Oscillating noise from front tires was diagnosed as bad wheel hubs and replaced under warranty at 30,000 miles.
Air conditioner went out at 120,000 miles.
Shifter cable broke under warranty and was fixed.
Brakes seemed to be a trouble spot of the car and needed more more work than is usual for a car.
Water pump went at 115,000 miles and took the Opti-Spark with it, a problem they fixed on later models.
Car was an absolute beast and a hoot to drive. It's a shame GM made it look like a cheap rental car inside if they'd have finished it right it would have outsold the Mustang since it was the better car.
Car started to feel tired perhaps a little sooner than it should have, but despite not aging gracefully it held together until 120,000 miles.
Appreciated the solid feel of the chasis, steering was nice and heavy, doors had a nice thunk to them. Car felt like it was idling at 80mph on the highway, smooth.
Immediately after I sold it dumb kid got drunk and smashed it into a tree at high speed and the car held up well and airbags saved his life.
If I owned a '94 I'd get my water pump changed at regular 100,000 miles warranties. If the water pump goes out it always takes the opti spark with it in '94 models. I believe they changed the design in '95 so this isn't the case.
OK, I hate to sound stupid, but what is the optispark? I just bought a 94 Z28 with/for my son and we are noticing problems with the temp gauge climbing and found out that the water pump had just been replaced by the selling dealer (a Nissan dealer). This car is perfect/beautiful in every way, but now I am concerned about overheating problems. feed back would be most appreciated. and what is the optispark? thanks.
The optispark is the distributor. it is located behind the water pump. if the water pump goes bad generally you would have to replace the optispark due to water/coolant leaking into the optispark because it is non vented. if your car is running fine I would worry about. consider yourself lucky.
If you're experiencing surging in idle or stumbling at idle, the opti is shot. Extremely expensive labor to have done.
Not easy to do yourself. Replace everything you take off in the process as you don't want to have to do this labor twice!
Buy one that's been updated/modified to get rid of the factory design problem Chevy ignored for us 94 owners, but changed for 95.
I've heard Opti's lasting 40k miles avg. I got 140k out of mine before it had to go.
Bought my Z28 new in 94.
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