A question about the 90' Vettes. Ive heard that the air bag can give bad code signals and that there were a few problems with that year?
How are your 1990 cars holding up? Ive heard good thing about the 89' and 91' but the 1990 Vette doesnt get a lot of respect for some reason.

 

90 is a good year, one of the stronger and 2nd to last year for the L98. The reason it doesnt get alot of talk is because its kinda a hybrid, only year with the newer interior with the older style bumpers. Perfect if thats what you like, my cousin has a '90 six speed, it is very nice

 

I love my 90!! Yep it is kind of a hybrid..first year of the new dash cluster and several other goodies..one of the best and strongest and almost the last of L98's and I think the speed density system is better than MAF (as long as it's working ) I say get it if it's in good shape and you can get it for 10 grand or less.

 

same here, i love my '90. have had it for over 10 years and it NEVER gives me any problems. but you're right on about the "infl res" issues. it happens to just about all of em, but it's not that big of a deal. if that's the worst issue, i'll take it! many times i've thought about getting something else, but i just can't do it. :flag

 

when i first went corvette shopping 2 years ago, i had whittled it to only 2 years: an '89 or a '90, and it had to be a manual tranny above all else. the main reason was that i was looking for the strength of the early ZF6, the L98 engine, and the earlier C4 body style. after that it was matter of choosing between the interiors. the '90 won me over, i've had one and since sold it, now i have my keeper, and am modifying it pretty good and keeping it until every bolt disintegrates no issues, i've had it over a year, has 67k miles and I LOVE IT

 

I love my 90, great interior... and the 98 is legendary.

I had to replace the DERM... but other than that it's reitively sound.

 

I love my 90, but I have not had it long enough for my opinion to mean anything.


[Modified by Kuehneuger, 10:03 PM 7/1/2004]

 

I've had my '90 for about 4 years and the only '90 specific problem I've ever heard of was with the "infl rest"/derm system. It's a pretty quick fix and definately not a reason to bypass the car.

I really like the 90 for a number of reasons, last year for the gills, and round tail lights. The early exterior with cockpit interior, great L98 engine etc. I could go on but I think you get the point

 

I have to agree that the best feature of the 90 is the cockpit interior. No unusual problems for a 14 year old car. Many of the problems I had were self inflected

The inflation rest code is a ground problem and there is a tech tip to fix it easily, although mine never seemed to have this problem.

The alternators are weak, but putting in a PowerMaster cured that.

The 700R4 will eventually break if you up the horsepower from stock.

Great car

 

NO problems with my 90, I like it because it is the last year with the round tail lights!

 

The 1990 C4 is an excellent one. Still had the original classic C4 styling with some nice performance upgrades too. One of my favorites. Yours sure looks fine, as do all the other ones in this post.

 

I love my 90' although I have only had it for a year. Right before I purchased it the guy had the "inf rest" problem repaired, which was great because it saved me from the frustration of dealing with it. I agree with all of you about 90's they do have a great interior and also they are the last year of the round tailights.

 

I would go with a newer c4 if I were you the older c4 bumpers aren't as pretty IMO. They say last year for corvette styling but since when did the rear of corvette TUCK in, ew. The front is just ugly compared to the newer ones IMO. Also they are saying it has a newer interior it DOES but 94-96 interior is even way better than that so I would get atleast a 91 but 94-96 if you can.

 

68-73. Its not as extreme, but it seems to be there. Im actually glad that the "tuck" is back in the C6





[Modified by Firevette, 4:38 PM 7/3/2004]

 

I've had my 90 for six years. 118K miles and it is my daily driver. Just routine maintenance issues (remembering that it is a 14 year old car).
Put in a new fill of Mobil 1 every 3K. I have replaced the master brake cylinder, water pump, intake manifold gasket, fuel pump, and u-joints. Probably will do the clutch cylinders soon. The L98 still runs strong, doesn't smoke or leak anything and is easy to work on. Love it and plan to keep it forever.

 

Get out of this thread


I actually wanted a '91 originally, but they look too "new." Ok that makes no sense, but it does to me . I wouldn't trade it for another year L98, or LT1 for that matter. Mine does have the "Inflatable Restraint" problem, but no biggie. The combo of the early ZF, and the late L98 is one that I wouldn't trade

 

First off, I dunno what you're talkin about when u say the 90 doesn't get alot of respect. I've never heard anything really bad about the 90' in all my time being here. It's just not discussed as much because most people up here seem to have 90s. It's the year that's right smack in the middle of all the c4s. And it's also a hybrid. That's probably why it's not discussed as much. But no one talks s*** about 1990 vettes in particular. They're undoubtedly one of the most reliable c4s because they carry the most reliable engine. I hear people talk s*** about just about every other year except 90's and 96's. 90's are the most recent year in the old body and 96s are the most recent year in the new body and that probably has alot to do with it. It's always the last year of something that people talk the least s*** about because it tends to have less problems than the rest. The whole airbag thing creates the infamous 'INFL REST' code on all 1990 coupes because there's a small flaw in the design where the airbag code is set off by a small latch area under the hood. It's easily fixable, but nonetheless that's all it is. And to tell you the truth, I hit 136k on mine and I haven't had a single repair in over a year and 2 months and It's a daily driver cept for maybe having to spray some brake cleaner on the shoes from a squeak after it rained one weekend. It seems like she runs stronger and stronger the more I drive her. So it's safe to say she's holdin up more than well and her maneuvering is still top rated......trust me

 

No..actually it makes perfect sense. It's the reason why I chose the earlier c4 body to add the ground effects of course. It's not simply because ground effects tend to look better on early c4 bodies, but also because the nose of the newer c4's has less of a "MUSCLE CAR" look and feel. The older noses typically look meaner and the interiors of 94-96's don't look "vette enough" to me. They look like they're made for sports car cruisin'. Whereas the 90-93 interiors look like they're made for some serious tire burning jet-fighter style. The dash concaves are actually more jet-like in 90-93s and rounded off at the middle whereas in 94-96s this cockpit was given a flattened look with the dash. IE the dash is not designed where it cuts off the passeneger seat. It was better the other way. In my 90' I point out to my gf that if the stereo was designed for her to touch while I'm driving, it wouldn't be curved around to the cockpit console in the pilot's direction I can't do that with a 94-96.
All in all, the one vette with all qualities of what a TRUE vette should be like to me(except of course the right body add-ons) is the 1990 ZR-1...a true vette should maintain that jet-fighter sleekness-but-no-sacrifice-for-meanness look as much as possible. I do think the rear of the later c4s is a little bit cooler, but that's about it.

 

The only two things that drove me insane (one expensive, the other reasonable) was:
1. The injectors had to be all replaced. GM ones were total crap (Multec-Rochester)- I went with Echlins as replacements. That was an expensive exercise.
3. The pre-cats plugged up, so I went with one 3-way cat and no pre-cats (much much better).
Apart from being on its 3rd alternator in about 20K miles, the BOSE crapping out and a few other nagging things like a loose steering column and failed VATS key sensor, It hasn't been too bad.

Otherwise, the car is holding up pretty well now. I had not had a problem with the INFL REST system sensors yet. I have 70K miles on it or so.

Regards,

Dan