Hey All,

I was trying to find the right location for my second post, but I don't think there is a dedicated "Rant" forum (maybe religion and politics?), so this will do for now.

---------Annnnnd we're off

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to focus on the car at all yet (other than day dreaming and lists / sketches). House projects I'm doing for the landlord have been taking up the time and energy that could be going towards the car. This wouldn't be much of an issue, but... BUT... this thing needs attention!!!

I've put only a few hundred miles on it since purchase. Every time I drive it some new or weird little issue rears it's head. I'm looking forward to being able to just get in it and go and know that I can not worry about the car, but I think it's going to need a thorough going threw of pretty much everything first.


=Charging issues??? Or some kind of electrical tomfoolery. Causing occasional random dying and not starting.
=The window issues. Combined with the dual zone climate issues. And the all black everything in California heat. My options for cooling are limited.
=Lowered on stock bolts to the point of hiliariously slow manuevering on any surface with undulations. Scraping.
=Can't jack the car up and put it on stands to un-lower it with out doing research... and using special hockey puck items....
=The shifter doesn't work.
=The parking brake doesn't work.
=The seats are hilariously bad.
=The ride quality is bad.
=The handling on stock suspension is vague and worrisome.
=The roof lets the sun in no matter what, and leaves me using a hand to shield my eyes.
=The gas brake and clutch pedals were designed and set up by an accountant. An accountant who hates cars. And fun.
=The headlights are pop up. They take two tries at the switch. Usually. But not always. And they don't always retract.
=The gas door button doesn't work. At least I got to remove my carpet in a gas station to get to the manual release, lol. (Last owner just used key to pry it open...... )

After doing some research, I've concluded that THESE ARE JUST THE FACTORY OPTIONS!!!!!!!!

Like, wow. Wow.

I'm very excited to tear into the car and make it right, but WOW!

I got the car for a defined purpose: To be a car I can drive legally to and during and back from track events, and enjoy overall as transportation as well. And I'm not dissappointed. I will fix the issues, and enjoy the car. But WOW!

The car was a good deal. A Great performance bargain really. But that bargain came with some baggage!!!!

I thought at first that it would be unusual to have these kinds of issues. Then I did some research. Turns out having the parking brake not engage (at all: zero engagement) is TOTALLY NORMAL if you have not taken the components off and adjusted them yourself.

That is Corvette stuff.

Words cannot express how blown my mind is.

I am so excited to tear into this thing.

So glad I have the opportunity to tear into this thing.

I'm excited and terrified about the things I'll learn and encounter. Mostly excited. Looking forward to the journey.

 

Jesus it sounds like you bought a pile of garbage.

Why on earth would you buy a car that crappy?

Seriously, my car has none of those issues and the only one it ever had was the headlight switch issue.

Congratulations on buying a prime example of an abused car then turning around and blaming the corvette for being a bad car.

Good luck

 

You don't say the year it is, but even the newest C5 is now at least 13 years old. So your rant sounds a bit whiney, like you expected to purchase a brand new car.

You mention you did research to learn how to fix some of the issues, good for you. Maybe next time, you'll learn to do research BEFORE you purchase. I mean did you even test drive this car or understand what the issues were prior to purchase? You only have yourself to blame if you don't like what you bought.

 

Sounds like you bought a beater.

 

I think you're fishing.

If you don't like the car, sell it...maybe burn it if you find it that bad and collect insurance. Maybe buy a prius?

Answers in bold:
Charging issues??? Or some kind of electrical tomfoolery. Causing occasional random dying and not starting.

If you're not driving it for long periods of time, this could be considered "normal" depending on what kind of battery you're running.

=The window issues. Combined with the dual zone climate issues. And the all black everything in California heat. My options for cooling are limited.

Maybe your air conditioning system needs servicing.

=Lowered on stock bolts to the point of hiliariously slow manuevering on any surface with undulations. Scraping.

Lift the car. Easy peezy.

=Can't jack the car up and put it on stands to un-lower it with out doing research... and using special hockey puck items....

Nothing special. You can use hockey pucks and the jacking points but it's not required. Find 4 pieces of wood, put them in front of the tires and drive up on them to get the clearance you need to jack the car.

=The shifter doesn't work.

Don't know what that means.

=The parking brake doesn't work.

Fix it.

=The seats are hilariously bad.

Seats can be replaced, or if old you can re-add new foam cushions.

=The ride quality is bad.

It's a sports car not a cadilac. Some stiffness is normal. Switch to FE1 suspension if you're that concerned about the harsh ride.

=The handling on stock suspension is vague and worrisome.

Don't know what that means.

=The roof lets the sun in no matter what, and leaves me using a hand to shield my eyes.

Paint it to match the car or buy a second color match top.

=The gas brake and clutch pedals were designed and set up by an accountant. An accountant who hates cars. And fun.

Get smaller feet...

=The headlights are pop up. They take two tries at the switch. Usually. But not always. And they don't always retract.

Check to see if you have HID's. If so you may not have a proper resister or no resister at all. Easy fix.

=The gas door button doesn't work. At least I got to remove my carpet in a gas station to get to the manual release, lol. (Last owner just used key to pry it open...... )

Fix it.

 

 

please move to OT.

 

It does sound like you didn't research or look the car over enough before buying the thing. Sorry you're having so many problems and hopefully you can get things resolved without spending a fortune on repairs.

 

You don't need pucks to lift the car. I lift mine by lifting the rear cradle in the center, then lifting the front on each side at the jack points. If it takes longer than five minutes I'm doing it wrong. And my car is lowered.

Charging issues can be anything but most everything has been covered by the forum. Clean grounds, check that charging system is functioning properly, properly charged battery, etc etc etc etc.

Raising the car back up to a useable height is simply getting the car in the air (see above) and turning the leaf spring bolts. 7-8 turns of the nut back up the bolt will raise an inch.

Parking brake issues are common. Easy to adjust.

Shifter is easy to adjust.

Seats in C5s are cheap. Everyone knows this.

Ride, handling, all of that, can be age and/or if the car is lower trim suspension. If you have a C5 that's equipped with FE1 you're not going to have fun.

Pedal layout is abysmal but this is relatively common on most American made sports/muscle/pony. It took me a while to aclimiate myself to heel-&-toe having come primarily from imports.

Headlights can be a multitude of things; limit bump stops on the headlight door (there's four), multi-switch at the column, or relay module. All are (relatively) easy to check.

 

Without more details on your car, it's really hard to help. Since this is in the C5 section of the Forum, I assume it's a '97-04 (?), but year, model, mileage, options, any aftermarket engine/body/interior/electrical/lighting work prior owners have done, etc., can help others provide better insight into potential fix actions. We have many talented members here, including at least one engineer from the C5 design team, who are a wealth of knowledge.
As others have suggested, virtually all of these issues should have shown up in a test drive. If you bought your car from a reputable dealership, I suggest taking it back to them, point out your concerns and ask them address them. They may not, but then again, if you've been a prior customer and/or they believe you're going to be a future customer they may want to do something to help out. Nothing to lose by asking.
My '99 has 80,000 miles on it, and except for a slight rocking in the seat (which you may be addressing with "the seats are hilariously bad") I have not encountered any of the issues you address.
I do keep my car on a trickle charger since I sometimes go 2-3 weeks without driving and this keeps the battery charged. Corvettes (and many later cars with a lot of computer controlled functions) are known to be very sensitive to the correct voltage.
I understand the challenge of a dark colored car in a hot climate. I had black cars in both Tucson and Phoenix, AZ and unless you're near Death Valley, these climates are probably even hotter than where you are in California. I was driving my black T/A in Phoenix in 1988 when we recorded the hottest day on record for there - 122 degrees! Fortunately my A/C was working fine.
My '99 was experiencing a not so effective air conditioning system recently. I had the A/C system charged and it works fine now. Hopefully your A/C fix is this simple, too.
STALION presented some good thoughts about most of the problems you address. From your initial description, all these concerns appear fixable - some of them very easily.
Best wishes with getting your car "up and running." I really believe you'll enjoy every drive you make with it then.

 

Hey MSG, first welcome to the forum, C5 purchase, and the insanity that goes with it. By your post, it appears either you have the know how or are willing to learn how to repair the C5 yourself. This forum will help you do just that. Just need to have a some thick skin to disregard all the negatives that sometimes flow in the forum. Good luck on your project.

 

LMFAO! I was thinking the exact same thing!

You should post up in the C5 TECH section. Some of these questions have been well answered 100 times. I'm sure you will get some ONE ON ONE help if you try to fix ONE of these problems at a time.

I will take ONE of these problems "SUSPENSION" Ride quality is bad

Lowered on stock bolts LIMITS the suspension travel and you are most likely on or VERY CLOSE to the bump stops. When you hit the bump stops, the ride quality and handling will ABSOLUTELY SUCK!

Lowering or raising the cars ride height WILL play hell on the 4 wheel alignment. Set the height to where you want it and GET IT ALIGNED!

What year car and what factory suspension do you have? FE1, F-45, Z-51, ZO6 ??????

If you have the BASE FE-1 suspension and old worn out shocks, it will handle like a shopping cart. Get some better suspension parts. One cost effective option is to replace the stock shocks with some C6 ZO6 Shocks!! Those shocks are a Direct Bolt in and they are only $340.. for the set! Makes a tremendous difference in handling.

I have answers and recommendations for ALL of your issues but we need MORE INFO and for you to post on one issue at a time to make answering a little easier.

SEE YOU IN C5 TECH!

Bill

 

I don't see words that indicate he was down on the car, just the opposite.

 

 

he lists off a ton of problems with his car, then says they're all standard features on the car, and that he's astonished.

Whether he's excited or not, he's blaming the c5 platform for his particular car being abused.

 

I don't know, my '99 has an awful lot of the same problems. I'm betting you forgot to mention the driver's seat slides back and forth 1/4" during acceleration and braking.
That said, I pulled the clear Targa, used sheet paper to make a fitted template of the inner trim, traced it onto a Walmart folding sunshade, and adhered it into place, sunny side up, with double sided tape. Big help there.
Parking brake issues are rather common -- a quick Google will show multiple repair options, including a good suggestion to use zip ties to get the springs in place, rather than pulling the rear hubs. And yes, pulling the rear hubs is the factory way to deal with the parking brakes...

 

These are old cars by now. Go find another 13 year old car... any car, and see how many issues it has. Yeah these cars have quirks but think about when it was designed. Its a 90s car (technically, they started in the late 80s) and nearly ALL 90s cars had more than a few quirks even when they were new. Its a great car, but its still a car. Things go wrong. You thought because its a vette it would be perfect?

 

not sure what to say....other then welcome.

some times the least expensive option isnt the least expensive option in the long run.

i have bought my fair share of cars that needed way more sweat equity but i didnt have the cash to do it any other way. so slow down and enjoy the experience

 

If you bought a dog of a car that was driven hard and put up wet, what exactly did you expect?

I have owned two C5s, one 2000 coupe and my current 03 Z06. Had none of these issues you have, though I had more on my 2000 than my current Z06. That would have been expected, since the 2000 had 63,000 miles when I bought it, while the Z06 had 20K and was garaged it's entire life.

Of course minor maintenance is understood. Batteries fail, brakes wear out, shocks get old and worn, seals crack, and tires and bearings wear.

Would be nice if you told us whether the vehicle had 30,000 miles or 200,000. Makes a huge difference, as does how it was maintained.

 

That was honestly much more of a response to this post than expected. Awesome. You guys are great.

When I first started looking into this forum, I was surprised by the overall quality of the contributors.

Such a wealth of information!!!

I've made much mental preparation for the projects, and I'll go into more detail shortly, but right now I'm just shooting out a quick reply to say thanks to everyone who replied with some positive feedback and entertaining commentary and hilarity.

I have plenty of response coming up.

Real quick : 99 coupe I think it's FE1 but haven't read vin related info. Going into it I knew pretty much everything would need to be addressed. So I've started with that mindset.

Thought there was a signature I filled out, and that it would show up in post, containing details of the car. I wrote one. I'll look into it.

More to come. Cheers.