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Old 02-09-2019, 05:49 PM
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Batman 357
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Default Factory defect or BS story

The car involved is a 2016 ZO6, A8 with the ZO7 package, 3LZ premium equipment package with heated and ventilated competition sport seats, MSRP 109k.

The problem is the climate control system is crap. It has been crap since day one. It has had several trips to dealers that say it’s fine, maybe you should tint the windows. One dealer claims to have changed a wiring harness. That may have helped the AC for a while but it’s still defective. The latest trip to a dealer involves the heater. With the temp set at auto 80 degrees the cabin gets to maybe 65. Plus with the heated seat turned to full on it’s 20 minutes to even tell it’s on and it never even gets to body temp. Service people checked the system and claimed it was okay. I asked the manager to drive the car the next morning when the temp was about 20. He agreed that the cabin did not get warm and the heated seat did not get hot. He was going to contact Chevrolet.

He later advised the ventilated seats do not get as warm as the older models and as far as he could find there was no temp specification for the seats. He also advised some of the climate control system temp sensors are on the firewall and pick-up heat from the exhaust. He stated a GM engineer told him some changes had been made to later models and some owners had the inside of the exhaust system ceramic coated. The engineer did not offer to coat the exhaust or have any other fix for the problems.

With so many trips for the same problem the car may meet the legal qualifications as a lemon. As far as I know that would only force Chevrolet to buy it back at what they deem a fair price. Even with only 13k miles I would bet the offer would be very low and I don’t want to go down that road. I’ve called the 1-800 warranty number before. You would have better luck talking to the dog. At least you might get a sympathetic look. I’ve also written a letter to the company President. I never got a response.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas….
Old 02-09-2019, 06:04 PM
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Doctor Mark
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My 2016 gets warm with the HVAC. Try setting the temp and fan manually. Suspect the interior sensor is not reading correctly. Might also try a "hard reboot" i.e. disconnect the battery for an hour or so and then reconnect. Due to the age of the car doubt it qualifies as lemon law but that varies state by state.
Old 02-09-2019, 06:04 PM
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gve
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My heated seats are like yours, very long to even notice if they are working. The heater though works good for the inside of the car, I don’t know why yours doesn’t. The AC is usually the complaint that I see mentioned on the forum.
Old 02-09-2019, 07:34 PM
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laserdude2215
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I have the same car. The HVAC works perfectly both hot and cold. Whatever temperature is displayed, is the temperature I get. The seats get uncomfortably hot in minutes and cool down within seconds.
Old 02-09-2019, 07:44 PM
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pkincy
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Seems pretty easy to check. Take your car in. Go in yourself the next morning. Have the Service Mgr start your car at the same time he has you start another Corvette from the used car lot. Take a thermometer or two with you. Measure the cabin temperature 15 minutes later. If you have an infrared thermometer take it with you to measure the seat heat, if you don't use your butt meter. Pretty quickly you will decide whether it is your car or simply a Corvette defect you need to get used to.
Old 02-09-2019, 08:11 PM
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Mr. Gizmo
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Originally Posted by laserdude2215
I have the same car. The HVAC works perfectly both hot and cold. Whatever temperature is displayed, is the temperature I get. The seats get uncomfortably hot in minutes and cool down within seconds.
my heated and cooled seats work great in my 2017 2lz m7. The ac and heater work good but not as well as the c6z. I expected this as the c7’s I test drove in the summer months. A/c is a bit weaker then the c6’s
Old 02-09-2019, 08:28 PM
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23/C8Z
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Gizmo. You're hysterical.

OP. I agree with others as my 3LZ 16 hvav system works great. Good luck
Old 02-09-2019, 09:08 PM
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Mr. Gizmo
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Originally Posted by 16/C7Z
Gizmo. You're hysterical.

OP. I agree with others as my 3LZ 16 hvav system works great. Good luck
i figure the hvac is weak because of the tiny supercharger. It generates lots of heat and Peters out
Old 02-09-2019, 09:15 PM
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oemtech
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My 08 has no problems.... and 17 Dodge Charger Scat Pack dusl temp heated/ventilated and heated steering wheel work evrn by than Corvette. lmao

OBTW - The Scat A8 is rock solid..IE- no shutter.

I only post this as I went thru some of this same **** with 14 Cadillac ATS.
Old 02-09-2019, 09:38 PM
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Originally Posted by laserdude2215
I have the same car. The HVAC works perfectly both hot and cold. Whatever temperature is displayed, is the temperature I get. The seats get uncomfortably hot in minutes and cool down within seconds.
Good to hear. It can be done...
Old 02-09-2019, 09:41 PM
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Batman 357
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Originally Posted by pkincy
Seems pretty easy to check. Take your car in. Go in yourself the next morning. Have the Service Mgr start your car at the same time he has you start another Corvette from the used car lot. Take a thermometer or two with you. Measure the cabin temperature 15 minutes later. If you have an infrared thermometer take it with you to measure the seat heat, if you don't use your butt meter. Pretty quickly you will decide whether it is your car or simply a Corvette defect you need to get used to.
I've used a temp sensor. They don't dispute the temp readings. Chevrolet won't make an effort and pay for any parts changes.
Old 02-09-2019, 09:48 PM
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elburrito99
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Originally Posted by pkincy
Seems pretty easy to check. Take your car in. Go in yourself the next morning. Have the Service Mgr start your car at the same time he has you start another Corvette from the used car lot. Take a thermometer or two with you. Measure the cabin temperature 15 minutes later. If you have an infrared thermometer take it with you to measure the seat heat, if you don't use your butt meter. Pretty quickly you will decide whether it is your car or simply a Corvette defect you need to get used to.
This makes sense to me. Btw, my '16 M7 3LZ has no issues with the heater, the AC, or the heated and cooled seats. I don't think my seats get quite as warm as my wife's 2015 Tahoe LTZ's heated seats, but my car's seats are plenty warm.
Old 02-09-2019, 11:03 PM
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oemtech
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My 08 has no problems.... and 17 Dodge Charger Scat Pack dual temp heated/ventilated and heated steering wheel work even by than Corvette. lmao

OBTW - The Scat A8 is rock solid..IE- no shutter.

I only post this as I went thru some of this same **** with 14 Cadillac ATS.

Last edited by oemtech; 02-09-2019 at 11:06 PM.
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Old 02-10-2019, 02:11 AM
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Bill Dearborn
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I haven't looked at the specs for the C7 but have run into this problem on previous cars. Usually as delivered from the factory the AC will be very cold. Once a repair has been attempted you run into the problem of what GM's service specifications are for the highest temp permitted from the center vent with full humidity.

They may have a spec that says as long as the discharge air temp is 46 degrees or lower the AC is working fine. However, in the real world 46 degrees makes the cabin feel hot. Drop that discharge temperature down to 42 degrees and the cabin feels cold. Some times it is the equipment and some times it just takes the mechanic running the vacuum pump longer and making sure the proper amount of refrigeration is in the system. Too little refrigerant and it doesn't cool properly and too much refrigerant gets you the same reward.

On one of my cars one mechanic couldn't get the AC cold enough for me so I took it to another shop and the mechanic there got the job done the way I wanted it done. However, I had one GM car that had great AC until the compressor clutch decided to take a dump and they said they had to replace the compressor. After that replacement compressor and two more after that one nobody could get the AC to cool as well as it did before that clutch went bad. It met GM's specs for producing cold air at the center vent but if you were stuck in traffic in the summer the cabin would get hot enough it was cooler to open the windows.

It may be worth a trip to another dealer or to an independent AC shop to see if they can bring the temp down. As for the seat heaters they work but they aren't scalding hot. It is the nature of the beast. The ones in my 2003 Tahoe will burn your butt and backside in about 20 minutes but the ones in the C7 just do what they are supposed to do take the chill off the seat surface. If you had cloth seats you wouldn't even think about having seat heaters as they warm up almost as fast as your butt stops bouncing when you sit down.

Bill
Old 02-10-2019, 08:14 AM
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Batman 357
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Thanks for the info Bill. My seat heaters are just barely on after 20 minutes and nothing close to warm. It looks like most C7 ZO6's work okay. I'll have to get after Chevrolet.
Old 02-10-2019, 09:06 AM
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OH THREE Z
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The HVAC in my '15 Z06 works fine. i have comps with suede inserts and the heat and cooling functions are essentially useless.
Old 02-10-2019, 10:08 AM
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BOBSZ06
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You are correct on the seat heaters....been discussed many times....they are worthless. I have a `15 and have checked the temps after various periods of time. Take forever to get warm. Nothing wrong with your car it is normal.

Last edited by BOBSZ06; 02-10-2019 at 10:09 AM.

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Old 02-10-2019, 02:15 PM
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Batman 357
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Even if the seat warming and cooling functions are a total rip off for all, I still have crap for heat and AC.
Old 02-10-2019, 03:50 PM
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Climate system doesn't work very good. Same issue on my 18 and 19. Seems if I change settings from auto and say try to get air to feet it malfunctions. Also, it doesn't do well setting passenger warmer than driver.

Rather than 800 lemon you should try BBB or your state's attorney general's office.
Old 02-11-2019, 06:28 AM
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ukester
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Gm knows that you do not want to lawyer up and put this into a lawsuit that will take 1-2 years to payout. THEY do not care! Customer Satisfaction is 100% great until you have a problem. Second problem is when you trade this in what car do you get?


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