And don’t forget to be good friends with a person who has a good OBDII scan tool. Or buy one your self. Your going to need it. And by hood one I mean a older Snap On or Mac Tool one that the techs would have used when these cars where new

 

Buy one. They're not expensive. And there are options besides Sanp-On and Mac.


I mean...this sounds like a lot of "whinnin' ambition". Oil leaks? That's parts? Water leaks? Parts? That's got nothing to do with parts. Opti, yeah you have a point. ABS sensors? Yep, need to get used ones (they're available). You're conclusion is correct; with auto parts store parts, QC varies and that "goes for any type of car and truck over 15 -20 years old".

 

Any car, regardless of how reliable it is can break. Keep up maintenance and you REDUCE, NOT ELIMINATE, REDUCE your chances of an unscheduled shut down. Mine have occurred anyplace but the driveway. When the power steering hose blew, it wasn't in the driveway. Some of the replacement hoses weren't yet made. When the ignition module broke, it wasn't in the driveway either. When the AC Bracket broke, see above. When it breaks in town, tow it home. When it breaks out of town, that becomes the issue. Pay big bucks to tow it home is your choice unless you want to DIY on the roadside. Call me a wuss but I really don't want to DIY more than a tire on the road. When I check out facilities, they don't really want to work on old cars so what to do when you are in a strange place? You can't leave it and you really don't want to bring it some place where the mechanic isn't really interested in working on it. THAT is why I don't dare to drive it outside of 100 miles from home anymore.

 

You can get a really nice C5 in your budget.

IMO, it would make a better daily driver. I bought one with 40k miles. I drive it almost every day. It's got over 100k now. Although I have probably put about 5 grand into it over the last 6 years. Stuff failed due to age more than mileage, i.e. harmonic balancer, leaking gaskets, radiator etc.

 

Okay, so you just bought crap parts. It's well-known that aftermarket optis from parts stores are absolute crap. You wanna replace an opti, you get one from optisparksolutions or Petris, period. If you didn't get one from one of those two places, then there's yer problem. O2 sensors, no clue where you were getting them from, but the ACDelco ones I got off Amazon for both my 94 and 95 are still going strong.

So it sounds like you just had a poor experience due to specific incorrect parts, and are generalizing that as if every single part for these cars is "crap," which is what I suspected would be the case. Sorry you had a bad experience, but that isn't sufficient to write the car off.

An OBDII scan tool will only help you with a '96 Corvette. A laptop and a $60 cable will help you with the rest. The 94-95 especially.

 

I'm assuming you spent $5K and that didn't include consumables like tires and brake pads and rotors? If so, that doesn't sound that bad for 60K miles.

 

Replace anything rubber and all gaskets Will a long way for daily reliability.

 

Yes around 5k on repair bills, not including regular consumables like fluids, tires and brakes. The single largest bill was the rear main seal and clutch slave, IIRC $1700.
But yeah, not too bad considering the cost was spread out over a long period. It seems to average about one trip to the shop per year. But it's never left me stranded or anything.

 

That is good. If I hit $1500 a year average, I'd seriously consider pulling the plug on the car.

Sooner or later, it happens. Mine did 3 times. Other cars have done it too.

 

That's all true.

Old cars come with problems, there's no way around that.

Sometimes, they're an annoyance... like replacing the heater core on my wife's 1976 Eldorado. That was a pain in the a$$.

Sometimes they're "Oh crap... I gotta fix this RIGHT NOW" like the brakes on the same car.

I've been lucky with both of my old cars, anything bad has been manageable, but mostly lucky because I have alternative transportation if something significant happens. Being older, having a bunch of cars and a big garage with a lift and the means to buy anything tool-wise that I would truly need to fix makes owning an old car a LOT more practical.

 

I have alternatives when the breakdown occurs as far as another vehicle goes, all the way from another car to an Uber home. I just don't have much alternative to getting it fixed on the road if it breaks. Shops don't want to work on it

 

On a C4, what do you really need a shop for? With the FSM, something like a Scantron and basic tools, there isn't a whole lot there that can't be done.

I think really heavy work like swapping a clutch or pulling an engine would require one, but everything else is pretty manageable.

A C5, on the other hand is a real problem to deal with at home because of the transaxle.

 

I have had at least one C4 for over 30 years.

I daily drove a couple of them with about a 100 mile per day commute. I had an '88 auto and a '94 6 speed that I put about 90k miles in under 5 years. I drove it in Illinois (even in the winter). I had other cars and would drive my truck when the snow was deep, but I drove those two most of the time even with light snow and ice on the roads.

I have taken several over 1000 mile trips in mine and never had a problem. Last year I drove my '95 and '96 over 1000 miles each in a single day drive. They are great road cars.

I have never been left stranded by any of my C4's. Mine have been very reliable and some of the least expensive cars I have had for repairs.

I do all of my own work so I don't have a reference about taking it to shops, but mine have been generally easy to work on.

There are a few things that fail regularly such as the antenna stops working right, or the headlights don't rotate right, etc. But these are relatively minor repairs and not too expensive.

I have had more failures with my C5's and they can be more difficult and expensive to repair. There was a mention above about harmonic balancers, and I had to replace one at 30k miles and are a common failure (and you have to drop the steering rack to get it out so it is not an easy repair). If a transmission/clutch/clutch slave cylinder/drive shaft couplers/etc fails, the way to fix it involves dropping the whole drive train from the engine back. That is beyond the abilities of most home mechanics. There are also some parts that are no longer available like the ABS/traction control module. If that fails on an early C5 there are no replacements and the unit is epoxy filled, so there is no repair at the circuit board level so either a very expensive used one, or live without it and a permanent light. So I don't think a C5 is more reliable or serviceable.

In short, I think the C4's are quite reliable as would be expected from a chevy small block car that the components have been sorted out and used in many many cars.

Good luck with your choice.

 

When I was 20 years old, I can do anything. If it takes me 3 days of backbreaking work to save a few hundred bucks, why not? I had time and the body to do it with. Today, I pick and choose my jobs. If I have to reinjure my back or go for another arm surgery, I'll pay for it to be done and let the other guy take the risk. If it needs a lift like my starter did (clearance and height because of the headers) , no thanks. It is cheaper to get someone to do it than to try push that limit and get surgery and be off work. Up to a head job, I'll play along. Now, as what I am, saying with the shop, if my AC pulley bracket breaks by the roadside, I have neither the tools nor the garage to work on it so I farm it out. If everyone doesn't want to do it and I am far from home, what to do? Again, I don't care how big a gun you have at home. The question is what you have when you need it.

If it breaks on the roadside far away from home, how manageable is it? The wife's MB or the trike or my truck? No problem. Ford, MB or CanAm will work on it. Have the truck tow it there. I have literally been told at a couple of speed shops "We might work on it but to be honest, we prefer not to.". The dealership gives me their "Expert" aka the guy who drew short straw. Kinda why I don't go past 100 miles with it.

So farm it out. Why do you want to break yourself at home? I'll supervise, read up beforehand what needs to be done. I'll be glad to let you break your back on it, pay you and drive it off after I am sure you did it right. I froze my *** off to change a distributor in the apartment complex when I was young. I took the entire garage to pull a motor and trans, reinstall the motor with a different trans, build a custom mount for the trans in the winter and the wife had to roadside park which she wasn't pleased about. I really don't want to do it anymore. I have limits. More than the head, I pass. Out of the house with no tools, I'm done. I got way more money than I got body.

 

You just need an actual corvette shecialist shop aklim. Not a speed shop that specializes in installing headers and printing dyno sheets to brag, or a dealership that specializes in new cars.

Believe me, when you bring your old Benz in, they're giving it to the short straw guy too.. They're just gonna do it with a smile since you're paying 200 an hour there, lol.

 

First off, those shops are not all over the place. Finding a Corvette specialist that works a lot with C4s is not that easy to find. Second thing is that my car is modified.

I'm sure you are right. Maybe that is why the oldest MB I have is a 2010 and that goes in a couple years. The Ford? it's replacement is in the works to something newer too. I'm trying to keep myself in the 15 year bracket where parts and expertise are still plentiful enough. I don't like to be at the mercy of one person. Since I am not attached to older stuff, it is pretty easy for me.

 

I've thought about upgrading to a newer car, justified by having less, if any, repair bills. But since I'd have to finance a used C7, and I own the C5, paying the occasional mechanic's bill is way cheaper than upgrading. But it's my goal to buy a new Corvette (C8 or C9?) before they stop making internal combustion engines.

 

I agree

 

Definitely. Financing a new to me car vs the car I own, if it isn't giving me daily headaches, no contest. When my C4, which I am upside down in blows a motor, the decision will be different. C5 or C7? C7 all the way. Newer means less hearing that it's obsolete, like the part I need and I have no choice but to dig in the trash heap. Nothing against dumpster diving since I do it myself but I want it to be a choice as opposed to a necessity. Being able to drive anywhere further with the confidence that should something go wrong, I can get it towed to the nearest dealer and get help or choose to tow it home is worth a lot to me.

When the wife had a car issue years ago, I discovered that we could have MB drag it to the dealership, a friend picked her up and I could pick her up that night after work, send her back to the shop to pick up the fixed car, I was hooked. Right now, I really don't want her to drive it or even me when it comes to it being far away because of that.

 

But...wait. This car is an opti equipped car....and it's a DD. Am I f'ed??


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