1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 Convertible from UK and Ireland - Comments

I replaced the alternator at 48,000 miles.

I replaced the waterpump at 49,000 miles.

I developed a diagnostic problem which caused the car to jerk forward when in drive at idle at 52,000 miles which the dealer could not fix after two trips in and over $400.

I had the spark plugs and wires changed, and got a tuneup at 60,000 miles which cost me $700 from Goodyear.

My power driver's side window went out at 65,000 miles.

My power convertible top motor went out at 66,000 miles.

The heatercore went out at 71,000 miles.

My rear defrost stopped working at 78,000 miles.

Finally, the head gaskets blew at 81,000 miles (it would have cost me $1400 to get them fixed, so I sold the car).

I also had the plastic around the automatic shifter lever break right after I bought the car.

The glove box also never met correctly on its latch.

Not to mention I had the common F-car problem of replacing light bulbs all the time (1 fog light, 2 headlights, and 5 tail-light bulbs).

Overall the car cost me a fortune.

Well, now you have read all the bad things, so I'll say something nice. The car was ver very quick. I wish I had bought it with a manual, but it was very fast none the less. It also sounded great too. It was relatively confortable car to take on long trips (I took it to and from TN to VA (700 miles) several times and also from TN to FL on one occasion). The convertible was great and it always got me looks. I loved my Camaro, but I hated fixing it all the time. I was sad to see GM kill the F-cars, but I am hoping they will resurrect them with all the style, power, and hopefully some reliablity on its next incarnation. My advice is if you want to buy one of these cars, buy one that is at least as new as 2000 (from what I have learned they were made better after about that point) and try to stick to one with low miles. Take very very good care of it and it might not give you the problems mine had (although I did take very good care of my car, but we must not forget its age). Finally, if you are in the market for 2+2 sports car, don't fret, the Mustang GT is a very very good alternative, we also own one of these which is a '99 GT. It has 70,000+ miles and has had no major replacements. It is a not quite as fast as a Z-28, but it is very close. Not to mention they are still making them! To find out more about the Mustang, check my upcoming review for it as listed above.

BLOWN HEAD GASKETS? May 9th, 2003.

I apologize for the length of this note.

Please read with patience.

Response about head gaskets would be appreciated.

I have a '94 Camaro Z28. I got it about three years ago as a salvage (hit in rear) with 49k miles on it.

BODY

It drove with no problems upon test driving. I fixed the back, leaving it with a few minor dents, scuffs and some paint chipping off the front nose piece. After hitting two deer the first summer; the next summer (2yrs ago) I decided to get the body work done and have it repainted. It still looks nice today. Even after being tapped on the rear bumper and being put in the ditch from 50 mph after a 450degree spin-out by a friend whom I shouldn't have had driving. At a glance or from a short distance the car looks new.

ENGINE

I was somewhat hasty in buying this car, as I was 19 and had never had such a stylish car with the great performance that this car has. After buying it I noticed signs that the car must have been beat on quite a bit. When I checked the engine oil, it was black as I've ever seen and the faded oil change sticker appeared to say that the oil hadn't been changed for about 10,000 miles, no wonder it was black! tearing around in it and not changing the oil for 10k!

There was a hesitation problem after engine warm up, which was remedied by changing the spark plugs, fuel filter and air filter. I believe it was the spark plugs, they looked awful. After that, the engine ran great. The auto transmission wouldn't operate real well, but it worked fine and still does.

I live in Minnesota, a cold winter climate with snow, so I have stored the car during winters. I have heard it's bad to leave an engine sitting for long periods without running it, so I would run the engine for 30 minutes (also heard somewhere else that this is how long it takes an engine to completely warm up from cold start) once a month or so.

Running it 30 minutes must have been too long when parking the car in a house connected garage this last winter (it's closer to room temperature of course). When taking the car out in the spring this year it ran rough and stalled on me by the time I got to the gas station a few miles down the road. I started it up again and got it to the gas pump. After filling it up I was on my way back to the highway, but it stalled even before clearing the parking lot. The engine wouldn't run well enough to drive five feet until I let it cool back down for forty minutes. I thought this was a symptom of a gummed up fuel system from sitting all winter, so when I finally got back on the highway I mashed on the gas 'til it reached 130mph (I don't want to be stranded for another forty minutes). This seemed to clear it out quite a bit (this was my intention). I let off, coasted to 50 then floored it again to about 100-110 (130 is pretty fast to be going on a highway that has some traffic on it, even if it is two lanes per direction). I did this a couple more times. Now the engine was running great! hweow! No problem. Right?

Well within the next few days I noticed problems and it seemed to worsen over the next couple weeks. It ran fine during normal driving and cruising on the highway, but when driven hard with engine warm (no problem until warm) it would sputter at higher rpms and later on even backfire. Not exactly what you want out of a performance car. I really didn't know what could be the problem and did not have any money to fix it.

About two weeks ago the engine even sputtered at low speed one day. I took an exit off the freeway and suddenly it practically acted as if it was about to run out of gas. I drove it slowly, 30mph, to a friend's place with it sputtering the whole way (from the highway this was only a half mile or so). I then let it cool down a few hours, so it ran good enough to get it back home safely.

After this last incident I was no longer again about to drive the car long enough for the engine to warm up. I didn't want to wreck it!

Well! So much for not wrecking it. My roommate's car hadn't worked for months, and last week I sold my other car, so I let him use the Camaro being that his job is a 15 minute drive one way. Not long enough for the engine to run bad.

He used it for more than just getting to work. He drove a friend around after work (unnecessary driving which he agreed not to do before I lendt him the car!). He drove it till it sputtered and finally started smoking and making a clacking noise before parking it. My bad for providing him a car to get to work with! I will never let him use one of my cars as long as I remember this! Somebody better be dying!

The Camaro now has about 73k miles on it, and probably needs a new engine. Courtesy of someone who needs a ride to work.

Anyway after this happening I came to the conclusion that my car had bad head gaskets from idling too hot during winter storage. Does this sound right? If your symptoms of a bad head gasket were similar please tell me.

I figure it would be at least $3,000 to replace the engine. Much worse than replacing head gaskets, which could very likely be done for less than $1400. I believe I got a quote for not much more than $500 the first year I had the car, when it turned out to be spark plugs (they really looked bad). This, of course, was not a GM dealer. I think their quote WAS well over $1000.