Overheating issue during heavy traffic
 

Yesterday after about a regular 3 hour drive on the road without issues while going to visit our son in S.A. the outside temps were on the high 90's and arriving during afternoon rush hour, while beign on heavy traffic a sign came out "overheating iddle engine". I was very close to my son's department, so I stopped the A/C, as soon the car began to move, the temp lowered, sign went out and began driving smoothly, it was a very very short drive and arrived to my Son apartments, now safe at the parking lot began to inspect the car, allowing it to iddle, raised the hood, and the temperature was going up again, runned the heater on high, (on other cars it helped to lower the temperature), but apparently on my '14 Z51 was useless because the engine temperature was climbing close to redlining, and the alert sign came up again, I inspected the engine fan and it wasn't working. I stopped the car immediately, keep the hood up, there was some outside fresh air at the time that could help. Called GM's service to tow truck my car, I didn't want to risk the engine on another overheating issue, it toke them forever to arrive. Was very observant that they didn't damage my front Z06 style lip spoiler while driving it up to the platform. It toke a long time for the tow truck to arrive to his final destination, after going to two buick GMC dealerships, after getting lost he asked me to guide him driving on front, and then after arriving to a North side Chevrolet location because he was redirected by GM service to deviate toward it. This one for sure was a Corvette specialist dealership, it had many new and used Corvettes on sale at their parking lot, so this was a good sign for me. After checking in detail that they lowered my car safely. I approached the service guy and explained all the overheating issue that my C7 experienced to him, and immediately he offered me a loaner vehicle, and candidly I told him if you have it ready by tomorrow I would not need one. Thinking it was a routine repair: replacement of fan motor, electronic component or just the antifreeze cap replacement, after all my car had only 30K miles, it waa a garage Queen and good taken care of, and thinking it was just another regular routine repair. I almost felt on my back when the service guy told me it was going take for sure several weeks to be ready, and I was going to be lucky if on the first week they had a chance to check it up, but they were also going to do a multipoint inspection to verify if also there was something else wrong.
Wow! Is this because it's a Corvette and not a regular car? I was really surprised. Shocked! Never had a similar situation like this with my previous '14 Camaro ZL1 or my '11 Mustang GT 5.0.:(:shrug::mad::cry::confused2:

It has cooled down by now so take it somewhere else. Looks like this dealer wants to keep their techs busy.

I've learned from experience that just because they sell some Corvettes it doesn't mean that they are any good at servicing them. They may also have some on the lot because they are priced too high to sell.

Regardless, this seems a bit strange and I'd contact another dealer for advice.

Dealer sounds foolish. It could be something as simple as a faulty thermostat. 3 weeks? Crazy.

I'm going to give them a chance next week, and then would decide. It pick me at the wrong time and wrong place. Need to travel back to home/work, 3 hours away. Guess don't have choices at this time.

Three weeks is crazy for a probable fan motor or motor controller issue. The worst part of leaving it at a dealership for an extended period is it greatly increases the odds of something else happening to it as it sits out exposed and unprotected.

AAA - 200 mile free towing. tow it home and have it repaired a dealer near you. get it out of there.

Which dealer in SA? Is it Ancira?

BTW, if you give them the opportunity to start taking the car apart and leaving it in that part-way apart mode, you will never get another dealer to work on it. Really. Think about it---how will you get your car somewhere else in its half-way apart condition? Answer: you can't.

Good luck.

Did you get the loaner? You really should. This is turning into a time nightmare. Not necessarily unusual to take weeks in lead times. Which Chevrolet dealer in San Antonio?

It's at Cavender Chevrolet located in Boerne located at the north side of S.A.
Yes they gave me a loaner SUV.

Do you have any service experience at that place?

try upgrading and keeping in better touch with the cooling system if you live somewhere that the temp is a problem. For example I live in Florida, my dash was 135*F today, my carpet is 115*F in the dark corners, the valve cover is 230*F on the passenger side near the downpipe, the driver side manifold is 513*F where it is wrapped, and the radiator upper tank is 178*F, the water pump outlet is 181*F, the transmission hose/fitting is 145*F, etc... monitor the surface temperatures constantly and be "in touch" with the cooling system around those spicy items. Be aware of what the max temperatures acceptable and desirable are for the current application (racing on a track is different requirements than driving on a highway with the A/C on cruising). I know for example I desire water around 180*F coming out of the engine but a theoretical maximum is somewhere around 230-240*F perhaps even slightly hotter, the engine might survive and recover, depends on what you are doing to it, and what kind of fuel is being used. It would have a greater chance of survival, for example, on E85 at 240*F than using gasoline, if I was also abusing it.

Off topic comment.
The Corvette is not flex fuel prepared, and based on this testing by edmunds, it doesn't show any advantage of using such fuel:
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy...ison-test.html

It appears your car didn't even go to the limp mode. Most cars today are designed is such a way that you could have probably let it cool off and drive it again. I would have given it another try just to see if it would have went back to normal. Good luck with your repairs.

This again? There is a bug in the 2014. A bunch of us are getting this issue. My problem happens when the boot up process is disturbed and I don't let it get to the full load of the MAP information before trying to do something with the NAV or some other setting. If I let the car fully boot up and no interruptions, I don't get this overheating problem.


https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-to-260-a.html

AND


https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...any-ideas.html

Changing the t-stat or a bigger radiator or a special fan is not going to fix the problem in the ECM.



Cliff notes: Pull over, shut off the engine, open the door to kill the RAP, start the engine and let it fully load before you push ANY buttons. See if the fan doesn't start on high and the temp drop immediately to 210.


OR.... You could have some other issue! :D

Elmer

No. I tried to make a deal ordering a new C7 with Alamo Chev. @ Blanco & I-410. I had bought a pre-owned Mercedes Benz at their next door sister Mercedes Benz of San Antonio. I was met with a belligerent Sales Mgr. with a brusque attitude to matching Internet Chev. dealers' pricing. I was just curious if the same dealership.

Good luck on your C7's repair.

Hi Guys,
Dealer final diagnostic was a water pump leaking and a coolant fan inoperative both covered by warranty. TG