Overly hot/heating issues 2011 v6

[dwaynemartins]

Hey all - I have been dealing with this for awhile - doesnt seem to pop up if I am driving or have the AC/Heat on.

I recently installed my BBK LT headers/HF cats and installed my CAI a few months back and decided to go with the overkill tune.

I wrote the tune to my cars computer, went for a drive (work is 38 miles away) and at one point got stuck in stop and go traffic. This is usually when the temp goes up until I get moving again, but... now it doesnt. I was so surprised... I didnt think this tune would have anything to do with that but its the only thing that changed.

After seeing this I can only thing of two explainations:
1) I had my car fixed/service for a CAT CEL code, they did a terrible job, I ended up back with the same CEL and now leaking thermostat... didnt realize this until the pandemic and they went out of business during the pandemic but I have a feeling that they may have changed something

2) The cars "learning" system some how changed some values and made my car run hot or rich... which made it unnecessarily hot...

Can someone explain to me how or why something like this would happen?

[gtstorey]

How hot is hot? Boiling over? Reduced Engine Power/No AC?

[dwaynemartins]

Originally Posted by gtstorey

How hot is hot? Boiling over? Reduced Engine Power/No AC?

No not quite boiling over or reduced engine power/ac...

I had a coolant reading of 230-240 at one point... noticeably hotter from the outside the car/engine bay and the obivous constant smell of maple.

Normally in stand still or stop/go traffic it will get to 210-220 sometimes high 220s if i leave it running without the AC on.

Now if i perform the exactly same task - it will not get above 205... even leaving it for minutes where it would usually immediately rise.

[gtstorey]

Oh it’s not getting hotter now. Fan settings were probably changed in the tune to turn on sooner.

[dwaynemartins]

So then, prior to the shop work - it didnt heat up, they "fixed it" and changed the fan settings - then the tune fixed those settings in the config? WTF right

You dont think it has anything to do with the fuel mixture or anything else?

[gtstorey]

Sounds like a lot more going on than you posted.

But very doubtful that you are dumping enough fuel in to make an overheating vehicle run cool. You haven’t said anything about it not running well.

[dwaynemartins]

Originally Posted by gtstorey

Sounds like a lot more going on than you posted.

But very doubtful that you are dumping enough fuel in to make an overheating vehicle run cool. You haven’t said anything about it not running well.

I am speculating based on what you said... that the shop did something. I have no idea.

"Sounds like a lot more going on than you posted"
Heres the full story:

1) (Late 2019) Literally brought my car to Midas because I had a CAT CEL lower than normal efficient code. They said, it was the thermosat. solution: replace the thermosat - $1100. At the time I was nieve, knew little to nothing about the cooling system and simply accepted the solution.
2) (Late 2020) Back to office, no more pandemic! Car is leaking coolant on my garage floor, start getting a smell of maple when I drop off my son at daycare.
3) POS Midas went out of business. No one to go literally kill. Let me add, I found a long handle wrench in my engine bay after inspection of the first job... ****ing morons.
4) After smelling the cooling burning off - check my coolant levels, check the engine temp, realize its low, fill it. Check engine temps, continue to get high. Continue to smell maple/coolant smell.
5) Did my own research, replaced the water pump, replace the radiator cap, replaced the upper radiator and lower radiator hoses... no change.
6) Continue research: Let the temp rise, to see when and if the fans kick on... Temps get up to 240 at one point before fans kick on, at that point im nervous as ****, full blast heat and get the temps down.
7) Look under the car, see burn off marks, of fluid on the engine block/oil fan from under the thermostat... could be old? IDK but its the last piece to the puzzle.
8) Plan to replace the thermostat myself, because I dont trust a single mechnic in central florida at this point...
9) I still have a CAT CEL, I replace my CATS/headers with BBK...
10) I get a tune because I now have a CAI with CATS/headers/HF cats... its just recommended... still planning to replace the thermostat myself... its just a major ****ing job and I dont have the time to do it yet...
11) After I retune the car.... it no longer heats up.... im in shock and I am trying to figure out why


edit: thank you for talking this through with me... I am just trying to figure out how or why this tune solved this problem... what was the root cause?

[gtstorey]

To much going on to do more than guess what is going on. Check and see what temperature the fans cut on.

[dwaynemartins]

Originally Posted by gtstorey

To much going on to do more than guess what is going on. Check and see what temperature the fans cut on.

I used HP Tuners to compare configs from my 87 overkill tune, to my stock tune.

Interestly enough, the fan temp controlled by the ECM was modified...
STOCK:

TUNE:


Is it possible the config is raising the fan speed early enough that I am now bypassing something was broken? Sensor, fan motor, relay etc?

[gtstorey]

I don’t know how the fans work on the v6 but if it is a discrete set up where those percentages are used to control fan relays then it’s maybe possible that your first fan doesn’t cut on correctly and the new table is calling for the second fan to cut on much sooner.

Did you pull the stock file from HPT repository or is that what you pulled from your car prior to overkill tune?

[gtstorey]

Explanation of how the Camaro fans work, to probably include the V6.
https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showp...3&postcount=26

I would guess that one of your fans or relays has failed and keeps it from running at on low which has the fan in series and that now the call for both fans in parallel is allowing the second fan to cut on much sooner.