Rookieracer

Some good stuff here:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-shutdown.html

firstgear

if I recall, Tadge said anything more than a tablespoon size bubble was bad......and that air bubble needs to be bleed.....it is supposed to be vacuum filled to keep the bubble out.....do a search....but I recall reading that on here.....

firstgear

from the testing that GSpeed has done the pump will cavitate and when that happens it shuts down leading to a rise in temps....which leads to limp mode.

If you believe that when the fluid gets hot that it expands and shrinks that bubble as well as raises the pressure in the system, it might be that the system needs a tiny bubble to operate correctly.....this is conjecture on my part....but it is the only thing I can think of.

firstgear

"Is the intercooler coolant circuit properly filled? To check, look over the passenger-side fender down into the cavity beside the radiator. You will see the top of a clear bottle that holds some extra intercooler coolant. This bottle should be very nearly full, with a single small (1.5” square) bubble at the top, maybe about a tablespoon or two of air. If there’s much more air than that, you will see severe power loss due to lost intercooler function. If so, the Intercooler will need to be vacuum-filled by the dealer, using a special Kent-moore cooling system tool. This circuit cannot be gravity filled."

firstgear

Tadge answered:
I see the reference to both Stingray and Z06, so I will address both starting with the Stingray: We do all of our track validation with the front plate removed and I am not aware of a case of overheating when a Z51 car is properly prepared. 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. Because states have varying height-to-ground requirements the plate holder sits high on the front bumper to accommodate those laws. While fully legal and beneficial for cooling performance, it doesn't look very good and many customers have asked for a more integrated solution, hence the optional "show" position centered on the grille. Although intended as a "show" position, for 99% of street usage the cooling performance is fine. Some may be quick to point out that other cars seem to be able to have low front plates and robust cooling (fourth and fifth generation Corvettes, for example), but those are "bottom breathers" with major compromises to down force performance. Although there are very few complaints from Z51 customers on cooling issues, we are looking at taking some of the learnings and hardware from the Z06 and making them available on the Stingray. For example, the front-mounted supplemental trans cooler developed for the Z06 automatic will be included in the Z51 package for automatic coupes starting in the 2016 model year.

We have discussed the Z06 cooling robustness in this space before and are very concerned about what some customers are experiencing. We have built over 8,000 Z06's so far with the vast majority of them having no cooling issues. We are working to gather data from customers (some of whom may have posted here) who have concerns and are in the process of sorting through that. We have found a few build issues, a few prep issues, and some vehicle mods that have hurt cooling performance. An example of a build issue would be an improper bleed of the intercooler circuit. Even a small air bubble can impact performance. As I indicated in in my last "Ask Tadge" answer, we design for 30 degrees centigrade and have for decades without customer dissatisfaction. We may have to move our target upwards since customers appear to want to run their cars very hard at elevated temperatures.

The question asks about what kind of cooling upgrade could be made available through GM performance parts. I can tell you we are looking at a variety of robustness improvements that could take many forms. It could be in calibration (and for followers of these threads, we haven't forgotten about the "rough track" chassis calibration talked about a few weeks back), cooling system or specification changes, or even super charger hardware tweaks. It will take us a while to work through what makes the most sense and to do the validation, but we will make every effort to make sure that the changes are backwards-compatible to vehicles already produced. In the meantime, we sincerely appreciate the customers we've contacted openness and willingness to work with us on continuous improvement.

firstgear

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-change.html

LagunaSecaZ06

Fixed - Fixed - Fixed

I followed this thread on the ZR1 and turned my Z06 on and off 4 cycles to purge the air. You have to wait 2 minutes after each cycle for the air to cycle to the top. It was a little messy and I had to wash the engine off. Do this with a cool engine, do not remove the intercooler fill cap when hot!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1579878416

I was able to add an additional 3/4 of a gallon of distilled water (I just installed the Late Model Racecraft Intercooler Reservoir, which hold 2.5 gallons by itself). This would have been alot easier with the over ride tool, and I will redo the process when i get the tool.

The over ride tool(I am not associated with Gspeed)-
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592719833


It did make a mess doing the purging, and I also used the little bleeder valves. The car does not gurgle when turned off. Before i bled it, it gurgled and I surmise that was the air bubbles cycling through the intercooler bricks.

The car was really low on power. I could not lay rubber(with traction control off), even though it would pull to redline. I did not have any warning messages on the dash and the engine coolant was at 210*. After the purging/bleeding the Z06 pulls like a monster and lays rubber with no clutch(just floor it).


It appears that-
Engine coolant above 212* reduces timing/power
Engine coolant above 260* puts car into limp mode (don't know the exact temp)
Intercooler cavitation and/or air bubbles leads to the pump turning off, and then IAT2 to climb with causes the ECM to pull timing. This may or may not happen with an overheating engine coolant (mine appears to be due to cutting the hose to install a larger intercooler reservoir).

You may have multiple issues or separate issues with loss of power with a Z06.

LagunaSecaZ06

This new thread has video of how I purge / bled my Z06 Intercooler-
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592871652

Mr. Mold

Does anyone have the part number for this intercoolant and the bracket its bolted on to? Thank you!