As some of you may know from my previous posts I am looking for a cherry c5. I am a C3 guy and all of the computers, electronics and sparcity of some parts scares the hell out of me, parts for my C3 are plentiful and dirt cheap! I had a deposit on a near showroom 2000 but I passed because of forum advice on the EBCM and SWPS issues which
I have researched ad-nauseum. I was told to look for 2002 or later because of these parts, but showroom condition '02-'04's are bringing 4-$6000 more then earlier ones in my area! And even though I am reluctantly willing to pay, these are near impossible to find and sell before I can do a thorough inspection. Yesterday I drove to a large Corvette specialist that had 4, 6 speeds in stock, 3 Torch red and 1
Platinum convertible, 98,2000,2004 and 2000 on the convertible. The
98 was near showroom condition w/ 39k miles and I learned that active handling was only available on very late'98's.This car had no EBCM or SWPS! I am the ocd kind of guy that would drive w/ one eye on the DIC just waiting for the dreaded "SERVICE ACTIVE HANDLING/ABS" message. I believe that would be impossible on this car and I could therefore enjoy the car! What do the forum experts think??

PS The '98 had re-chromed GM '00 and later style wheels and I mistook it for the '04 when I walked into the showroom, the astute manager used this mistake as a very effective point to push the sale!!!

 

8VETTE7,
Please educate me on this! The '98 did not have the normal module
that is under the power steering apparatus and in plain sight on every other C5 I have seen. Is it in a different place or smaller? If it has a different part number and is therefore a different part is it prone to the same problems as the more common one? Also I was told that the SWPS provided data for the Active Handling. If this is a different part, what does it do and is it prone to the same issues as the more common one? Thank-you for your previous post and any others, it appears I have more to learn before spending my money!

 

The brake controls are at the very rear of the car in the very middle, bolted to the back of the rear cradle.

 

Okay. So thank-you both 8 & Dave. It seems that the '98 has a simpler and hopefully more reliable system. It seems I have some more thinking to do and I need to do it fast as these things do not hang around long this time of year!

 

I wonder how many of those earlier year cars w/ problems were AH cars! There are only 2 '98's and 1 '97 car out of dozens in the link you provided!

 

Ok, So who out there has had an EBCM failure w/ a '97 or '98 non AH car and could it be fixed?

 

Buy one without AH and then buy a working spare used module when one comes up for sale. I just happen to have a spare for my car, but I had it before I bought the car. I have no idea if it works though, but I've had it since the early 2000's.

I believe it's just the 2000 or maybe 1999 and 2000 year SWPS's that aren't available. But then that might have changed to include more units.

If worst comes to worst, I'll just install the newer parts into my car.

Also, I doubt it has anything to do with 10 years. I expect they just ordered a number of extra ones once production of the C5 stopped and they just haven't run out yet. There likely will be no more of the newer modules available once they run out, be it tomorrow or 5 years down the road. There might be enough in a warehouse to last 1 year or 10 years. I'm just not sure how easy it is to find out how many there are.

 

I believe 8VETTE7 was referring to the federal law requiring GM to support their vehicles for 10 yrs. I would assume they ordered enough parts to cover them for 10 years +, estimated, because it would be extremely expensive to order a small production run if they needed it to comply with the law! I agree that this could last for 1 or 5 years and that we have no way to know this and that there likely will be no more once these runout!

 

Anybody else have issues with a non AH car?

 

Early 99 VIN 3277 Non AH 6mm 141,000 miles. So far so good, no problems. Original owner.
It appears that there is a need for these parts. Don't you think someone would recognize it and supply new/ rebuilt units. The statement " can't be repaired " seems strange in this day of high tech.
My 2 cts.

 

The way the main control board is build makes it next to impossible to repair. The main control board is potted in a compound that has to be removed just to have access to the board. Also, there are both custom IC's and programmed IC's on the board. A 3rd party company opening the module to repair it or duplicate it won't have the data on the custom IC's and won't have the programming for the other IC's. This makes it next to impossible to simply source new parts and build the same thing again.

It is possible, but it would require disecting the IC's themselves to figure out the internal logic and then copying them. It costs big $$$ and lots of time to go to this extent. Then, it might work, but not quite the same. China conterfeits a bunch of IC's and components but they are often inferiour parts.

 

+ 1

 

+1 I think if it is going to be done a Delco or GM subsidiary would have to do it!

 

Lionalhutz, thank you for the very fine explanation of the reasons for the no fix ECBM.

 

Lionelhutz seems to seems to understand these cars better than most. I would trust his logic. Rod

 

I have a 97 with traction control problems now and I am going through hell, as soon as I get it fixed it is going up for sale. Too bad because I really like the car, it is just too much trouble to fix when you cannot get parts.

 

You guys really put too much stock in having an EBCM issue. Personally, I shut the traction control and active handling off the second I start the car. To be fair, if the ABS was gone, I wouldn't care. I just don't need any electronic baby sitters in my cars. I can handle the car in any situation, and the TC and AH just get in my way at the most inopportune times.

 

I would jump on the vehicle without active handling. In my opinion, it is a dangerous option in that when it malfunctions, besides turning on a warning light and message, it applies one of the front brakes HARD. You can easily lose control. I have my active handling turned off . I bought an aftermarket module that allows you to keep the system off without having to remember to deactivate it every time you get in and start the vehicle. That's my two cents. Good luck on your choices. C-5's are great cars.

 

I've fixed 5 of these in the past 2 weeks, 4 W/O Active, 1 With. 3 from dealerships, 1 repair shop, 1 private owner.

 

So, what part did you fix???