e.g They both suck oil through the PCV 
Goodbye C3 hello C5
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 262
Likes: 51
From: Dallas TX
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,614
Likes: 350
From: No Where USA
The C5 makes for a great sunny day DD, but is expendable!
The c3 will be passed to my kid.
C5's are notorious electrical monsters. Most of these issues are triggered by corroded grounds and/or low battery voltage shorting relays. ECBM's are failure prone, and only 2001-2004 units can be fixed and or remain available new. Mine went bad in my 01 and I found a thread to repair it which was successful. After reading through the electrical sticky in C5 Tech, I now check/clean my ground connectors every so often and keep the tender on when not driving frequently. So far so good. OP may want to check out that sticky.
My battery went dead on mine from sitting a week, it was terrible on batterys unless you use it all the time. Well after I charged the battery I received the Pull Key Wait Ten Seconds alarm on my dash. Well the car wouldn´t go over 2 MPH because of this. I had to have the PCM reprogrammed so I could drive the car. That alarm came up for pover a year before I found a company that made a piece that bypassed it. All I can say is use it and don´t let the battery go dead.
That was one of the electrical problems, I don´t want to tell you about the interior lights.
It´ss been gone a year now and I don´t miss it.
Don´t worry about the piston slap on start up. Thats normal. Mine sounded like a machine gun until it warmed up.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,416
Likes: 291
From: dayton oh
OP - my prediction is that you'll miss the C3. C5's just dont get the converstion/attention that a C3 does. LIke many others above already stated, the C5 is easily replaceable - the C3 is staying.
<-------From a guy who has both!
Hell -i've even considered the 2010 GSport ragtop i'd replace my 99 with already!
<-------From a guy who has both!
Hell -i've even considered the 2010 GSport ragtop i'd replace my 99 with already!
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 262
Likes: 51
From: Dallas TX
My battery went dead on mine from sitting a week, it was terrible on batterys unless you use it all the time. Well after I charged the battery I received the Pull Key Wait Ten Seconds alarm on my dash. Well the car wouldn´t go over 2 MPH because of this. I had to have the PCM reprogrammed so I could drive the car. That alarm came up for pover a year before I found a company that made a piece that bypassed it. All I can say is use it and don´t let the battery go dead.
That was one of the electrical problems, I don´t want to tell you about the interior lights.
It´ss been gone a year now and I don´t miss it.
Don´t worry about the piston slap on start up. Thats normal. Mine sounded like a machine gun until it warmed up.
That was one of the electrical problems, I don´t want to tell you about the interior lights.
It´ss been gone a year now and I don´t miss it.
Don´t worry about the piston slap on start up. Thats normal. Mine sounded like a machine gun until it warmed up.
What solved it for me was taking the boot off from around the wires on the hinge of doors. Recrimping the female sides within the connectors and all has been good since. (knocking on wood).
I always park my manual trans in reverse (maybe a wife's tale but it works) and have a redtop battery and have not had battery issues.
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Racer
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 489
Likes: 199
From: Vancouver BC
Same here, I just sold my C5 and bought a C3 - they are beautiful but way too many expensive electrical issuses that just got to be too much of a pain.
