Back when I still had hair and a slimer waist, I went thru the same type of stuff you are facing now. I had a 63 ragtop with a 340hp and 4:11's. A dynamite ride and one I ran the hell out of. In an 18 month period, I put 6 clutches in the car, a new rearend, a new engine (69 350/350), replaced head gaskets, carb, water pump, alt, etc....on and on. The only reason I gave up on the car was a career change that took me from $550 mo to $478 in two months. As soon as I got my feet on the ground, I bought a 66 ragtop 350/327.

I am now driving an 88 that has 116k on it and has some problems. It is probably the Vette I have owned that I like best. It may lack some of the performance of the early 60's and 70's cars I have had, but overall it is the most fun I have ever had driving.

Get a book, a good set of basic tools, and get after your car. No matter what you replace it with, it's like your first sexual experience, you will never forget it and always sort of want it back. Good luck.

 

 

Not calling you stupid bro! This was my first guess too. Easy fix also. Good luck. :cheers:

 

Get out the tools & get after it! This should start your break-in as a true Vette owner. We've all gone through it. It's a labor of love that sets so many C4 owners apart from the C5 guys who just "take it to, or tow it to the shop". No offense to those guys, but working on your own car is a joy. When you've fixed it & it runs right that is. Take it for what it is.

 

Try and fix it yourself. Get your hands dirty a bit and save about a grand. It would be a good time to replace the intake gaskets as well. Cost for you would be about $100 and a little sweat. i am sure that a forum member would be willing to help if you can't do it yourself. Think of it this way atleast you will get alot more for a running car than a car that needs engine work.

 

If your accessories quit, like power steering...maybe you just broke a serpentine belt (it also drives the waterpump). If that's the case, and you didn't do any other damage (doubtful), it'll be a cheap fix. The water that "slippery" is antifreeze. If it's INSIDE the air cleaner it could be a blown head gasket drawing antifreeze through the intake valve.

Good Luck...and toughen up!...you're driving a vette. I would have killed to have ANY corvette was I was your age.

 

You're not the only one going thru this poopie. My 85 coupe has yet to strand me anywhere, but I am fixing something on it weekly. Right now the pusher fan is not working and when I ground the sensor it still doesn't come on. The fuse is fine also. To make it less of a pissoff you should maybe take some tech courses. You will soon learn that your wheels are on backwards in that picture. As for the suit, well... (Joke) If you are not at the stage to continually dump money into it then sell it for now and buy a Honda until you are. I too have days I'd like to kick the poopie out of it but when I do get it fixed and go for that next drive all is well. Good luck. Hope it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.

 

I'm with Scorp on this one...when does over-heating and loss of power steering point to a head gasket?

Possibly the belt started to slip, not turning the water pump enough but it was there enough to keep turning the steering pump...when it finally broke the steering went....

Not flaming anyone...but it seemed like an odd conclusion to me...

 

Ya know I don't understand how so many people have repair problems with thier Corvettes? I've owned my LT-1 for 13 months and I'm on my 5th tank of gas and I've never had a problem.
If you don't drive them they don't break! They're no fun either but they don't break!
Get a repair manual, a set of tools and a friend thats a gearhead and fix it.
You can't afford to get it done, no-one can.
HTH.

 

It allllll depends on the previous owner(s) and how the car was treated.

 

Why throw in the towel so fast? If you think that cars are tough to maintain…. go get married.
My point is, that anything worth having is worth fixing. So it took a little dump on you. At least you are still alive.

 

:nonod: I know how you feel dude. i had a similar problem last Nov. had grey smoke every moring and it flooded on me twice. the aroma of that sweet anti freeze. i cursed and kick the car for two days, took it to a garage and had to ride my bike (bicycle that is) to work for a week and you can belive i heard it from my geo metro driving coworkers.
i know sometime they can make you angry but stick with it, it is a nice ride
well it's really up to you.
:cheers:

 

yeah i rode my bike to radioshack today (where i work)...

 

do you got a little bell on the bike atleast? :jester


(did i get a smile out of you yet??? :confused: )

 

:rolleyes:
half a smile

 

Took me a while to figure it out too.. but it's an old Chevy.. what can you expect :p:

 

Hows this one.
I just got my 84 back after 3 weeks in the body shop due to a dumbazz who ran a red light. I had the car for 1/2 a day. Just enough time to put my muffler eliminators on, and the fuel pump died on me. Right in the middle of one of the busiest roads in town. After i pushed the bugger a half block in the scorching sun, it cost me 200 dollars for a tow and a new fuel pump, but i had it running again 2 hours later.

I then took a nice hour drive though some back roads and got to listen to the screaming exhaust, and loved every minute of it.

People are constantly telling me to sell it, because I put at least 100 dollars into it a month, but where else can i get this kind of performance for this little money.

 

LMFAO. I can see it now......the girls waiting to see the vette owner drive up and ...........*ding ding* the bell on the bike rings as he cruises in on a schwinn. LoL hopefully not in that suit. For the love of god........not in that suit. Can't imagine the bike would make a "winning mix" between the two anyway. :p: What I can't believe is the fact that you were told you had a blown gasket and you DROVE the F**** thing to get bagels? Dude that's like Forrest Gump stupid. You shouldn't drive it ANYWHERE like that. Period. Ask Oh My.............vettes can turn inferno on you easy.........especially crossfires!!!!!!(No offense Oh My). And you really shouldn't wonder why you have all of these problems on a car that old anyway. It'll simply nickel and dime you everywhere you go until you fix EVERYTHING in it. I have problems with mine every now and then, but that's cuz the past owner didn't exactly "baby" i like I do today. I've got the $ to fix it though through my mechanic and seldom have to do the wok myself.......but I always make a note to have him show me exactly what he did every time he fixes something. I may have $ from a wealthy fam, but I'm not purposefully ignorant to everything simply because I don't want to deal with it. You may not like having to get your hands dirty.........if so...we have something in common. But atleast learn from it by finding wth happened and learning how to fix it even if you never plan on lifting a finger.

And yeah bones...........to answer your Q about why people have so many problems with their c4s.........you said it yourself. Problems happen when you drive them. Obviously we have :p: If you've had yours for 13 months and you're on your fifth tank of gas..........your car's either SUPERNATURALLY economic for a vette, or you don't drive it much. My money's on the second of the two theories seeing how no one up here on the forums has reported better gas mileage than mine........seldom ever came close. It's all basically thanks to those "made in america" AC Delco parts that we drive around with that makes this all possible as far as our excruciating journey in the repair world with C4s. :jester :nono: :cuss :mad