Hey all
I am new. just bought my first vette.
whoa!
c5 s/c'ed convert aka black magic (now named "darkside")

1) i need to find out why it is throwing me some wicked codes to put me in lack of power mode. according to thwe Original Owner, it threw these codes once a year and it was just one time. i have thrown codes 7 times today

2) where can i find a corvette club in the gulf south (mississippi, louisiana, or alabama)

 

List all of your mods. Tell us the circumstances that throw the codes. Are you just cruising or is it only when you hammer the throttle when it happens, List your codes and include the H or the C along with it. Give us all of the information that you can. The " threw codes once a year" statement as you now know is obviously If you don't give us the information we need then the answer will be only as good as the question which is: it is throwing codes because the computer sees something that has exceeded the threshold of the circuit it is monitoring. So give us more info and we'll do our best to help you out.

 

Ok I purchase "Black Magic" by George Janssen who is also Black_Magic on this forum

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ht=black+magic

Also, a further description of the car is here:
http://www.stl-vettes.com/forsale/forsale.htm

The problem is that it throws codes without duplication. Ie: yesterday I was doing 100mph on the interstate just cruising and it threw a code. Then it threw a code when i was pulling away from the pump (so what.... 1st gear maybe 2 mph) then it threw one at idle. meanwhile if i fill up again, it doesnt do it, or if i jam on it and do 145 on the interstate, doesnt do it... or whatever..... It just seems to do it at a whim.
As for the codes, right now I cleared them so it show no codes and the car runs perfect (that i know of), but what i remember there was pcm codes, tcs codes, and i think bo-rfa codes that i usually were clearing out.
i am going to drive her to work tonight and take a piece of paper and when she throws the code, i will write them down and get them back.

(also does anyone know where i can find a vette club in the biloxi area, or the surrounding areas or states?)

 

100mph on the Interstate?
IBTL

 

ok i dont know what IBTL means, but how was this constructive or helpful to this post?

 

Northshore Corvette Club - Covington, LA

www.northshorecorvetteclub.com

 

p.s.:In Before The Lock
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1049446

 

Ok, after my drive into work today with absolutely no codes or problems, i get ready to pull in and the car either dies or went into a serious restricted power situation.

Not sure if it died because i turned the corner and didnt give it enough gas and stalled or what, either way i was about to extract the codes.
(btw, i got the codes and then cleared them, started it back up without any problems or codes being thrown again)

here are the codes that came across the dash board in diagnostic
PCM (3 codes) - P1221 H C , P0420 H C , P0430 H C
TCS (1 code) - C1278 H
Then no further codes until:
BO-RFA (3 codes) - U1096 H , U1064 H , U1016 H

please let me know what you can translate from this. and what the fix is. i would rather try to figure this out then pay chevy an additional 1000 bux or whatever for them to do it, especially since i just bought this thing, and the claim was it was perfect (not so much)

 

The 420 and 430 codes are because your PCM doesn't like what it's reading on your rear 02's it is the TWC or Three Way Catalyst bank 1 and 2 trouble code. If you truly have cats on the car, then you might investigate to make sure they're not clogged or clogging up.
1278 I get all the time and just reset it.
all of your U codes are loss of communications to different modules, but they are H codes, so may not be related to your current issue.

 

ok since i dont know ANYTHING about corvettes yet, please help me break this down

the 420/430 codes i got from the pcm is because of a bad reading from the o2 sensors? is there a way to fix this if i have high flow cats? and if they arent clogged or clogging (since there is only 36k on the car) how much should i expect to spend on this

as for the 1278 code, how do i make that stop?

as for the bo-rfa codes??? what are those about?

basically i am trying to get these things to stop because it would be really crappy to say just for instance since c5streak had to point out i would fictiously race someone and it throw a code in the middle of that. not a good thing

is there anything i can tell the dealership to do to make these things stop?

 

P1221 H C - Causes a REDUCED ENGINE POWER message to display on the DIC. The throttle has two position sensors located in the throttle body. The sensors disagree on throttle position by more than 7.5 percent.

P0420 H C and P0430 H C - your catalytic converters are failing the PCM diagnostics. Could be caused by an exhaust leak, wiring problems to the rear O2 sensors, or if the cats are seveerely discolored, by overheating due to poor engine running conditions.

C1278 H - This is setting because of the P1221 ... the PCM is unable to control the throttle "correctly", so this DTC sets in the EBCM to turn off Traction Control. The EBCM requests lower throttle settings duringa TC event, and since the PCM cannot correctly managge the throttle, this DTC sets to turn off TC.

BO-RFA (3 codes) - U1096 H , U1064 H , U1016 H ... These are failures of the communications network for the computers. If your key fob is working correctly to lock/unlock the vehicle, and the tire pressures are reading correctly in the DIC, then I would delete these codes.

You need to fix the Throttle position problem first. That will get rid of the C1278, and it MIGHT (very slim chance) clear the cat DTC, though unlikely.

 

how much am i looking to fix these problems?
just wondering since i was told when i bought it the car was perfect and yet paid full price, only to find out the next day the car throws these codes

 

Have you discussed this with the person You bought it from?

 

Sorry to hear about this man. I saw you in the C5 for sale section the entire time I was shopping for mine. I hope that you get it worked out. I hate to see deals end in a negative way here.

 

In your earlier post, you mentioned that the seller told you it threw these codes once a year? That's what they all say... it's too bad the codes dont' come with a date stamp.

Either way, it may be worth talking to the seller. Ask him when these codes started occurring and ask him to tell you (honestly) how often they occurred. It's unlikely that you'll be compensated but the more info you have, the easier it'll be to diagnose.

 

Buyer BEWARE! When you know up front that there's a potential problem with the car or even suspect that there might be, and if the seller believes or insists it isn't a major problem or that it's intermittent or something, draw up a fair contract for both of you which affords you an opportunity to have the vehicle properly inspected. You can put whatever parameters you want/need to around the inspection, such as if it turns out to be anything more serious than (insert dollar figure or nature of mechanical problem here), then the seller must take the car back provided it's within X number of days, you have not put more than X number of miles on the car, and have not inflicted any noticable physical damage. Or, they must pay the reasonable cost of the repairs at a reputable mechanic.

I bought a Supra once in a very similar situation. Without listing the symptoms suffice to say that the seller thought (or hoped) there was a minor problem with the car, which did seem to run just fine when I test drove it with him briefly. I said I'd buy it on the condition that we drew up a simple contract agreeing that I would take the car to a mechanic and if it turned out to be the head gasket (or anything more expensive than a certain dollar amount for this specific problem), then he would either have to take the car back or pay the reasonable cost of the repair. We wrapped some conditions around it similar to what I suggested above.

Unfortunately I let my friend drive the car for about half a mile fom his house to mine the day I bought the car, and he hit the the guard rail mounted on the security gate at my complex when he pulled in. Put a nasty gash all the way down my front left fender which meant I was now obligated to buy the car based on the conditions of the contract, even if I had it repaired which I did the next day.

It did turn out to be the head gasket and the guy did refund the $1500 or so that it cost to repair it. Not sure if I would have kept the car or not if my friend hadn't damaged it, but after fixing the head gasket it turned out to be a good car and I drove it for several years. In fact it's still sitting in my garage gathering dust .

Just make sure you protect yourself when you buy a used car, especially from a private owner. If the guy isn't willing to do something like I'm suggesting then move along, there are plenty of good C5's for sale at a fair price. Last thing you want is to buy a car with an intermittent problem which is difficult to diagnose and potentially expensive to fix. I can't offer any help with respect to the problems you're having with the car, I'll leave that to the gear heads of which there are plenty around here to help you, but hopefully someone will read this and heed my device next time. Good luck resolving the issues!

 

well i did call him and tell him whats up and all he said was 1) it didnt happen with him 2) sorry to hear about it and 3) maybe it just needed to dry out from the rain that happened 2-3 days ago