cooorvette

Hi everyone , vette newby here, having problems with my 2008base model, LS3 with auto trans. My radiator cracked in the plastic sectionlast week and lucky the temp guage was well below the 105 degrees Celsius markon the guage. I pulled over waited about an hour, before re-starting and limpingto work, driving very slowly. I couldn’t wait the 3 hours for the breakdown guy,who eventually took it to Chevy for me on a flatbed. They replaced the radiatorbut ever since its not been the same. The problem I have is that afteraccelerating, when I lift off the throttle and the revs drop off, the engine starts hunting and itfeels like its misfiring or something similar. And if I apply a small amount ofthrottle, it starts jerking quite noticeably. Took it back to chevy and theyreckon its transmission related and expensive to fix ?? Anyone have similar experience ?

User Omega

It sounds to me like it lost enough trans fluid to hurt itself when you kept driving it.

cooorvette

Would it lose any tranny oil from the plastic side bit of the radiator cracking ?
I didn't see anything but water leaking out at the time.
Could it be low on tranny fluid now after a new radiator ?

madmatt9471

What you need to do is get it to a shop that can do a scan while driving with HP Tuners and find out why your Vette is doing what it is doing.

That is what will help, no guessing, but a true scan.

Are there any codes you can pull? Engine light on now?

Thanks,Matt

AORoads

If it was done at a dealer, they own it. Take it back. If you don't trust them, you'll probably be out more dollars to get it fixed right. It could be something simple, or not. You decide. Have you talked to the dealer/service advisor/technician? What did they say?

Unreal

Vettes have the transmissions coolers in the radiator. If they did not refill the transmission after a radiator swap, then you are probably 1+qt low and may have a damaged transmission. Check your invoice for transmission fluid. If they did not add it and charge you for it, they probably destroyed your transmission by sending you on the way without adding the lost fluid from the radiator swap.

cooorvette

Wow didn't realize there is so much tranny fluid lost whilst swapping radiators, but surely they know that- checked the invoice and no charge for tranny fluid-
but would the tranny be damaged with low fluid level or just not perform very well
forgot to mention I'm based in Doha, Qatar.

cooorvette

And they charged me 3,648 riyals to replace the radiator- about $1,000

449er

If you had no tranny issues before the radiator replacement, I would say that the dealer owns whatever damage may have been done, it may just be low on tranny fluid, did you check?

AORoads

Oh my, you're in another country. As unreal said, I'd guess something is now wrong with the trans itself. Let's hope not.

Unreal

Yes, easy to leak enough fluid out of the radiator to be low and cause issues. Do not drive it until fluid is added.

cooorvette

Just checked the fluid level, pulled the rubber plug out the side of the tranny and the fluid is about one inch below the top of the filler hole - that's with the back end raised on the ramps about 12 inches off the ground.
The chevy dealer probably topped it off anyway when the car went back in for them to check.
anyway now I'm really suspicious they didn't top up the tranny when they did the radiator as they didn't charge me for any ATF on the invoice- and hence why it's now screwed

cooorvette

And no - the check engine light never came on

hrt vlv

If you saw 105C/221F it probably got hotter than that. Is there water in your engine oil? Is the cooling system working properly? Do you have access to IR temperature sensor to see if the T stat is functioning properly? You may be low on transmissions fluid but you don't say how far you drove after the radiator failure. Driving slow doesn't. necessarily mean you did not overheat motor a second time. If you waited an hour for things to cool down it was hot. Do a engine oil change and flush the transmission.

HOXXOH

That's not the way to check fluid on a Vette.

Read this: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1593196076

The last part is how to check the fluid. Since you already have most of the fluid in, simply add about 1/2 quart instead of 7 in step #1. If about 1/2 quart comes back out, the dealer either filled what was lost and didn't charge you, or very little was lost. Check the color of the fluid that drains out. It should be red. If it's brown or black, it got way too hot and will need to be changed. Actually, read a few posts down and see my post about how to change more than just the 6 1/2 quarts. You may need to do that several times to get toward a red color.

rabrooks

This is my thought as well. And a lot of fluid will run out when the cooling lines are removed from the radiator. I expect the dealer owes you a new tranny. Don't add fluid and don't drive it. Get it towed to the dealer and have them check the fluid level.

cooorvette

Thanks for all the comments and useful tips guys and gals !! Very appreciated

Forgot to say that when I checked the ATF level - by sticking a plastic dipstick in the filler hole (!) the fluid that stuck to the dipstick was very red indeed - and given that I haven't changed the fluid recently, suggests that maybe the chevy garage had flushed the system a few times ?? Maybe wanting to get rid of the old oil any evidence of a botch job.

I rang them up to complain today, so lets see what they say.

cooorvette

Also found out the Corvette has an "Overheated engine protection operating mode" - its a low power limp home mode if the engine starts overheating - and its safe to drive up to 80km according to the owner's handbook (section 5-33).

User Omega

I think everyone here will tell you not to trust that statement. It is probably a distance to death that can get you out of the roadway if in an emergency. Any engine experiencing an overheating issue should not be run period. Too much can go wrong. Also the engine temp sensor may not be able to indicate the true temp if engine coolant is not flowing or present.

cooorvette

Do you know anyone who has ever put this claim to the test ?