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While our sales agent introduced us to our new corvette he warned us about driving through heavy rains and more so deep puddles that would spray water up on the hood and enter the air vents. I found this strange since having the vehicle stationary during a heavy rain could have easier access thru the vents. He was told by a couple of his customer that they had problems after running into this conditions. He even warned us about spaying a lot of water over the vents when washing the car......which I would not do anyway. Has any new stingray owners experienced or heard about this problem?
While our sales agent introduced us to our new corvette he warned us about driving through heavy rains and more so deep puddles that would spray water up on the hood and enter the air vents. I found this strange since having the vehicle stationary during a heavy rain could have easier access thru the vents. He was told by a couple of his customer that they had problems after running into this conditions. He even warned us about spaying a lot of water over the vents when washing the car......which I would not do anyway. Has any new stingray owners experienced or heard about this problem?
Never heard of it. I have driven in a couple of very heavy rain storms (yes, in a corvette) and never had a problem. What I did notice was how well it held the wet road in the weather mode.
Plus I wash my car using the hose every week in the summer, and flush out the vents to get the soap out and have never had a problem.
None of the exposed intakes or vents have anything in them that can be damaged by water. Open the hood and look at the vent you can see it is sealed to the duct coming from the radiator. On Z51 cars the rear intakes are ducted down to Transmission and Diff coolers which are basically like smaller radiators. You can hold a hose down any of the exposed vents/intakes and not damage anything as they are just air passages.
The hood vent is an exit, the entrance is through the grille, so unless the car is stationary, no water can even get in that way. I wouldn't recommend driving through deep standing water (in any car for that matter).
I've never had a problem, even when going through high-powered touchless car washes.
While our sales agent introduced us to our new corvette he warned us about driving through heavy rains and more so deep puddles that would spray water up on the hood and enter the air vents. I found this strange since having the vehicle stationary during a heavy rain could have easier access thru the vents. He was told by a couple of his customer that they had problems after running into this conditions. He even warned us about spaying a lot of water over the vents when washing the car......which I would not do anyway. Has any new stingray owners experienced or heard about this problem?
As others said, your salesman is spreading misinformation.
Go pop the hood and look at the vent funnel and where it leads. Any water entering the hood vent and making it's way down will just exit near the radiator. Same with the rear vents, they will just drain near the other coolers on the car.
It would be pretty stupid of Chevrolet to put 10 zillion dollars in the manufacturing in designing the vette and then have something as simple as water through the hood damage the entire car.
Sometimes you have to use common sense, when you talk to salesman.....
The C5, because it is a bottom breather is actually susceptible to water ingestion through the intake when driving through standing water. This has happened to many a C5 over the years when the driver plowed through fairly deep standing puddles and flooded streets. The C5 intake box is located in front center of the engine bay, fairly low to the ground so is at risk if the driver is unaware of the danger.
The C7 is a front breather with a somewhat convoluted intact tract so I'd think it would be difficult to force water ingestion under circumstances where the air intake remains above water. Heavy rains should have zero effect on it.
Here's a shot of a C5 driving down a flooded road - he made it to dry land without harm to he car as did his friend who followed him through it in another C5 on their way to a race. The trick was to drive forward at a constant, but slow, speed and create a bow wave that was not refluxing back into the engine bay.
It's just incredible how clueless some Corvette salespeople are. Pathetic. The sales managers ought to do a better job training and educating their employees. However, this isn't unique to Chevy dealers, I spent several hours at a BMW dealer last week and had a similar experience.
01-03-2016, 02:53 PM
C7 question about hood air vent
What he said 
