Something is different this morning.
 

I've had to drive the vette to work for the last week while my DD is back in the shop for leaking trans fluid again. I'm sure glad its under warranty. Its 38 degrees outside this morning when I get on the road. I'm cruising down I-10 at 72mph in 6th gear and I notice the coolant temp is running higher than normal and It never does that. Its always consistently in the middle. But when I down shift to 5th gear the temp goes back down to normal. I also noticed that my gas mileage went down dramatically at the same time. When I left the house I had 1/4 tank. By the time I had gone 30 miles I was on reserve with only one bar showing. That's not normal. So I had to pull over quick and fill up. Twice last week on the freeway I remember two objects that I went over and they hit the bottom of the car pretty hard cuz I could feel it in the floor board. One was an empty coke can and the other I'm not sure what it was. Then I had to drive through a heard of Styrofoam and some thin plastic debris. All was unavoidable. I suspect that I might have some debris stuck up in the radiator that is causing it to run hotter than usual and in turn causing the gas mileage to suck. Or something got damaged by the debris that hit the bottom pretty hard. I know that car so well that If somethings not right I notice it right away. Wether its how it's running or it's gauges. This time it's gauges telling me something. It still runs fine with no leaks. Ive got to change the oil in it today anyways so at that point I'll be able to get under there and check it out.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

Here's some random thoughts that may or not matter.

Car does the temp thing. Marc Haibeck did a talk or article once on the water pump & radiator flow at different rpms. Sixth gear on the freeway heats up over fifth.

I've learned something on this craptastic ethanol and winter blend--it sucks! I was towing a ZR-1 recently and found a non-ethanol station. 15% better gas mileage!

Ted

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

I think you are going through the proper logical process and being careful to make sure you don't have a Chernobyl event on your LT5, but it sounds like you might need to keep driving it to get it to act up a little more for a proper diagnosis.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

Exactly! Theres no economy in ethanol, it's merely an extender. Sort of like watering down whiskey. Looks like it, smells like it but lacks the kick.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

I'm almost betting money that debris stuck on the radiator is the cause. And that forced air on the nose of the car is large enough to suck in something the size of a pigeon. Case in point-I once found a dead dried up blue jay carcass where the forced air 5.5' duct enters the K&N filter. So it's entirely possible debris could also enter that to.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

Lookie what I found stuck on the face of the radiator a minute ago.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...-41-35_487.jpg

I'm not gonna say thats the cause yet until I drive the car.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

Yep that was it. Everything is back to normal. Its amazing what a hamburger wrapper can do. I'll have to check that screen out dyno.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

One of the many reasons I'm glad I left H-town, lol. Seriously though, get yourself one of those Big Mouth Air Dams and never worry about the vacuum cleaner effect again.

Re: Something is different this morning.
 

I have one, they are ugly, but they do seem to deflect bags and paper fairly well. Only once did i have to pull a plastic bag out, and it was all wadded up into a small piece, that I just happened to see it, it was not running hot or anything.