AVETTE

In many ways my C5 is one of the favorite things in my life. My wife and I just got back from Bowling Green for the labor day celebration and we loved it. I ran a best of 12.587 at 117 mph at the track at Beach Bend on street tires with my 99 Vert and roasted a stock 02 z06. Now for the bad news :mad

My C5 is NOT my daily driver. It spends most of the time in my garage which is heated in the winter. I use it for the vett events, a few summer days driving to work, weekends when the weather is nice here in the chicagoland area. I actually live in NW Ind and there is almost no dealership here that is qualified to work on vetts. They don't know how to even properly lift them, let alone repair them. So I travel to the NW side of Chicago about an hour each way to have repair work done. However, the car has had to be flat bed towed several times for various problems.

Over the last day I was getting the 'service vehicle soon' light on the DIC. I checked the codes they were under the PCM. One related to the oil pressure sensor and one related to the fuel tanks sending unit. (I know MANY of you are familiar with that one :( ) Anyway, I called Geoff at PTC and indicated that my car was due in to Team Chevy in IL on the 11th for the fuel tank problem, and since the serv. vehicle soon light only came on under hard rpms and listed as a 'history' code only, that I would have team look at it on the 11th along with the fuel tank problem.

Well guess what, I go out to the car and the dreaded "REDUCED ENGINE POWER' nightmare has hit me AGAIN :mad :mad :mad :mad
This time, I had spare fuses!! I replaced the TAC fuse #17 which was blown big time, hoping to avoid a 5th flat bed tow of this car, but no success, no dice, the DIC was lit up like a chistmas tree. Now of course, my warranty 'offically' ended on Aug 30th but since I just had this problem 3 months ago they might take care of it. Who knows, who cares???

I love the C5 but are these cars cursed? Column lock, fuel sending tank, leaking trans seal (manual), only 19k miles on the car (3k on motor), warped rotors, telescoping wheel problems, wind noise that can''t be fixed, and the getting stranded over and over? How do you guys that use your C5 as a daily driver stand it?? Is it just me or are these cars fundamentally flawed with respect to the electronics in particular. Someone told me, well these cars are complex so you should expect a lot of problems.

I wonder if 5 series BMW's or Mercedes 400 series have these problems? Certainly these are 'complex' cars with thier HID's, superior leather, do they get column lock, reduced engine power, and on and on, maybe they do.

I know you might think man why is this guy just bitching, but realize I am honestly asking is it worth it. How many times would you personally be willing to get stranded by your 50k sports car? How many trips to the dealership are you willing to endure. It truly gets embarassing. My employees think it is just a riot. They know how much I love and take care of my C5 and yet it just fails me time and time again. No matter how much I spend on it (and it is a LOT) who I take it to for repair, Performance Tech Center, Team Chevy in IL, Bill Jacobs in IL, Christenson Chev in Highland, Shaver Chevy in Merr IN, NO ONE CAN SOLVE THE PROBLEMS. NO AMOUNT OF MONEY SEEMS TO MAKE THEM GO AWAY!!!! :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

My car just dynoed at PTC and the Breathless dyno at 396 RWHP. The car looks fantastic and the engine bay is awesome. The block was balanced by LINGENFELTER. 'Gotcha' from the forum drove my car on the track and pulled a 12.6 and he was babying it. BUT I cannot take this. I am leaning towards getting these issued 'fixed' (if there is such a thing with these cars) and selling the car. If I sell it I will only ask 39,900. That will include the 4 brand new tires, 2 extra front pilot sports, 5k FIKSE fm5 rims, corsa pro series exh, cartek stage 2 heads and ported ls6 intake, vortech intake and maf ends and carbon fiber power duct with coupler, custom ed wright programing, low temp thermostat, hotchkis solid end links, Mallet front sway bar and 2000 z51 rear bar, bilstien sport shocks, painted calipers, ripper shifter, custom white face guages, crossdrilled slotted rotors, hawk brake pads, stainless steel brake lines with high perf. fluids, lyodds matts, carpeted rear deck lid with conv. outline, mag red with black top black interior with every avial option except selec. ride (z51 instead) 19k vett event miles (only 3k on new motor) tpis long tube headers, hardened push rods, unreal dyno curves, IF YOU ARE SERIOUSLY INTERESTED email me and we can talk. I am sick of this bullpoopie. NO ONE should have to endure this crap. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. For those of you who I consider friends, thank you, this board is the greatest. I really enjoyed getting together with all of you. (Matt G I know you have the fuel tank problem, and since your car is not under warranty, you have had to live with it, I am sure many others are in a similar situation)

I can not count how many times my car has been in for repair. Look at the posts that show up in this section, how many times have we heard stories about cars getting hydrolocked, cars with locked columns, cars with reduced engine power, and on and on.... It never stops, I guess until you sell the car
:( :( The bad part is, I don't know what to buy to replace it. Thank you for your understanding and support. It's been fun getting to know you all

PS MANY OF YOU that I have met at the many corvette events have asked me to mention that the picture of my car below in my sig shows a man walking behind the car. THAT PICTURE is not me!! I am only 33 years old and that person just happened to be walking by when the picture was taken. The forum members were riding me that they all thought I was in my 40's or 50's based on that picture. So you now know, for the record. Good luck and keep your triple AAA membership or a good flat bed tow truck number ready.


[Modified by AVETTE, 1:05 AM 9/5/2001]

VetteOnSHINE

I am very sorry to hear of your troubles. I know how that goes. I have been flat-bedded twice. Once for column lock, and once for a blown clutch at 19,000 miles.
I have had a ton of little annoying problems with my car.
1. Tranny Leak
2. Driver's Side Window locked in down position during a rainy week
3. Driver's Side Controls for locks/windows failing twice already
4. Column Lock
5. Blown Clutch(Had to go back to dealer 3 times to get linkage done correctly. It kept missing gears and popping out:mad )

Below are the problems I am brining my car in for on Friday:
1. Broken Latch on middle compartment
2. Broken Washer Fluid control
3. Broken Driver's Side window and unlock control
4. A/C only blows at one constant rate
5. Driver's side headlight stuck in down position.(I must look like the #1 tool driving it at night the past couple of days)

There have been other problems, I just can't think of them right now. This is ridiculous. I love the car, and everytime I look at it I smile. But that smile quickly goes away as soon as one of these things pops up. :mad :mad :mad
I wish I didn't have these problems, but I too can not think of any other car I would buy for around the same price with the same amount of performance. Ok. I feel better now! :smash: :smash: :smash:

teeceemv

Gee Avette,

I just asked myself the very same question yesterday. I've had my 98 only 64 days and it has been at the dealer being repaired for 10 of those. Tomorrow morning, a flatbed arrives at my garage door to haul it away to the dealer for the 4th time........steering column lock!!

I sympathize.

TC

VetteOnSHINE

Anthony,
I read your post and got so caught up in the BS I have dealt with that I forgot to wish you best of luck. I would feel a lot better if some of these issues had been resolved after the 97's started having problems. Oh well, there is always a beer when you need one :yesnod: :cheers: :yesnod:

AVETTE

Thank you guys for your sympathy. You are the reason I have stayed with the car this long, regards

Wicked C5

Sorry to here about your problems. These cars seem either real good or real bad nothing in between. I had my 97 for 5 months and 12k miles. Not one problem. The 99 I have now did have column lock problem in the open postion. Fixed it myself with CLB and have no problems since. I have put about 3k miles on it. :D

jorex

I have had lots of problems with stereo equipment in my life but my 98 Z51 has been a dream. Judging from this thread I guess I am just lucky. I had the leaking battery thing and the intermittent window riser motor thing and the intermittent fuel sender thing but all were resolved in a day or two each time. I drive it hard to work everyday on a path that would make a pretty good road course. At least twice a month I drive it at 150 MPH for a couple of miles. I usually add two quarts of oil between changes. I have 43K on the car and have been without it only about fourteen days in almost four years. You guys make me think twice about ever trading it in on a new one.

ZROne

Damn. Maybe I'll wait until you guys fix all the problems first before I add another C5 to my stable. <lol>.

However, if you are sick of the C5... and I hate to see people who obviously love Vettes go buy a Bavarian sedan... so why not try a ZR1? It has more performance (most have alot more) than the C5 and I haven't heard of anything approaching this kind of headache. No column lock, no flatbedding (if you don't have an aftermarket alarm installed by CarToys <lol>), no buttons breaking off... we do have the infamous INFL REST and Oil consumption issues on the '90 model, Secondary actuators sticking (rare), and some other issues - but we solved them years ago when GM dumped the ZR1 owners. If your interested - contact SW in Austin (the guy with the '99 "Z07" that runs in the 9's) as he has a couple of *really* nice examples... once of which ran in the 11's without motor work or contact Clint Hooper (USAZR1). Or you can just bear with the car - eventually it might be "fixed" and run well for a while.

Your other choices are probably a Ferrari (exotic price tags on repair/maitenance), an NSX (supposedly very reliable - just slow) or a Viper (not incredibly reliable themselves)... or the new M3 of course.

sirhC

ChasNMe

Man, do I feel for you! That sounds like my 87 IROC-Z :smash: I had all kinds of problems with it. I guess fortunately, for me at least, that was my only lemon. I had a 4X4 Chevy W/T that i put over 100,000 miles on it and only had to swap the u-joints in back twice.
I bought a 99 hardtop w 14k on it in Dec00 and a 99 vert in Mar01 with 9k on it. I hope I am not jinxing myself, but these are both daily drivers and no real problems with either of them. :cheers: we are at 30k with the HT and 19k with the vert. Maybe you got your one lemon. Try again???...maybe... :cheers:
These cars are soooo much fun like you said.... :seeya
Good luck with whatever you chose.

c4c5specialist

Hi there A,
Sorry for your issues going on and on, but if I may offer another scenario.
Is it possible, that maybe your are not served correctly by your dealership???
While I know that noone is perfect, most of what you have said here, basically are pattern failures, which are known, and have a reliable fix.
Convertible top windnoise, can be repaired, with time.
Axle seals, common place, but the TAC module, and other issues, will take time to diagnose correctly.
My suggestion to you, is to attempt to contact customer service, and ask them who in your area is qualified by GM standards to service c5.
From that list, call and talk to them, as let them know what you are dealing with.
Proceed from there. I would say that maybe, just maybe, with appropriate service, you may have more enjoyment out of your car.
And see where it takes you, best to you, c4c5

mikeyc6

That's a good point. It would be interesting to see what would happen if you had someone that you *know* is a C5 expert work on the car to try to resolve the problems. I'm no expert (yet) myself but I get the impression that true C5 techs are hard to come by!

In any case, I can't blame you for your frustration and decision. I don't buy the "expect more failures because the car is more complex" theory either. If they cause this many failures, they shouldn't have shoved all those electronics in there to begin with! We paid enough for the electronics to be reliable, no matter how complex! :mad With that out of the way, I really doubt that you'll find a BMW or Mercedes with the C5's level of overall complexity! They may have a gadget or two inside like an Internet hookup, voice activated widgets, or a bidet right under the driver's seat ;) but engineering wise, they are no marvels.

Mike

lotzahp

Just sell it......it's just a car.....and it's certainly not worth all the stress you're incurring. Life's too short to deal with that crap. Since the resale market for used C5's is so poor right now, go might want to get a trade-in value on that BMW or MB.

need-for-speed

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Were you the one who had the bad luck w/ the idiots improperly installing a cam, joy riding and throwing a rod? Did you get a pound of flesh from them? I hope so. We all hear of the problems you mention. Many people get some of these problems. It sounds like you have, unfortunately, been plagued with all of them. That's not fair. I recommend trying one last time, doing what C4C5 recommends. Then, in 6 months or so, if you are still miserable....sell the car and buy a new one (C5 of course) and leave it stock, except for minor bolt ons. Life's too short. I don't believe in curses but that car is starting to make me wonder. Good luck :cheers:

Richy

Sorry to hear about your problems,But my experience has been the exact opposite.My '99 FRC has been absolutely trouble free for the past 2 3/4 years
I've had it.It is my daily driver and has 20k miles.It is never garaged and resides in my driveway all year long through snowy winters and humid,hot
summers.I take it to the strip twice a month with no problems.After all the
uproar on the forum,I installed the bypass before I was bitten.
Unfortunately,it will be replaced in the coming months with an '02 Z06 at its
lease's end.

mlambert890

I find myself saying this on every car forum I participate in, but it's worth repeating: every car model is going to have problems and have "bad apples".

What makes the difference is the quality of the service centers.

Personally, I have not had a single problem with my daily driver, Y2k coupe, that wasn't directly related to a mod and I am driving it around New York City.

A good friend of mine, on the other hand, has had a huge number of "issues" with his 1997 Porsche 911 and has made the comment to me that he basically bought the car to decorate their service center.

Before I bought my BMW, I had just come off lease on a Mercedes C230. The C230 suffered automatic transmission failure after 3000 miles and I was without the car for a full week (through a holiday weekend) while they waited on a solenoid that could only be shipped from Germany.

The difference is *not* in the car itself. The Germans have admitedly better fit and finish, but *mechanically*, I'd put the C5 up against *any* Porsche. The key is, though, that if you *do* get a "bad apple" you are kind of screwed with a C5.

GM REALLY needs to address service else risk seeing their market share hit 0. I saw a news report last night that indicated that American car market share has continued to slip dangerously; I wonder why?

I feel for you guys that have gotten hit with the bad apples and wish you the best of luck. It's true that you shouldn't have to "hope for a good one" when you buy a car, but that kind of is the reality with GM.

DAVS Y2K

Not meaning to play the devils advocate here but from reading your post and your accompanying signature it seems that you have a fairly heavily modded out engine on your 'vette. Did you have all these problems before or after all these mods were performed?

Mopar Jimmy

Anthony:

I feel for you and can really understand your frustration. I have been there myself and know with a heavily modded car like yours and mine there will be future frustrations/breakdowns. Here is my two cents. It obvious that if your C5 wasan't so heavily modded out it would be 100% more reliable and you would be much less stressed/frustrated. I suggest you sell your car and get a 2002 Z06 or 2001 (for much less money) and keep it stock except for basic bolt ons such as exhaust and intake. You will definitely not be bitten by "mod" related problems if you do this and you will have a car that will pull the same 1/4 mile e/ts that your pulling now but it will be 100% less troublefree and much more reliable. :D I know you use to have a pewter C5 coupe and I assume that you didn't half one quarter of the problems with that car like your having with your current C5.

Best of luck to you.

Nitrovette


[Modified by Nitrovette, 1:00 PM 9/5/2001]

Knunov

But for close to 100K, I guess you get what you paid for.

I know this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Nissan pickup truck I bought new in 1992 while I was in college for $9006.01 ran for over 120,000 miles and NEVER went to the shop for a mechanical failure caused by poor design. The only times in 6 years it went to a mechanic was once to reconnect a wire that ran to the AC that was cut by the alarm installers (which the dealership fixed for FREE and in under 1 hour) and again to replace the clutch; after 4 years and about 80K miles... Geezus, even the original battery lasted 5 years!

I'll never understand why owners make excuses for the manufacturer of their car. There is no acceptable excuse for the number of failures seen on Vettes. For $50K, you should be buying a reliable car. Don't hold GM to such a low standard. If Nissan can make a $9000 truck, which was driven like S H I T the entire time I owned it, that can go without repairs for 120K miles, GM can make a $50,000 car that can at least go 60K miles without so many problems.

Granted, Vette owners are more likely to rag their cars out, but the failures I've been reading about don't seem to be drivetrain/suspension related. They all seem to simply be caused by poor design.


Knunov

1999 White C5 Coupe

My 1999 C5 coupe, special ordered and purchased new, has had 18 separate defects. It has broken down three times while out-of-state on driving vacations, stranding my wife and I. The car has 21,000 carefully driven miles.

The quality and reliability of the C5 is VERY poor.

teeceemv

Re: Column lock problem

Well the flat bed arrived this morning, and within 10 minutes they decided they had no way of getting it on the truck. The car is too low to get their equipment under it so they can pivot it into position. Then I asked the guy how he'd get it up the ramp without damaging the front end, and he was clueless. Several calls to and from the dealer later: I have now educated them with regards to the special circumstances and special procedures/equipment necessary to get the car on the flat bed = equipment that will actually FIT under the car to pivot it, and additional ramping to avoid damaging my front end (assuming they can successfully pivot the car into the correct position relative to the flat bed)! Then had to advise them that only "R" hooks are to be used to tie it down. Phew!!!!! I'd have thought that either the dealer or the tow company would have known this already....guess not. They come out for a second effort tomorrow morning. This should be interesting!

By the way, the dealer service department said it was ok to jack up the back for pivoting, via the differential. Is this ok??? I expressed my doubt and concern. NEED SOME ADVICE ON THIS ONE!!!

TC