I told a friend about the things I’ve need to do to my 2002. He said you’ve bought a lemon and you need to sell it.

Replaced steering rack.
Needs window regulator.
Needs brakes and rotors.
Needs harmonic balancer.

Lemon?

 

....not a lemon. The items you've listed are all common wear items on the C5 and a lot of other cars, too. Needing brakes doesn't make any car a lemon.

 

Agreed, he was talking about the rack and the balancer.

I don’t think it’s a lemon. It’s an 18 year old car.

 

Poooooooo Yiiiiiiiii Guy, in the 3 years and 4 months I've owned my 03 Coupe which I bought with 109k miles on it I've got about 7600 bucks in it for repairs, oil, tires, etc. A bit of stuff I changed that probably didn't need to yet like shocks and all wheel bearings but did it anyway as I could. About 3000 done at shops including parts and labor, And closing fast on 154.5 K miles at present. Course I've had boats that were costly also. LOL. In comparison with my '03 truck I've had since new, about 2000 on it and 105K miles.

 

I’m way under that for now. I just hope it slows down soon. Going to need new tires in 2 years. I should of added that to the list.

 

few serious questions

How much did you pay for the car?
Did you expect it to not have any problem or need repairs for the price you paid or its age?
how do you feel after finding out car needs repairs?

 

$11,500. 88K. Didn’t expect to have 2 big ticket items in 3 months. Rack wasn’t leaking when I bought it. The balancer issue, I didn’t know any better. The window regulator brakes and tires did upset me at all. The other 2 made me nervous.

 

well, sad truth any used car you have to expect to put money into it.

Just because it's a Corvette dont make it unbreakable or little maintenance car.

If you can DIY that will save you some bucks on labor.

Why do you need to replace steering rack anyways?

 

I guess the good news is that you can do balancer and rack at the same time without incurring much additional labor.

Frankly I recently replaced my balancer out of "fear", not because of any symptoms. But took the opportunity to replace all of the belt idlers/tensioners and belts.

 

It was leaking badly.

 

The reality of a 18 year old car

 

I agree with you.

 

It's not a lemon. These are the things that go wrong with the C5 at 18 years old. It also depends how hard a of a life its had. On that list the only item that really should not fail as much as it does on our cars is the harmonic balancer.

 

Any 18 year old car you buy will need new parts. Even one with low miles as seals, gaskets and rubber bushings deteriorate no matter what. If you’re mechanically inclined buy the parts and watch YouTube videos on how to do it yourself. If you’re not then you could have bought a newer car for the money but all the things you mentioned aren’t exactly major repairs so consider tackling them yourself with a friend. It’s very rewarding to work on your own car. With just 88k miles on it that car has a lot of life left in it yet. Fix it and enjoy it

 

Keep the car, get new friends.
One with a lift would sure be handy...

 

@oktx i don't think you got a lemon at all. Let me tell you about my first "fun car" experience. this was about 8 years ago, I had driven a friends miata (no laughing, please) and really wanted to get one. After a couple weeks of looking I drove to NH to look at a car, a 2001 miata with I think around 109k. Obviously, I fell in love with the car at first sight. In my "new car" lust I was blinded to just how rat-trap the car was. The car had obviously lived through a couple decades outside in NH, and the interior was just as rough.

It was my wife who gently asked about the check engine light that was on. "Oh, its just an O2 sensor!" the seller let us know. "See honey, just an O2 sensor!" I was happy to exclaim. I bought the car for 3600 bucks and proceeded to drive it home. I stalled it an intersection 25 minutes later and the battery wouldn't turn the car over. To this day somebody me and my wife know only as "Miata Jesus" came literally out of nowhere and helped me push the car out of the intersection. I still feel terrible that in my haste to get the car out of the way I didn't help the guy out with some money to thank him. Fortunately the seller came out and jumped the car.

My wife to this day still makes fun of me for buying the car. It was truly a lemon, in every sense.

Here is what I eventually fixed on the car:
timing belt (the timing belt cover had helpfully been cooked by the old belt disintegrating at some point)
sparks/wires
new alternator
new battery

things I learned about:
what REALLY bad piston slap sounds like
why the check engine light kept coming on (catalytic converter was probably shot)
the inherent structural front frame flaw of the NC miata (rusted out from the inside and caused the car to be structurally unsound)
How to break every bolt you've every tried to turn on a Miata as they were completely seized
What a bad clutch feels like
What it feels like to look at a car and completely distrust it in every way
How to sell a miata on Craiglist

 

Sorry to tell you, but that's just the start of your problems. Might get luck and have a nice trouble free car after this, but i doubt it.

Sorry but wait till you start getting electrical problems. Relax people i know there's tons out there trouble free but these cars are tempermental.

And the longer it sits in your garage plan on having problems when you take it out for ride.

Yes i'm pessimistic on these cars i've been through it and my buddy's been through it. Everytime i start it i'm like what's next. This is my experience with the c5 but many has been trouble free which i'm jealous of.. Thanks god i started wrenching at the age of 10 help my dad with his car and it continue to this day at the age of 52. Probably saved 10s of thousands of dollars.

 

Haha know that feeling...any yr vette really. Maybe thats why guys dont drive them much. They know


OP thats no lemon just fix it and keep on driving it...mechanicals are usually robust its every stupid thing attached to them that is suspect.

 

I live in Texas and will be able to drive it year around. I drive it every weekend and start it mid week every week. My 76 year old dad has an 01 and has never had one single issue. Hopefully my issues will slow down.

 

Remember i'm not trying to scare you, this was my personally problems and my friends. Then there's other friends that have no problems. Hope you got the lucky one and yes what your going thruogh is just the norm, it's not a lemon.