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Well my 2012 GS has been hurting for a couple of months. I got in it one day to go for a ride and I think every warning light it has came on. ABS, Traction Control, and active handling system all needed dealer service etc. The transmission wasn’t shifting right and my speedometer was bouncing around at all speeds and the car was jerking going down the road. To say I was upset was an understatement since my car had been perfect since I bought it in early 2013. There are 2 large Chevy dealers in my area and I’d had dealings with one of them and it was a horrible experience (not with my Corvette) to say the least so taking my Corvette to them was out of the question. I’ve heard bad things about Corvettes and Chevy dealerships so I was reluctant to go to the other Chevy dealer near me because of my experiences before even though I’d never dealt with them.
My car sat in my garage for a couple of months while I searched for a repair shop with good reviews that was reasonably close to me. I had a couple of recommendations for a shop close that specialized in Corvettes that I hadn’t thought about because I thought he only did restorations etc. I went to see the owner one day and like I suspected he didn’t work on later model Corvettes not that mine is new by any means but the newer computer controlled cars. He told me just the software to analyze my car was $3500 and he didn’t get enough calls to work on them to warrant the investment. So I thanked him for his honesty and not trying to take my money and moved on. I emailed people trying to find a good place to take my car and nothing really came out of it that made sense because of the distance I’d have to travel. I ended up emailing the general manager of the Chevy dealership near me that I hadn’t dealt with and I asked him if he had any qualified Corvette mechanics and he said he had 2 one was what he called ‘World Class”. I thanked him for emailing me and took my car in to see what was going on and to shorten this story all my trouble centered around the ABS Control Module that had gone bad. They told me when it went out it took some of the other systems with it and that’s why I got so many warning messages about potential problems. The car drove horribly and I was sick about it, but now it’s back to normal and while it was at the dealership they also did an outstanding manufacture recall on the headlights that I didn’t know about, replaced the serpentine belts, and checked the a/c system for leaks (vacuumed and recharged it).
I’m guilty of not driving it enough (17,400 miles on a 2012), but I really have had a lot of problems the last few months and I neglected the car thinking it would be fine. I was told at the dealership my problems weren’t caused by not driving the car enough and that made me feel a little better. I’m back to being a happy Corvette owner thanks to Crews Chevrolet in North Charleston. 2012 Grand Sport with Z06 Spyder Wheels.
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23
Oldtimer
Great news ! A Corvette that doesn't run right is like a really pretty girl wearing a Very strange dress, get not right ! You were lucky to find a good dealership, Here in the Delaware Valley there is Bryner Chevrolet in Jenkintown, and they have a really excellent Master Corvette mechanic, it's not close, but well worth the long drive. Love the Charlestown area. I was stationed at the Navy Base on the cooper river, and fell in love with the Sothern folks around the area. Great people. Good luck and happy motoring !
Like you, I’m not a fan of dealerships. That said, there is a Chevrolet dealer in Stuart, FL that has a good reputation and a Corvette tech. They also sponsor a local club. My only experience with them was trying to get my TPMS reprogrammed after installing a new Kenwood receiver. Couldn’t do it but I was impressed with the service advisor and the tech. Going to have the oil and clutch fluid changed there in a few weeks. Expectation is it will go well. We’ll see.
Some may say I’m nuts, but I’ve never driven my car in the rain except for the day I bought it when I had about a 100 mile drive home in a monsoon rain at night. I wasn’t familiar with the Corvette gps system and I put my Garmin away for the drive home thinking I wouldn’t need it since the Corvette had a built in GPS, wrong idea! Remember this was back in 2013 and cell phone gps systems weren’t even close to what they are today so that wasn’t an option at the time. The dealership where I bought my car was in the country and there weren’t any interstates for me to take on my ride home in my new to me Corvette. Using the Corvette GPS (which I had no idea how to use), driving at night on country roads, in a driving rain storm was a recipe for disaster and that’s exactly what happened. I took a wrong turn off of US 17 South not realizing I went right when I should have gone left put me out in the country on a 2 lane well worn road and I had no idea where I was. I found a place to pull over and I hooked my Garmin back up and it took me right home. I’ve never used the Corvette GPS system since especially now since you can use your cell phone very accurately. That was my first day in my 2012 Corvette.
Good luck and it sounds like you have a good dealership to deal with. There are 2 Chevy dealerships in my area and one is terrible and the other one did a great job on my car. I was lost trying to figure out where to take my car to figure out what my problem was, but lucky for me I finally picked a good place for the repairs. It’s back like new again and I’m happy with my car once again. That ABS control module caused me a lot of grief!
I’m very familiar with the Charleston Navy Base since I worked at the Charleston Naval Shipyard for almost 30 years. I was born in Charleston and it was a sad day when the politicians decided to close the Naval Base and the Naval Shipyard. Lucky for me I had enough time in to retire early because a lot of my friends had to move to other cities to keep their jobs. I’m glad you got to see Charleston back in those days because it’s changed a lot since then. The developers have ruined this area and people have moved here in droves and now the traffic is pretty rough compared to how it used to be when you were here.
Great story because of the good ending. I'm glad to hear that you found a dealership with good Corvette mechanics. I found one last summer through my son-in-law. He has two Matco Tool distributorships and there was a Chevy dealer on his route with a certified Corvette mechanic. He told me this guy was meticulous in everything he did so I took my car to this dealer, even though it was a 40 minute drive, to get the dreaded fuel tank issues repaired. He not only repaired them, he noticed a couple of other service bulletin items that needed attention and repaired them. I found out he took care of them when I went to pay for the gas tank flange repair. I've since found a speed shop close to me that does any and all maintenance work on modified cars so I'll use them from now on.
I have to ask,. Did they also replace your battery ?
The first thing I did when all the problems came up was to buy a new battery and install it. I checked all the connections I could get to and I also pulled each wheel and examined the sensors and the wiring going to them. Everything looked good and I had a new battery.
First thing I though of, too...did they replace the 8 year old battery? Maybe it was replaced at 4 years, and is due again...
I’d already replaced my battery one time and when all this started the first thing I did was to buy a new battery. I realized the battery could cause things to act up if the car wasn’t getting enough power.
OP. Would you please share the total amount this repair cost you ? Also did they change your battery ? Thanks.
I’d already changed the battery once and when all this started I bought another new battery and I installed it.
the repairs consisted of:
ABS control module replacement and diagnosis of any other problems
I got them to replace both serpentine belts due to the age of the vehicle
I had them check my a/c system for leaks while it was in the shop. They pulled a vacuum and refilled the Freon after being sure there weren’t any leaks in the system.
Remember this is dealer pricing and it was just over $2300. The car drives like it did the day I bought it (maybe a little better).
I’d already replaced my battery one time and when all this started the first thing I did was to buy a new battery. I realized the battery could cause things to act up if the car wasn’t getting enough power.
Do you keep it on a battery tender? These cars are battery parasites.
01-30-2021, 06:44 AM
Corvette Back to Normal
