Hello C5 owners. I have a 98 C5 coupe which I love. It has 105,000 miles on it, I have the oil changed at 50% and it runs like new. My question is what do I need to watch out for in the future. It's had it's 90,000 mile service and everything is in great shape. All the oils and seals were replaced, the differential gear too. I am worried about the water pump since the temp guage reads warmer now. Does it read warmer just from the age of the motor? The techs say it checks out fine. What problems may arise in the future at this stage? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Mindy

 

Probably just a matter of time, and miles before your water pump will start to seep, then leak, and require replacement with the age / miles you have.

Having said that, the running warmer than it used to, condition is more likely a result of the fact that you've got bugs, leaves, grass and general roadside garbage up under your vette and in the radiator cooling fins. Have someone remove the upper cover, etc. then put a garden hose under low pressure, through the radiator from the engine side, followed by application of low pressure air again from engine side forward. This should clean out radiator, and I'll bet the old '98 LS1 will be running closer to normal temps.

 

MindySu .....

You should read this recent post ......

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1866462

 

You should be fine! If it isn't broke,,,don't mess with it.

I'm retired Navy and now work on the same Submarines that I use to be assigned to. The shop that I work with that repairs the Subs has a motto:

If its not broke, fix it till it is!

You mentioned that you change your oil at 50%. There have been NUMEROUS C5 members that have sent their 100% used up oil into the oil analysis labs and found out that the oil is still in good shape! I highly recommend allowing the DIC's oil minder to tell you when it time to change the oil.

The water pump could last another 100,000 biles or it could fail today. They normally talk to you when their tired, so drive it and enjoy the car.

Every time I fill up the tank, I make it a habit to open the hood and give the engine compartment a good look. You will be surprised at once your very familiar with the way things are suppose to be, how fast you will catch something out of the ordinary.

Good advice on the radiator!! Theres a plastic cover that acts as a shroud between the AC Condenser and the actual Radiator.

Its secured to the frame with FOUR 10mm fasteners. Remove the air box, MAF (unplug the MAF connector) and bridge duct as a unit. Remove the shroud. Look between the AC Condenser and Radiator. Its probably has grass and leaves in between the two. Remove as much as you can with a small round brush and compressed air. Then back flush ( use a garden hose on FULL HARD STREAM) the radiator from the engine side to the open area between the two. You will be surprise as how much sand comes out. Wash out the condenser from under the front end and you will see even MORE crap come out .

Once you back flush air or water through the cooling fins and flush out that trash, I bet it will run much cooler!

I have pictures of most of this if it will help you!

Bill

 

Don't overanalyze it, these are good cars. As BlackZ06 linked, they are certainly capable of high miles. That thread wasn't the only one, either.

No need to change the oil at 50% unless you are tracking the car or doing some hard miles. I run mine down to 0%-10% all the time, you won't hurt it! It won't explode at 0% or anything.

As far as your coolant temps go, sure you can change the water pump. But I'd recommend hosing out the radiator and see if that improves it. You'd be surprised what you would find stuck under there.

Don't worry, enjoy the car!

 

I ended up adding a ECS Novi, Dewitt rad, long tube headders ,&&&&&&&&&! Still at it. hahahahaha

 

Nothing lasts forever, however, simple maintenance and keeping up on anything that might show up, I promise you that the car will go. I'm the one from the post above with the high mileage '99. Things happen and parts wear out. No one can promise you that it will run problem free. Its a mechanical device with lots of parts. Don't abuse the car and do the maintenance. If something goes bad, fix it.
If you haven't replaced the shocks by now, do it. Alignment, tire pressures, wheel balance, look at the fluids such as the mentioned coolant. Check hoses for cracks although I don't think you will find any. It is time for the plugs to be changed and I would suggest that you change the wires at the same time. PCV valve too and look at the hose connection from the PCV to the intake and especially on the bottom of that hose.

 

Hi , Jovette, Black Z06, Bill Curlee Defender C5, 416 Rigby, and dgrant3830.

Guys, thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate and will put your suggestions to good use.
Thanks again.
Mindy

 

Anytime you have a question .... come to the forum .... and if you ever need a hand .... Yountville .... heart of the wine country .... I'll be there in a FLASH ...



(picture two clinking Moet Chandon glasses rather than beer )

 

There's a pretty recent thread regarding temp, I think it's titled "So this is why my car's running hot" or something to that effect. Check it out, has great pics as well.

Don't over analyze things as the end result is buying or having stuff done that's unnecessary (aka wasting money).

Enjoy your car, that's what it was built for.

 

Thanks for the post about the temp problem, I checked out and will clean out the radiator.

 

Will this motor withstand nitros

 

Depend how much hp added, and yes it will with a save tune which is the most important part of not blowing up the engine Just anwering your ? that's not related to a 2008 thread.

 

There are many opinions on when to change the oil. I myself change my oil every 4,000 - 5,000 miles using Mobil 1 5W30. That works out to 2 twice a year for me. Oil is inexpensive especially when you buy it from Walmart. I use Wix filters which Walmart doesn’t sell.

 

walmart sells the AC delco filters, which are actually really good filters.

 

if nitros is a soda or energy drink, the answer is no. lmao who is this guy ?

 

I used to buy AC Delco oil filters from Walmart until they started selling the E version only. The E version has the plastic interior. That’s why I switched to WIX, which still has the metal interior like the old AC Delco that was sold at Walmart.

 

Some of the best advice I've read on CF in a long time. My C5 has 154k and has been very dependable. Changed the oil when it gets down to about 5%, and fixed a few minor things. Drive it, have fun, do normal maintenance and fix things when needed.

 

I agree - water pump failure isn't necessarily a "sudden" emergency from what I saw onmine (1998 'Vert w/ 60,000 miles and a few engine mods).

Initial indications were that I was just losing some water with no apparent cause, and was seeing higher engine temps than normal. Back-flushing the radiator and condenser seemed to help a bit for normal driving and "stuck in traffic" temps and basically I didn't give it much further thought. Maybe a summer or two later things progressed to finding a puddle of water on my garage floor after taking my car for a run to the store or wherever...

Finally last year it became apparent that I was now losing a lot of water and temps were climbing a lot higher than normal! I was constantly filling the overflow reservoir even after short trips. At this point enough was enough and I ended up just buying the pump and water outlet from a local dealership instead of planning ahead and saving $$$ from any number of online vendors who had them much cheaper (because I just had to fix it RIGHT THEN for whatever reason instead of waiting a day or two). The only slightly confusing part is that the old water pump which came on my car was no longer available, but the replacement part fit just fine - even though there are a few noticeable differences in the newer design. The only real headaches I seem to recall when installing the new pump was getting the old gasket material off the block and keeping the new gasket from falling off when tilting the new water pump into place.

Good luck!

Jeff

 

Mines a 2004 manual Coupe, so later/they fixed some things (but then broke the fuel tanks....). I'm at 150,000 and the biggest issues are the leaking steering rack and the passenger's side fuel sending unit is shot.

Occasionally the active handling gets mad about the steering sensor but it's hit/miss. Overall, it's an entirely solid car.