I just got a 1998 coupe a month ago with only 15,000 miles on it, after all the threads that I have been reading here I'm curious, will I have this problem to. Do all of the C5's EBCM'S go bad. I've seen where some can be repaired while others 98-2000 can't. What do you do? If your lucky enough to find a used one you might eventually have the problem again. I read that your ok to drive without it but will the car pass state inspection.

 

I believe if it goes out you'll be dead in the water on inspection.
I believe mine is going out myself an I noticed it causing my lights an blinkers an all to mess up. So if no lights or blinkers then no inspection.

I'm curious to know what guys response on this is.

 

You must be having another problem, how can your brake system affect your lights.

 

You should pass inspection if you encounter this problem. It's not a mandatory safety item, if it were they would be required to supply new units.

But don't worry about it, I didn't until it happened to me!

 

My opinion is that EBCMs are like column lock components in that eventually, they will fail. Most likely the time-to-failure is related to drive cycles.

 

Looks like if someone could learn a fix for these early c5s,they could write their own ticket.Cross my fingers,mine is ok.But I have had it for little over ayear.Didn't know about this,but if I did,I would have skipped those yrs.

 

I get brocures from a reman outfit.. BBA Remanufacturing Inc. They actually offer a bounty if you have a part for repair that they currently don't do and they end up selling 10 or more. Has anyone tried them? BBA-reman.com Ph#1-866-573-2740. in MA. Seems someone should be able to figure out a fix since it would seem a demand exists.

If it is absolutely not repairable, I would be curious as to why?

BTW, no afilliation. I just happen to get the mailings because of the bussiness.

 

To be honest I would have kept my C4, there wasn't a thing wrong with it and only had 67K on it. I bought this C5 because I wanted a car I could take on trips comfortably with my wife. She's weird about trusting cars for whatever reason.

Now I have the TCS issue and it's doing some other weird things. I may try the ignition cleaning thing and see if that fixes things, but I doubt it will.

At the very least I would have went for an 02 or newer Z. But it is what it is I suppose.

 

I believe the electronics in pre-01 ECBMs is potted with a very hard material, whereas the material used to pot 01-04 ECBMs is very soft, allowing it to be cut away to expose the defective component or solder joint.

 

Reading this stuff is enough to make me go back to looking for a late C4.

Dave, I read the DIY repair for the late boxes. I could see where it would be near impossible to fix if you can't dig the material away from the circuit board. Maybe send one to China. I bet they could make a repo of it.

 

There are going to be problems, issues, and design flaws with EVERY car. Ever hear of an optispark?

 

I was thinking the same thing about China and the module.

And the opti spark on the LT1 is way over rated as an issue. In most cases the problem is associated with a bad water pump, because they put the pump and the Opti in the same location. The permanent fix is a vented opti so that moisture will leave the unit. And yes, you can still get an opti. A TCS module for a 97 to 2000, you can't.

I know several people who have never had the first issue with their opti. But they do have the vented opti they started putting on in 94 IIRC.

The L98 has fuel delivery issues but they are caused by ethenol fuel. They weren't designed to use ethenol. Change the fuel pump, injectors, and filter and one wouldn't have any issues with them at all. That's what I did and it was great.

I know this is C5 section, and I have a C5 and I love it, but I am considering going back to a LT4 C4 myself. We'll see when next year gets here.

I just think the FRC/Z06 C5 is the best looking vette ever produced. So at the end of the day I'm sure I'll keep plugging away with it.

 

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect car, and every car will have it's share of issues and items that were poorly engineered. At the end of the day, you just have to pick and choose what you are able to live with. GM really dropped the ball on the EBCM for 97-00. I cannot fathom how they cannot manufacture and provide this part when there are probably over 100k 97-00 C5's out there, especially when it is such a prevalent problem too. Horrible customer service on GM's part. I bought an '01 (luckily) before I had done any extensive research on C5's, and am just lucky that I did end up with an 01+. Knowing what I know now, I would never buy a 97-00.

 

My view for, what it's worth, is that this is one of the disadvantages of having an affordable sports car. To do that, the engineers had to accept "parts bin" components. The EBCM has some cheap and nasty relays in there and looking at the pictures on the Forum, some dubious soldering.

The EBCM isn't the best piece of kit in the car, even after the upgrades on my 02. Mine was replaced under warranty 5 years ago after a classic C1214. I now have a SWPS which needs replacing. It's in the garage when I get round to it. Trouble is, it's a complex system which has quite a few associated systems which can also cause failures. Cheap relays seem to be the common theme.

The good news is, you can run the car with no EBCM, you just lose the (quite important) protection it gives you.

 

So am I correct that this only affects the ABS and Traction Control? Does any other GM car share this part?

They finally put the 99 back up at auction that I have been waiting 2 months for. It's my color (Navy) a six speed , 71,000 miles and what I consider a light hit. But this issue does concern me. I'm sure I could learn to live driving it without the systems working but I hate my cars with things broke.

 

OK, I just called the place I mentioned. Lady said they repair a lot of these but she wasn't sure what years. Asked me if there were numbers or manufacturer label and I told her I didn't buy the car yet but wanted to know if they could fix if needed. She ended up saying if it was made by Delco or Delphi that they fix them. If it's made by Bosch they don't. Anyone know who makes the early ones? Anybody have one out that would want to check to see if these people can fix?

BTW, she quoted $225 to repair....if they can.

 

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

Seriously, I think GM should release the drawings and schematics to a reputable vendor, just as they have done with 60s parts.

 

There have been many people claim to be able to fix them but from my searching here, no one has done a proper fix, although a few places still charged for it.

There's a place called ASI (I think) that claims to be able to fix them but a member here tried them out a while back and he got ripped off. They did re soder everything but they told him they changed the parts and elctronics, but he marked everything prior to sending it in and all his marks were still there.



I'm leaving after this post and I wish you luck, and I'm certainly not trying to sway your opinion and desire to get a C5. I like mine, but I expected better, and I reject the old argument of "for this price these cars are great and you have to have trade offs in qaulity for a world class sports car for this price".

I also have a 99 Cad. STS that cost 36K new, my vette was 39K new in 99. And other than the drive train the STS has way more to offer and has twice the quality. The things that typically go bad in these cars are things they have been making for decades and put in other cars that have little or no issues.

that's my rant and I'm done, but I like to be honest about things and I don't attempt to tell people great things about something when it's not all true.

In the C4 section those guys always say this. They are great cars but you have to have either deep pockets or be able to wrench on your own car. Those are words to live by with vettes.

Good luck (I really do like my vette) It's the most fun car to drive that I've ever had, and I've had most of them.

 

I agree with that. No deep pockets here but I've been in the car bussiness, of some form, my entire life.
I have a boat, couple motorcycles, MGB, a Triumph TR8, had a motorhome....I could go on. I never could afford any of this stuff If I couldn't do the work myself. Buying the parts is bad enough.

It does seem silly though that a part this important can't be replaced or serviced. I have noticed that GM seems to be the worse for discontinuing parts. It's like after 10 years..screw you...buy a new one.

 

Probably made by another vendor and not by GM/Delphi.