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Is that something difficult (or expensive) to replace? It seems like this car may have that problem. I thought the salesperson was maybe too far away with the key fob (if that makes a difference) but I had to pull on the outer door switch several times to get the door to open. The light on top of the door kept lighting up red.
On second thought, if the red light is turning on, then the switch is probably good, but maybe the latch activator (maybe solenoid) is somehow faulty. Is that common?
Yes all autos have issues...even Ferrari and Rolls Royce have issues. Life is always a risk and some folks take more risk while some take on little risk. There is risk the air you breath will cause cancer or worse, there is risk in sitting on the toilet ect. Your current risk is dying before discovering the joy of owning a Corvette. But I'm guessing...
I have 124k miles on my 2006 and I have experienced none of the above mentioned issues. Early on in my ownership, I tied back the auto shifter locking pawl as a preventative measure to prevent the shifter stuck in Park issue, which BTW, is caused by a micro switch that fails. A $2.00 part but GM solved that by replacing the entire shifter rather than just the switch.
With 80k miles of road trips, better to nitp it in the bud before the switch failed on one of many road trips.
Thanks for all the replies, everyone. We ended up buying the car! The biggest item (the balancer) had already been replaced recently. At least I can be conscious of the other items, and I can address them at any indication that they are starting to fail.
Looks like a real beauty. Do yourself a real favor and immediately fix the two issues that can leave you stranded. The "STUCK IN PARK" issue which you can fix yourself at no cost and also replace the shifter cable which is probably ready to fail any day. Good luck and enjoy!!!
Looks like a real beauty. Do yourself a real favor and immediately fix the two issues that can leave you stranded. The "STUCK IN PARK" issue which you can fix yourself at no cost and also replace the shifter cable which is probably ready to fail any day. Good luck and enjoy!!!
I plan on looking into these over the long winter. I don't really want to eliminate the pawl, but I will look into replacing the switches and check the cable.
I assume you did a carfax check on this car to see if was ever in an accident and if you take your VIN number to a dealer they should be able to give you any work any dealer ever did on your car. Maybe some the C6 issues were already taken care of at some dealer.
Sounds like I might have to bite the bullet and wait another few months to grab a lower mileage c7 instead since the c6 seems to be pretty damn problematic with no real fixes for some of these issues. Still have yet to find a full fix for the melting connector issue. Some people splice the wires then have issues later further down, some people put on stronger connectors and then have the same reoccurring issue later, and some go with the dewitt radiator double fan combo but reports seem limited on this option and not enough really recommend it so seems to not have a fix?
I'm not sure you'll have any better luck with a C7, other than it's a newer car. There are definitely some niceties the C7 has that the C6 doesn't, but if some of the failings with C6 are cheap plastics, I think the C7 is a step backwards. That said, the C7 offers superior fit and finish to the C6, using fewer of those plastic rivets, which the C6 has EVERYWHERE. The C7 also has more electronic stuff, so if electronics is a concern, C6 is a better platform. Both generations are very similar, and yet very dissimilar. I think overall the C7 is a better Corvette that doesn't look as good as a C6 and is harder to work on. I'll add that getting any Corvette is better than getting something that isn't a Corvette.
Harmonic Balancer wobble, gear shifter grommets (attachd to the shifting cable) disintegrating causing the shifter not to shift (fairly easy fix), starter getting fried from the heat against the manifold or LT headers
The auto shifter has a micro switch in front of the shifter lever that activates to release the shifter locking pawl. One can replace that small micro switch, or do what most of owners has done and tie back the locking pawl so the shifter cannot be locked up. The note or caution about doing that is that one can release the shifter with the car not running. One way to keep that safety feature in place is to tie a wire to the locking pawl, run it to the console, which can be pulled to release the pawl if the shifter is ever locked locked or stuck in park due to a malfunctioning microswitch.
One has to remove the radio surround console, then lift the shifter leather boot out of the way, to get at the locking pawl.
Here is a PDF of the step by step.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
