memememe

i'm feeling really frustrated, hope you can help.

so - my car "seemed" to be charging okay (got a trickle charger), and so wanted to figure out where this body control panel (bcp) was/fuse box.

*all* I did was go in the passenger side, figure out where that black panel/thing you undo, found the fuse box, undid the screw, and popped the top off.

looked at the fusebox, thought okay, I'll leave it, so tried putting the fusetop back on - "might" have jiggled some fuses by accident (couldn't quite figure out how to get it back on, so spent 45-seconds
to 1 minute), then though 'uh-oh' - and sure enough - all of the sudden I hear this weird buzzing coming from my car (specifically the fusebox area).

touching some of the fuses - it seemed the #42 slot (whatever that is, I don't know) was vibrating madly, maybe others were too - but this one I could feel.

now, if I try locking my car - it tries "locking" 4 times, without doing anything. I stick the key in the ignition - just says "check engine" (nothing else on) - and now even though my car doors are locked, everything is turned off, etc - it things my key is in the ignition and is beeping like mad...

what the *********** is going on... this is really freaking me out. don't even know if I can drive it to a mechanic now because its in an underground garage, and not sure if I can get a tow truck there...

so not sure what to do.

any ideas/help? thanks.

brand new (used) freakin corvette and getting all this blank blank blank freakin problems...

pewter99

was the battery dead?

if so take it and get it charged by a real charger...or buy a new one......install and try again, these cars do funky things with a low battery

do that and report back

memememe

I don't know. just went downstairs to check on it (was going to disconnect the battery), and it seems to have stopped its stupidness.

battery wasn't dead - last night something happened (I don't know what) - woke up and it seemed closed to dead (a flickering 'security' light came on). finally figured out what to do (didn't realize I had a plug downstairs, so got an extension cable, plugged in a trickle charger, it was charging, "last" check it was at 11 volts after about 6-7 hours)... (incidentally the left door seemed to work, whereas it hadn't before).

I *should* have just gone to bed and left it, but instead decided to see if I could figure out where this fusebox was - and now everything went haywire. door locks were making the clicking sound as if trying to lock, lights were flashing off & on inside the car (right underneath the mirror), beeping as if I had the key in the ignition... and its a saturday night/sunday morning, so no way I can contact anyone until 2 days later...

I've wanted a corvette pretty much most of my life, finally got it/was really excited... and now this f*************************ng sh******************t is happening only a couple weeks later, I'm really wondering if I should have just gone with a regular car.

I don't know what to do right now. I'm scared to even touch the car - never ever ever had such a "tempermental" car before where you look at it wrong it and it goes wonky like this... I don't even think i have the right tools to undo the battery right now - and a bit afraid to open the car door again - lest the fusebox start buzzing again, pretty sure that's not a good thing - so worried some wires might be crossed, and I really don't want to have to have an expensive repair bill...

any suggestions? if I am to disconnect the battery - what the "right" way of doing it (I know negative terminal, can I just undo that and leave it in the car?)

memememe

btw - everythign "seemed" to be fine before I removed that fuse box lid... (it showed the 'corvette welcome' screen, the odometer, etc, etc)... but as soon as I removed that lid then tried putting it on wrong (maybe the metal screw in the center touched a fuse as I was trying to figure out how to get it back on, and that affected things?) - then all of the sudden everything went wonky...

memememe

also - is it safe to try "driving" this (I don't know if it will let me - I didn't try), I just put it to the 'on' position in the ignition (not actually starting the car, just the setting when you want to listen to the radio, etc)...

feeder82

11 volts is not enough to power the car. If the battery was dead a trickle charger won't revive it. Take out the battery and have it load tested, most auto parts stores will do this for free.

nmbsun

You have a car that depends on a fully charged battery. I don't like all the problems with a low charge battery but that is just they way it is today. GET A NEW BATTERY! And yes the C5 Corvette can be the biggest pain in the *** you will ever own. I have owned my vette long enough to know just what a mistake I made when I bought it. BUT I paid cash and it's all mine and I would have lost so much money just to get rid of it. So that gives me the right to say what a piece of crap a C5 Corvette is. Just read all the sticky posts about all the problems this car has. You are not alone!

memememe

okay, thanks for the replies so far. sorry I seemed a bit upset - was just really frustrated, beacuse I was so excited to get this, didn't expect to have this happen only a few weeks later...

I think part of the freakin out is not knowing "what" it is - and some people having major issues... maybe this is just a battery thing.

trickle charging last night, seems to be charging okay so far... (the fusebox stopped buzzing)... so I guess I'll see...

going to probably take it to an electric/mechanic tomorrow, see what he says...

pewter99

Yeah, we get it..BTDT....but you will be surprised at how much a GOOD battery matters in these cars...good luck

ncali

going to probably take it to an electric/mechanic tomorrow, see what he says..


You have already asked an electric mechanic , listen to them . Get the battery checked at an auto parts store
1st things first. Once you have a battery with more than 12 volts you will find your problems are fixed. Then you can look for the reason the battery went dead

memememe

hmm, interesting... okay - having trickle charged I think for about 36 hours now - the battery seems to be at a max of about 11.5 volts... (that is me just turning my car to the start position & reading what it shows off the gauge)... so I guess it probably is the battery...

memememe

since I will most likely be (at the very least) getting a new battery, what do you recommend? it seems i have a 'napa legend' currently there... is that "good"? some people on this forum (reading) seem to recommend a "red top" AGM battery? will my existing trickle charger (this one here) be compatible with it? https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBC85300A

thanks!

memememe

also - what is the difference between a "redtop" and a "yellowtop" (seems the price is only about $20 more for the yellowtop, so wouldn't it make sense to go with that?)

also - reading - at least in a 'review' - it says you can't "jump start" an AGM battery if you need to, is that accurate? thanks!

gpd132

I had problems too. I am in the same boat as you. Always wanted one and now regret it. Nothing but problems. As I mentioned in another post I should have got the Lexus RC. I went to Autozone and got their best battery. Its already gone out once but Autozone replaces it for free up to a certain point. A good battery will solve some of your electrical problems but there are many more on the way. Good news is that most don't cause any driveability problems. But you can expect the Check Engine lights to be on constantly with various codes. When one gets fixed another will pop up. Keep in mind no matter what year your C5 is its basically 1997 technology so its really a 22 year old car. My advice is to get rid of it and break even if you can. If you keep chasing problems and spending money you won't ever get your money back. Financially its a loser.

50thz06

If you go with Optima, get the red top. The yellow top is a deep cycle battery and is not intended to be a primary starting battery, even if you find that there are people running the yellow top.

And you can jump start any car battery, AGM or otherwise.

gimp

Yellowtop batteries are intended for applications that sit a long time. Redtop batteries are more standard. I don't think there are any issues starting with a yellowtop, but if you're not planning on leaving the car sitting without a battery tender for long stretches of time, you can just save your money.

You can jump start any sort of battery system, AGM or not, but supposedly C5 corvettes do not like being jump-started; they're supposed to be trickle-charged to full then started normally. I've done it, it'll do in a pinch, if you gotta.

memememe

actually I just bought the car, got a C5 because that is specifically what I wanted... hopefully I have a good run after getting this fixed...

memememe

thanks for the help!

ncali

I had problems too. I am in the same boat as you. Always wanted one and now regret it. Nothing but problems. As I mentioned in another post I should have got the Lexus RC. I went to Autozone and got their best battery. Its already gone out once but Autozone replaces it for free up to a certain point. A good battery will solve some of your electrical problems but there are many more on the way. Good news is that most don't cause any driveability problems. But you can expect the Check Engine lights to be on constantly with various codes. When one gets fixed another will pop up. Keep in mind no matter what year your C5 is its basically 1997 technology so its really a 22 year old car. My advice is to get rid of it and break even if you can. If you keep chasing problems and spending money you won't ever get your money back. Financially its a loser.





I got my c5 a year ago and have had very few problems with mine,. It sounds like the guy that made this statement wasn't so lucky in his purchase but don't let his troubles discourage you. A red top battery is fine but there are other AGM batteries out there that aren't as expensive as a red top . The battery in these cars sits on top of the pcm computer with a cluster of wires there. a liquid filled battery cal leak and damage wires and that computer, so don't get a regular battery


Your trickle charger is good for plugging in when you park the car to keep the battery charged but it isnt big enough to charge a dead battery
Take things one at a time , read everything that you can here, you have a fine car just dont get excited

wcsinx

Just wanted to add that the reason it might have seemed OK initially is because you had a battery at the ragged edge. So it had just enough power to cycle up the computer(s), run the DIC display, turn on the interior lights, etc. but as you screwed around in there the battery drained down, the voltage dropped and everything started freaking out. The buzzing you heard was indicative of a relay opening and closing very rapidly due to insufficient current. (and unless you're an 800 lbs gorilla, there's little to no chance that you managed to short something out with the little thumb screw that holds on the fusebox cover)