coolant temp ?
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Nov 2009
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From: webster new york
coolant temp ?
This is my first corvette and just put on my first 75 miles and noticed the temp gauge would climb pretty quickly when the car stopped moving,driving around the temp would be 180* but after stopping for a couple mins the temp would climb to over 200-220*,is this normal? as soon as the car started moving the temp would go down to 180-185*pretty quickly,should i hear fans coming on or somthing,or is just the way it is,by the way i love this F*****G car!
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
This is my first corvette and just put on my first 75 miles and noticed the temp gauge would climb pretty quickly when the car stopped moving,driving around the temp would be 180* but after stopping for a couple mins the temp would climb to over 200-220*,is this normal? as soon as the car started moving the temp would go down to 180-185*pretty quickly,should i hear fans coming on or somthing,or is just the way it is,by the way i love this F*****G car!
The best advice I can give you about coolant temps is to make sure the area at the air dam is clear of all leaves and debris... what you see there is the AC condenser.. directly behind that is the radiator... cleaning those two areas out in the spring will insure proper heat transfer.. every year I clean my radiator and condenser, and get about a half cut of sand, bug guts, Fuzzes, leaves, and some unidentifiable stuff... once in a while you may suck up a plastic bad.. this will elevate your coolant temp rapidly in the summer.
Last edited by Evil-Twin; Mar 19, 2010 at 09:07 PM.
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Wright City MO
yes thats the way it's suppose to work, take note of the red line on your temp meter. In the summer you will notice dramatic temps from what you may be use too.. the C5 is a bottom feeder and on a 90F degree day , heat coming off a black top road can approach 140 F you dont get much heat transfer when the air temp being ingested is 140 F. Dont worry the car is designed to handle this... if there is a problem you will get a warning message
The best advice I can give you about coolant temps is to make sure the area at the air dam is clear of all leaves and debris... what you see there is the AC condenser.. directly behind that is the radiator... cleaning those two areas out in the spring will insure proper heat transfer.. every year I clean my radiator and condenser, and get about a half cut of sand, bug guts, Fuzzes, leaves, and some unidentifiable stuff... once in a while you may suck up a plastic bad.. this will elevate your coolant temp rapidly in the summer.
The best advice I can give you about coolant temps is to make sure the area at the air dam is clear of all leaves and debris... what you see there is the AC condenser.. directly behind that is the radiator... cleaning those two areas out in the spring will insure proper heat transfer.. every year I clean my radiator and condenser, and get about a half cut of sand, bug guts, Fuzzes, leaves, and some unidentifiable stuff... once in a while you may suck up a plastic bad.. this will elevate your coolant temp rapidly in the summer.
Believe it: we should be compensated by the DOT for cleaning the roads.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
What I do
I take the radiator shroud off so I can get in between the condenser and the radiator.. you have about 2 inches without having to do more than remove the shroud ( four bolts ).. I vacuum the condenser from under the car, then I spray water into the condenser which gets into the radiator vanes... I use some spray dish washing liquid then spay again and let it sit for a few minutes.. then spray again.. then I get my long air blow pipe with a 90 degree nozzle, sears sells them and so does Harbor freight.. then I blow out the radiator and the condenser (Compressor at 100 psi) from the back toward the front it takes about an hour to do it right and you will be good for the summer..you need every vane to be clear in order for your cooling system to be efficient.. 20 % blocked with cause you concern when your car is running at 240F which wont hurt it, but it works much better at 200/210.
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Wright City MO
To do it right you need to do it from the top of the radiator.
I take the top radiator shroud off as ET does and use air from my compressor and a 12inch nozzle to get down between the ac condenser and the radiator as far as I can. I blow toward the front of the car. I have heard of folks using a water hose also. Haven't tried the dishwashing liquid but I will now!
Some folks actually take the fans off and blow through from the engine side also. I haven't done that so I just put the long extension through the blades of the fan and still get a lot of crap out. Be careful with the radiator fins as you don't want to bend them.
Also, I put the car up on ramps and get under and look up into the ac core and you may see leaves, etc up there. You can use the air to clean that out also. That is where you will more than likely find any plastic bags or that type of thing.
I ended up putting a screen underneath the car to help from sucking up large pieces of stuff.
Really a pretty easy job and you will be surprised what you get out of it.
I take the top radiator shroud off as ET does and use air from my compressor and a 12inch nozzle to get down between the ac condenser and the radiator as far as I can. I blow toward the front of the car. I have heard of folks using a water hose also. Haven't tried the dishwashing liquid but I will now!
Some folks actually take the fans off and blow through from the engine side also. I haven't done that so I just put the long extension through the blades of the fan and still get a lot of crap out. Be careful with the radiator fins as you don't want to bend them.
Also, I put the car up on ramps and get under and look up into the ac core and you may see leaves, etc up there. You can use the air to clean that out also. That is where you will more than likely find any plastic bags or that type of thing.
I ended up putting a screen underneath the car to help from sucking up large pieces of stuff.
Really a pretty easy job and you will be surprised what you get out of it.
Last edited by Slider-01; Mar 19, 2010 at 10:34 PM.
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