Hello guys.


Im a very limited mechanic, but Im trying to help a girl with her Z28, so Im looking for some help.


Problem 1.

The car overheats after about 10 mins of driving. I know I know, seems easy enough. What Im asking is is this usually a thermostat issue or a radiator issue. Just asking for some leading ways to root out the problem.


Problem 2.

Heat doesnt work. Only blows cool air. I did check her coolant, and filled it. So its not a coolant issue. S Belt seem tight and spinning fine.


Problem 3. The defroster, and power seats only work right at startup. After about 2 mins they are rendered useless. If you keep trying them, they will start to work for about 1 min again and then die again.


Any help would be greatly appreciated. And Yes I did try the search, but search was going extremely slow.


Thanks in advance

 

what year is it?

 

Im sorry about that.


She drives a 97 Z28. Pretty sweet. White with Orange Stripes, white leather seats white rims.


Really, I am a very very basic mechanic, but she cant afford to pay a service shop. She took it to the local GM dealership and they told her it would be 689.00 for a spark plug and wire change.

 

>see if the thermostat is working
-take radiator cap off with engine cold and let it warm up notice if coolant is moving or just overflowing.
-if t-stat doesn't open then no heat or defrost with hot temp is gonna happen.
-as for seat check all fuses and grounds

 

Probably not the issue....but you do have to bleed air out of the system on these LT1 cars.

Get the car warm and open the bleeder valves until just water is spurting out. There should be two visible near the thermostat housing.

 

Helping a girl? I can send you my address and she can come over and I'll offer some expertise.

That being said, I have nothing...

See if the hoses leading to the heater are warm. One should be slightly (if at all noticeable) hotter than the other. If that is hot, then I would check and see if the heater core is clogged. A clogged heater core, then it would not be getting warm coolant to blow air over and get the heat.

My driver's seat was doing the same thing and it turned out to be a ground wire.

Sorry for the smart *** line. Hope my $.02 helps...

 

Does the car overheat while driving, sitting still or both? If it only overheats while the car is sitting still make sure the cooling fan is functioning properly,
If it overheats while driving make sure the radiator is not clogged and the thermostat is opening fully, The thermostat could be some the cause for the no heat concern, or it could be a clogged heater core. When the car is warm check the radiator hoses and see if they are hot, this will let you know if coolant is flowing throughout the engine, check the hoses to the heater core also. As for your seat and defroster problems, the best way to go about that is to get a wiring diagram and start checking wires, connections and controls.

 

seat and defroster .. change the circuit breaker[30 amp] for a 30 amp fuse... that should cure THAT.. common prob for these cars.. the circuit breaker gets 'tired'..
Check the radiator for a newspaper etc in front.. these cars are like hoover vacuum cleaners and suck stuff up in the radiator..[a newspaper is one reason I got my Z cheap!]
Make sure the air dam is in place..
Make sure it IS full and bled properly, and also that thermostat is the correct one[for LT1, not small block chevy] and that it operates correctly..

 

This is good advice. It has to be done.

 

>did they do something to require this? if the coolant is low fill it to the proper level... but if you did "break" the system i.e.: change hoses,thermostat, heater core, etc. then you will need to bleed the system through the bleed valves.
Also pay attention that both fans come on.

 

Ok some more feedback. And Thanks alot for the replies so far.


I checked and replaced the fuse for the defroster. To no avail. Still the seat and defroster dont work. Seems these two items are connected as the seat wont work at the same moments that defroster wont.

The car overheats while driving only. And only after several miles. Im guessing Im gonna have to do a T Stat replacement. Never done one before. If anyone has any good online tutorials that would be grand. LOL.

Kinda of a sad situation. Shes a good girl, mother of two. Trying to make ends meet. Her car though is in total disaray. Shes not used to taking care of it as it used to be her mans car and he gave it to her when they split up, and shes pretty clueless when it comes to car care.

I havent even mentioned that when the car makes a hard turn slowly it makes this winding/whirring noise. Its not the power steering pump, sounds more like its from the undercarriage somewhere. Neither of her windows work properly. I was told from a friend to replace the switches, as this is a notorious problem for Camaros. But still driver side window only lets the passenger window down, and it has to be wound up from the passenger side. The driver side doesnt wind up at all except on to let it down. But the power locks work.

Im gonna do my best by replacing the TStat.

As for the no heat, any advice would be great. She told me that the heat hasnt worked in over a year. Id hate for her to have to go another without it, being that she has two young kids.

Thanks again guys. Appreciate it very much. All help and advice is GREATLY appreciated.

 

Hi try shoebox ' s site tells you how to do all ,make sure to use rags under and around t-stat housing , you donot want to get opti wet or you will have a lot bigger job ,good luck.

 

>Bam now your a hero... http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech1.html