I am looking at a 2016 Z06 and I think i read somewhere on this forum about they had a engine heating problem and was wondering if that is only if the car is tracked hard or is it typical on a 90 degree day, I am sure some of you smart people would know, Thanks

 

Automatic cars on track have heat issues. Manuals seem to be fine unless you beat the living crap out of them.

You'll never get the car that hot on the street.

The only other time they have heat issues is when someone decides change the coolant in the intercooler system and doesn't bleed it correctly, leaving air pockets.

 

Automatic cars on the track MAY have heat issues... I don't believe all do - when I did Spring Mountain, it was 113F and I did have to take a cool down lap after 3-4 harder laps. Most of my track days are in the 70s or low 80s and I don't have any issues in my 20 minute sessions. But I do agree, you will never have issues on the street with an automatic.

 

That's the answers I was hoping to hear, the Z I'm looking at only has 2700 miles on it and I am trying to do as much research as possible as all my past vettes have been c2 and c3s with the exception of my current Z51, this Z06 is quite a different animal and looking forward to the "experience"!! Thank you so much

 

A short but generally very comfortable track weather in the PNW. Enjoyed Pacific Raceways for several years, as well as Portland and Spokane. In my old 1996 Grand Sport....hence the forum name..........

 

On the street, that car won't overheat, on the track the auto trans cars might overheat in 100*+ temperatures & driving the car at its limits

 

My 2019 Z06 A8 only overheated once out of about a half a dozen track days. The temperature was well into the high 90s and I had the air conditioning on. After a long, cool down, I went back on the track without the air conditioning and had no issues. Except of course, I was overheating.

on the other hand, I seem to recall that for 2017 and up there was a change that made it less likely. Perhaps someone here can confirm or deny that.

 

Yes, 2017+ had an update, mostly for manual cars which received an addition cooler, the automatic did not as the transmission cooler was already in that location. However both manuals and autos got a supercharger update with tilted bricks to allow better cooling and bring the temps down at the back cylinders. Prior to the update the back cylinders could pull timing due to the heat as they wouldn't receive as much cooling as the front.

I think autos also got a larger radiator in '18 and again in '19 or maybe it was just in '19.

Either way for OP, the car should not overheat on the street, if it does you have an issue. On track the autos can overheat if you push it hard and its 90+ out. The manuals do much better on track when pushed to their limits heat wise and do much better.

 

Thanks for all the info, it is an A8 trans, I hope to try it out on a hot day or think about holding for an 18 or 19 if there is any issues. This forum and all its knowledgeable people is great.

 

People here are being a little "easy" on this issue. The true part is, if you're streeting the car you'll never have huge issues but that doesn't mean you won't encounter any side effects. You can EASILY get into some serious power loss after 2-3 half decent WOT pulls on the street. Butt gauge had my Z06 nearly feeling the same as my Z51 on hot days. IE: Down 80-150+HP, don't quote me on that though.

I've overheated, to the point of a warning light, my M7 on my local track.

I've done the following to a MANUAL C7 Z07 to fix this
-DeWitts Aux Radiator, (you can't do this on an auto) (somewhat effective)
-ZR1 Main Rad (you COULD do this) (unknown effective)
-LG Cheek Cooling Kit (extremely effective)

The LG check coolers are the only real fix. It requires taking your bumper and cutting two 7inch square holes into it. I have an entire thread on my install process.

Before having these I was hitting 155mph at my local track straight for exactly 1 lap before falling to 144 or under. It lost that much power even when it didn't overheat. After this kit it pegs top end every time, even in 95*F+ weather.

I basically cannot overstate how hot this car gets. It gets hot, and that heat has consequences, and those are having your timing pulled.

Will most notice? Depends on what you do with the car.

 

What the hell.....here's a tiny peek at *some* of the corrections. This is a stock file straight out of a 2018 Z06. You'll note there are corrections for IAT....inlet air temp, ECT....engine coolant temp, and then you see one of the multiplier tables. There are more albeit a couple of them are "1.0" (ie they don't do anything in this application). The tables are blended using GM secret sauce and of course the multipliers applied. Most notable is how sensitive the Z06 is to IAT. Not surprising on a supercharged car.

If you were to log these, you won't see any of the absolute values. These only give you an idea of how large the starting point is and where the PCM starts to make adjustments.

 

I never intend to track the car but I will do some "spirited" driving occasionally just to use some of the beast raw power and capability( and to get my adrenaline flowing!) It will be strictly a street car.

 

There are thousands or 10s of thousands of these cars running around on the street every day with no major issues at all. Your going to love it. I wasn't trying to be harsh just putting my context and experience out there.

It's certainly use-case dependent.

 

My only concern was IF it were used as a daily driver( which it won't be) and the summer temps and humidity here in Missouri sometimes reaches in the 90s that I wouldn't have a overheat issue, thats where the opinions and knowledge of you guys come in that have these cars of which I am very grateful, so the bottom line is it should not have a problem with street use under those few occasions as per most info from this thread

 

You'll be fine.

Btw....I think you mean "overheating" in the context of the coolant boils over and you're stuck on the side of the road. Never happens unless the car and engine are in disrepair or the engine is modified beyond the capacity of the stock cooling system. When discussing the Z06, people use "overheating" in the context of the PCM retarding timing such that less than full power is available. Two very different things.

 

Went for a cruise today in the newly acquired 2016 Z06, 94 ambient temp A\C on a bit of spirited driving and she stayed around 200 coolant temp so I'm pretty satisfied with that, she just turned 2808 miles, all is well, thanks for all the input.

 

I’m in Missouri south of Rolla. We have a 15 Z06 auto. In less than 90 temps it generally runs 188-195 on the highway. Mid to upper 90’s add 4-5 degrees. May hit 213 if you drop of highway into city traffic. Will eventually pull temps back down. Fan does a good job and will pull temps down sitting at a light.
Some people say theirs runs like ten degrees hotter even on the highway. Best I have been able to figure is how the radiator and intercooler were filled.