Looking to add a 50th Anniversary to my stable. I am starting my search and am curious what are some of the things to look out for on 2003 C5s or C5s in general? Are there mechanical pros/cons for manual vs auto?

Thank you in advance!

 

Cool, welcome to this C5 world and good luck.
Gonna take a year or so for you to come up to speed with the knowledge you'll gleam.

 

Well, it is not often, but on some the EBCM is bad. it is a Delphi unit and many are repairable, I sent it to ABSFixer.com, but Brandon ( Great guy looked it over but send it back to me and said it was beyond repair, but didn't charge me a dime. But be careful when looking for a rebuilder, My ABS light was on when I bought my 2003, and I paid $1745.95 for a replacement and bought one from Automotive Scientific Inc out of Robbinsville, Tennessee and that was a real PITA as once i installed it, the ABS light still was on, so since this particular unit was repaired and had the ASI seal on it and if broken there is no warrantee shall be honored, so this is going to sound as crazy, but I had to go looking for an expert, and one of our most favorite members "C5diag" said he could fix it, but of course, he in in Florida, but he asked me if I knew where Stroudsburg PA was and I did and I took the car to Walt ( Walt's Automotive Elect repair ) and Walt was beyond expectations, and he didn't find the problem with the EBCM, but he took everything apart ( He called me once at 8:20 PM and asked if I would give him permission to open some of the wring connectors, as he said "I might not be able to put them back together " but he is such a Craftsmen he did, but he didn't find a problem with the rest of the electrical system in the Corvette which leaves only one part could be at fault. . . The sealed shut and repaired ???? well I went looking for another "Repaired EBCM which i found with a really top flight company " Mercer Corvette 800-881-1317 -10454 N 800E Syracuse IA 46567" and it still took 4 weeks, and they said it would take that amount of time, but these guys are the real deal, once Walt installed it BOOM, problem gone, and why automotive scientific would send a repaired and sealed, a mystery to me, but as expected, they refused to return any of the $1745.95, soI was getting a little discussed with them and contacted the PA attorney Generals office, consumer complaints that took about 10 days and the company refunded me $1725.00 and still would not send back my core or the $200 charge for it, despite a number of calls and only when I said " Do I need to have the PA Attorneys general again?" and that got me another $15.95 shipping, and I'm very sure the core is going be junk, but I wanted to not allow these thieves to keep anything of mine. And I sent a letter to the companies CEO: Don Messina. All this, and they sent a unrepaired unit, which cost me another $2.854.00 since I never thought that a company who sells repaired EBCM would send a unrepaired unit. .So I just wanted to help any others thinking of using this company to DO NOT, DO NOT use these BS artist's. But if you do run into this ABS light on problem, don't just believe it is wiring, and since it is a repairable part use someone interested in doing a great job. One thing I have learned from this 6 month financial tragedy is if your going to use a particular company, get heir address and look up the company with the Better Business Burau, had i done that, I would never have even contacted them, they have a whole page of complaints levied against them ! Other than that the C5 is really a bulletproof vehicle ! This is my second C5.

 

I purchased a low-mileage 50th AE in September, and absolutely love it. These cars like and need to be driven, so one with more miles than mine will likely have fewer issues. The experts here will correct me, but I would recommend 60k miles or more; mine had under 21k when I bought it.

The AE's all came with the mag-ride shocks, so inspect them for leaks. Mine were all leaking with barely any travel. The replacements tend to be expensive if you wish to keep that function. I chose to switch to Bilsteins and delete the mag-ride program. Getting documented maintenance would be a plus - check for oil changes and (on manuals) clutch fluid changes. Also on manuals you should learn about the steering wheel lock issue and the LMC5 module to eliminate the problem.

Pull the battery and battery tray and look for significant leakage. The ECM and main wiring are below the battery, if you can believe that.

There are some great "sticky" posts to help you evaluate these! Knowing how to pull DIC codes is a must.

Good luck, and I hope you find one you love! My 2003 is the best car I've owned.

 

I have had 2 2003 50th anniversary Corvettes, one a coupe and the present one a convertible. To me they are truly a beautiful, beautiful Corvette. . .
And the present

 

Start by reading some of the Sticky threads at the top of this section as well as in the C5 Tech/Performance section. Lots of good info there.

 

shocks always leak $1500 each switch to zo6 shocks