This forum has never let me down, and I hope you guys can help me fix this problem too...

I was driving the corvette to school this morning - about a 20-30 minute drive on side roads and highways. I baby the car for the first few minutes before I hit the highway and hit the gas a little. Today, I was on the highway and hit my gas pretty hard - I was in excess of the speed limit, but by no means racing. Everything seemed fine and dandy - no problems yet.

Well, after about 5 miles of side road driving, I arrive at school, and park in my safe-spot. I was a little early for my class so I kept the car running (it was about 63 out and the thermostat was set on 68). After about 5 minutes, I get a beep and a message on the DIC saying that my coolant temperature is high, and that my A/C has been shut off. The gauge showed that the temperature was 250-260 degrees.

I immediatly shut off the engine, and popped the hood. The coolant level is perfect, but under the hood was unbelievably hot. I was not revving the engine, and it had been a while since I accelerated heavily on the highway.

I looked in the manual, and it discusses situations after "heavy aggresive driving" (what I was doing was nothing compared to when I tracked the car and got no warning) or keeping the car in idle for an extended period of time. I did neither of the aforesaid; however my engine still overheated!

I left school about 3 hours later and drove her home...The temperature stayed pretty steady between 190-205.

If anyone has any idea what went wrong, or what I should do next, please post...I am making an appointment at a service center for hopefully this coming weekend, or the weekend after, but as usual I dread the wonderful Chevrolet service...

Thank you all very much for your help!


EDIT: I forgot to mention that there was NO smoke or steam coming off of the engine.

 

Sounds to me that you have a problem with the fan not coming on as it should have. That's why it couldn't keep the temp at 195-220 or so. Take it to the dealer.

 

Take it in and have the fan checked out. When you idle it for a few minuets with the air on the temperature will rise and if the fan doesn't come on it will heat up.

 

Or the thermostat.

 

I'd get it in ASAP. If you need to drive it, keep the temp up on the DIC and don't let it get that hot.

Not sure if it has fan fuses or relays. But you could check your fuses.
The other thing easy to check yourself is turn on the A/C at idle. Did the fans kick on? If not, get it in and let the dealer deal with it. Avoid stop and go traffic or long idling until you get it fixed. I'll bet it's a fan problem also.

 

As said, when the AC is on, the fan should come on. I don't know if the C-6 has multiple fan speeds or not. If it does, check to see if the high speed fan function is working. Generally when the car is moving at speed the fan is not needed, but when not moving, it is really needed.

 

We have experienced some hot weather here already and ours seens to have a variable speed fan, not just one or two settings. As for the temp, I agree, it sounds like the fans aren't working. I believe the computer controls these fans and uses the same temp sensor as the DIC uses. But as always, I could be wrong!