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Specific overheating question (not a rant)

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Old May 21, 2015 | 01:17 PM
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Default Specific overheating question (not a rant)

I saw on one of the other innumerable overheating threads a reference to stop and go driving. That was news to me.

Are people really seeing uncontrolled temps in stop and go driving in hot ambient weather (like 90, 100, 110F)?

I'm not sure if people are just embellishing the problem - it seems highly unlikely that GM would ship -any- car that doesn't pass the basic driving scenarios. That's very different than shipping a street car marketed as a track car that overheats under hard track use.

We/you might not like the track situation but that's not what I'm asking about, so please, please leave track issues to the other 99 threads, I'm just talking about traffic. I don't want to dilute this thread to uselessness.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 01:28 PM
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I think it depends on the car I personally have had no overheating issues with mine but I believe the people who have had issues need a resolution and it needs addressed by GM for all of the cars
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Old May 21, 2015 | 01:36 PM
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Originally Posted by DAVE396LT1
I saw on one of the other innumerable overheating threads a reference to stop and go driving. That was news to me.

Are people really seeing uncontrolled temps in stop and go driving in hot ambient weather (like 90, 100, 110F)?

I'm not sure if people are just embellishing the problem - it seems highly unlikely that GM would ship -any- car that doesn't pass the basic driving scenarios. That's very different than shipping a street car marketed as a track car that overheats under hard track use.

We/you might not like the track situation but that's not what I'm asking about, so please, please leave track issues to the other 99 threads, I'm just talking about traffic. I don't want to dilute this thread to uselessness.
Been in stop and go traffic for up to an hour at least 10 times in mine.
OAT ranging from 85-93* so far with no problems.

Never saw the temps get above 215ish.

There were a few folks that ran into problems on public roads in traffic but as I understand it those were bad thermostat issues?

Understand folks are having problems but the results seem to be very inconsistent. Even on the track some are having issues others are not.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 01:49 PM
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When I picked mine up I drove the 405/710/91 out of LA into the IE and I never got above 11mph for almost 2 hours (temp in low 80's) and I did not have an issue. On a side note, is there a link that has the "normal" operating temps that should be expected. I have a link that shows a pic of maximum operating temps but would like to have a good idea of what is considered normal for all readings on the Z06
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:23 PM
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Tadge pretty much said that if you mount the license plate upfront with the provided mount all bets are off even on the road even non-supercharged (Z51).
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:39 PM
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I understood the posted non-track overheating issues to be corrected by bleeding the cooling system. At least that's how I remember it.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:44 PM
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Well, Tadge's first paragraph went to answer why Z51s when driven on the road can overheat. He basically said the Z51 is not validated with the license plate on.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by SBC_and_a_stick
He basically said the Z51 is not validated with the license plate on.
No, he didn't.

The article referenced talks about cooling issues on the street when driven aggressively in hot temperatures with the front plate installed. I see in the picture of the Edmunds long term test, the car has a front plate in what we call the "show" position and so when driven very aggressively had insufficient cooling. As discussed in the owner's manual, this panel is "to be removed when driving aggressively or in hot weather". All cars shipped to states that require front plates also have a plate frame that mounts higher on the bumper and does not block as much of the cooling flow.
(emphasis added by me).
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:53 PM
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Mine doesn't show even a hint of overheating in traffic.

It's been getting into the high 80's here. With a few drives already in 20 to 30 minutes of traffic, my coolant, oil, and tranny temps do not move at all. I have all three displayed on my dash, as I was curious about this as well.

The overheating-in-traffic threads sound a lot like air in the cooling system. I fought with this with my C5Z for a month or so last year, and it can be hard to find and eliminate.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by jvp
No, he didn't.



(emphasis added by me).
Do you consider a license plate frame a show piece? I haven't seen a way to mount mine in a "non-show" position. I'll look again.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 03:57 PM
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I strongly suspect that reports of overheating in traffic on street are due to manufacturing / configuration defects (i.e., normal "stuff happens" problems)-- in other words: not working as designed. Whereas the track overheating problems seem to be from a design defect/decision: working exactly as designed.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 04:14 PM
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I've not had an overheating issue with my ZO6. We've had some hot/humid days with our usual miserable traffic and I usually see oil temperatures in the 200 range, coolant a touch more.
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Old May 21, 2015 | 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by ChrisN123
I strongly suspect that reports of overheating in traffic on street are due to manufacturing / configuration defects (i.e., normal "stuff happens" problems)-- in other words: not working as designed. Whereas the track overheating problems seem to be from a design defect/decision: working exactly as designed.
This times 100^^^

Considering you've only seen one thread on overheating in regular driving conditions, you can bet it's an isolated issue. If there was an engineering fault inherent to the car, you can bet there would be dozens of threads on the issue. All new cars can have this problem simply due to a part failure (thermostat) or a line worker having a bad day.
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