Vegasvette98

Hello, new member here from Vegas! I hope you guys can please help me with my issue. Thanks in advance. I recently (4 weeks) bought a 1998 C5 with 112k miles, 4 speed Auto. Very beautiful and well taken care of. The car ran perfect with no problems until recently. So a week ago during a coldish start the car fired up very "hard." The car was shaking very harshly and I had the Check engine light as well as the TC light and on the dash it said: "Reduced Engine Power" & "Service Traction Sys" . it was also idling at 1500 RPM. So I left it for a good 30 seconds then shut it off. Turned it back on and every was fine except I had the Check Engine light only. I drove and eventually the check engine light would go away. This happened twice during my 34 days of ownership. This was before I knew that I could bring up the codes through the dash. So once I did, I only got the 28TCS C1281 H when off and Current when car is on. 2nd problem is that when I have less than 80 miles in range or when climate is very hot(Vegas 100°+) the interior starts to smell like raw fuel. And my fuel gauge slowly decreases. Sometimes when I fire up my car it shows 60mi range and when I drive it goes up to 80 and up etc. So I am alway constantly worrying if the readings are correct. So final problem was today. I fired up my car after not driving it for almost a day, I go drop someone off at work, I go to a gas station near my house. Turn off the car and put gas. Everything is done, i get in and the car wont start. It cranks but nothing. Voltage seems fine. All lights work etc. I call a friend cause its most likely the battery. I try 2 more times to start and at the last time the dash says "Low Voltage" "Reduced Engine Power" & Check Gauges light on. The odd thing is the reduced power if the car is not even on. So my friend arrives we jump the car and it turns on. The battery charged, i got home turned it off and again the car wont turn on(but cranks). So the big question is: Is it an all related problem? I would like some insight if you guys can on all the problems if they arent connected. The most important would be why is the battery being drained. I have everything off and nothing is left using the battery. Again thank you im advance and hope to hear back from you guys!

Pounder

The low power is most likely a problem with Active Handling (if equipped) or traction control !!!!! Another issue sounds like a bad ignition switch, You have several problems as you most likely already know. Start with batt voltage and ignition switch. Many threads on both !! Good Luck !!

friou

I am certainly NOT the tech guy a lot of forum members are (thank God for them!), but I will relate my experience to you, maybe it applies, maybe not, but unfortunately its all I have to offer you. When I first picked up my '99 6m last year, after a short time had similar issues to yours. I knew the battery was only two weeks old so I was thrown a little off. Finally had the battery checked and found it was apparantly a bad from the factory new battery. Replaced the battery, all issue resolved instantly. C5's are very voltage sensitive I'm told! Hope this may help you, good luck and best wishes!

Murray Anderson

From what I've seen your idiot lights lighting up along with many bad messages from you DIC is related to your TAC. As for the fuel issue (gauge and smell) I have no idea.
I believe there are two tanks utilizing a syphoning system. Best of luck !

I do agree about checking battery, apparently the slightest drop in charge can make this sensitive beast act out of character.

SuperTom

Didn't read all of that. I had a small hawker lightweight battery in my car and eventually it wore down and my car would throw a bunch of codes. Went back to a stock size normal battery and all my problems disappeared. Also sanding down the grounding points and putting a coat of dielectric grease over them is a great thing to do as well. Try the easy stuff first before spending big bucks

The Rabbi

There's a 2 man father and son Corvette shop in Vegas that took good care of me while visiting Vegas.

UM Rebel

On the range, it is a continuous calculation based on passed average and current fuel consumption rate. It's kinda interesting when you've been doing a lot of city driving then fill up and go on a long highway trip. Range will continue to go up for first 40 - 50 miles on the highway. Enjoy your new ride!

Vegasvette98

First of all thank you guys for reading and giving solutions! So The battery was not even a year old. From my knowledge the high temperatures in Vegas tend to mess batteries up. I got a new battery and the car is perfect now!. I read countless forums on battery popping issues on the display. Fortunately after a few drives so far nothing has showed up. The car drives beautiful. So the only worries is the gas smell. My theory is that I might have a small hose leak where gas passes through? Because again when its hot (100 degrees and up) the smell of gas is noticeable. Filled up or not. So my guess is the small leakage evaporating causing the smell. But Im gonna have to go to a mechanic and get her up to check the tank area. Again thanm you guys for the tips!

Vegasvette98

There's a couple Corvette based shops here. Do you have their number? Or business name? Thanks!

Pounder

The overflow tube on the filler neck runs down into the front of the rear quarter panel. That is also a spot that collects dirt, when I removed my inner fenders I got a very strong fuel smell, it was the gas overflow into the dirt ???????