180-stat.html

c5-tech/2854292-160-thermostat.html

 

Thanks for all the help guys!


Skyavonee thanks for educating me on a topic I had no clue about, I appreciate it.