2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: Service This

Couldn't someone have parked the vehicle any closer to the railing?

As I mentioned before, could be a bad EBTCM, which I would not recommend getting fixed at the dealer. Could be steering wheel position sensor, yaw sensor, or wheel speed sensor.

In other words a dealer's service department dream job...

This car has more issues than Time Magazine.

@acbayard -- It's also the oldest and most abused car in the fleet (except for the Miata which they are tuning). You know they are hitting the gas hard at every stop light. It doesn't surprise me that something like this would happen.

It might have few niggles here and there, but name another car that was bought for this price that goes like this one does.

I don't believe the C5 Z06 has wheel speed sensors (only the "regular" C5 'Vettes do). If that is true, there are other issues causing the code. My personal, uneducated guess-the ECBM (already mentioned) is likely faulty. At least getting one for a C5 shouldn't be as hard as when mine went bad on a 1993 C4. Had to wait 6 months for a rebuilt computer! Not cheap, either.

@acbayard: This seems about par for the course with a performance vehicle this old and driven hard. Cheap performance still comes at a price. Even my '06 Miata has had about as many issues

If you think this car has the potential to break the bank here's an excerpt from the first few entries in the E46 M3 long term test:

BMW M3: Connecting rod TSB, "could puke bottom end out"
By Mike Magrath | January 9, 2008

The oil-pump and connecting rod bearings need to be replaced or, as was so delicately put in the message, the car could "puke its bottom end out."

2002 BMW M3: Hoping For a Catastrophe
By Ed Hellwig | January 18, 2008

I sincerely hope that within the next 11 months, one of our M3s pistons goes rocketing through the hood. Or we receive a service bill for a mysterious $2,000 valve adjustment.

2002 BMW M3: Pit Stop
By Brian Moody | February 12, 2008

Our M3 has been making an odd noise - a thump, thump, thump sound at very low speed. The tires also seem to be wearing unevenly - chunking on one rear tire too.

This morning we dropped it off at Long Beach BMW. About an hour later, our service advisor Anthony called us and recommended the following:

Replace front pads and rotors - $1,041
Replace rear control arm bushings - $800
Four wheel alignment - $280
4 new OE spec tires - $1,331

This is why I love the used car long-term tests. They generally provide an accurate and complete picture of the joys, benefits, and pain associated with buying cars like this one. They're a true service to a big chunk of the car enthusiast population who have yet to experience the joys of getting a great deal on a used ______ and then discovering that they've really just made a down payment on the fun.

After a decent amount of time wrenching on C5s and C5Zs my vote goes towards an EBCM. With that said, yes these cars have steering column issues, EBCM faults, water pump failures, etc but on average the reliability is excellent. Any forum designated to a particular model of car regardless of year or manufacturer will result in a plethora of "This could go wrong" and "DIY fixes" but having also owned Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas etc I am still blown away at the performance of my Z06 for such a low purchase price and long term reliability. Another beautiful thing about this car is that with minimal mechanical knowledge any gear head can perform almost any fix or maintenance task which also contributes to my view of a low operating costs.

@blkzeosix says:

"After a decent amount of time wrenching on C5s and C5Zs my vote goes towards an EBCM. With that said, yes these cars have steering column issues, EBCM faults, water pump failures, etc. "

FWIW, my '02 Z06 of almost identical mileage as Edmund's long termer here has not experienced any of those issues so far, and I'm the original owner. The only issue I had with the car was last year when I bent the shift fork (mine is an earlier '02 build with the aluminum shift forks which can bend), which subsequently lunched the 3-4 synchro, and then the gears while beating the snot out of it on the race track. Since I had an aftermarket Hurst shifter without the proper stop screws in place, all of this may have been my fault anyway.

That's it though - absolutely no other problems, and I drive the car HARD, and it's seen many track days (HPDE's), and auto-X days. Nine years later, I'm still in awe with the car's performance. Everytime I even slightly think of selling it, I drive it hard, and I'm left with a big grin on my face, adrenaline pumping, ears ringing, and I think to myself, "nope, I'm keeping this one!"

It sounds like you love your car as much as I love mine :) Personally I have had even less problems than you, not a single thing, not even those unrelated random things like flat tires, rock chips, etc. If thats not enough to keep a car I don't know what is but I was just speaking from experience of helping out other Vette owners. In our local club we have a few problems that seem to come up more often than others like steering locks, dim HVAC controls and so forth. Bottom line, these cars a mechanically rock solid.

canddmeyer says

Great observation and freaking hilarious....

In C5's you can pull up all trouble codes through the onboard computer; both current and historic codes.

It's well known that the battery leaked spilling acid onto the ECU in early Corvette ZO6s causing the stability control among other things to malfunction. See this link for more info: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/08q4/most_fun_for_25_000-feature/2001_e2_80_9304_chevrolet_corvette_z06_page_5

Couldn't someone have parked the vehicle any closer to the railing?

canddmeyer says

Great observation and freaking hilarious

Look again the car is nowhere near the railung it's parked past it, look at the right rear tire and you'll notice the space.

Railung???????? damn you fat fingers

How many miles are on this Z06? And how many miles have you put on it since you've acquired it?

I'm curious, because I bought a used car about a year ago, and I've put 16,000 miles on it since. It's a 2000 Celica GT-S with 156k miles on it now. And guess what? I haven't had a single issue with it yet. No check engine light. And I still get 38 MPG with it on long highway trips.

Sadly I can't say the same about my old 1994 Trans Am. That thing was completely broken down at 100k miles when I bought it, and I spent more money fixing it than I did buying it originally.

This, along with your experiences with your Z06, would lead me to believe that old GM products just aren't as reliable as old Japanese products. But I think the rest of the world knows this already.

Just my two cents.

lt1boy: Yes, a Celica will outlive a Corvette Z06 or a '94 Trans Am in terms of miles. Japanese cars last a long time. That's no secret. At the same time, I don't think an '00 Celica gets driven the same way a Z06 does. And personally I feel that early 90's GM F-bodies made lots of HP and sure went like a scalded housecat, but were otherwise wiggly rattling buckets of poo.