stickee

Hello Peeps,

I have a 1998 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Cayenne Metallic Red. The car has 4,300 miles on it. It has barely ever been driven and has been modified very lightly with Z06 rims and body coloured mirrors. I was hoping some brainiacs here could answer some questions for me because there are some strange issues...

1) A creaking rear suspension when going over speed bumps...I know people surmise it could be a bushing and the recommendation is to grease up various suspension parts but is it possible that at mileage any suspension component could wear out?

2) Slight click when engaging car in reverse or drive from the back axle area of car. Nothing too loud. Maybe it is nothing but since I have never had a GM product or even American car, I am not sure whether it is something I should be concerned over or not.

3) Transmission shifts with a nudge when going from 1-2 gear. Just only between those gears curiously.

4) Rust! There is rust on the rear axle. It is an orangish colour and is quite widespread on the axle itself. However, nowhere else on the undercarriage is there rust.

Well that is it. I used to have a MR2 Spyder with a license plate "stickee" hence my username. I sold it and got the Camaro. BTW-I got the Camaro for $10,000 from an old man. He had it for all that time and did not really drive it. I have an AutoCheck record form that shows it had only 982 miles in 2006! I wonder whether I should even drive a classic...

I may also sell it too if someone puts out a reasonable offer...

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

1) Im sure a 12 year old car that was hardly driven could have worn out bushings. Not real familiar but most of the rubber stuff dries and and is no good. WD-40 is your friend there.

2) Again, rust on the rotors or something that may wear off once you drive it a little.

3) Change the fluid and flush the clutch fluid. This may help

4) as long as its not soft they all do it, it should just be surface rust.

4) If your planning to flip it, dont put what you paid because people will not offer as much. Just my .02, id sell it and make some money, making money on cars doesnt come very often so id take advantage of it.

millersta

iTrader: (2)

for the noise i would just check the bushings make sure they arent dry rotted and lube them trans i would check the fluid maybe change it and the filter if u want and the rust on the axle i believe is normal nothing to worry about worst case if it bugs u pull it outta the car and paint it. oh and good luck with the new car the mods im sure will come shortly

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

1) That noise is one (or both) of two things, LCA (lower control arm) or PHB (panhard bar) bushings. They all make that noise as they age. I too have a super low mileage '98 Z28 (15k miles) and it makes that same noise. I have isolated it to those 6 bushings. I'm not bothered enough by it to actually do anything about it though.

2) Could this click be described as a "tink" sort of sound? If so, it probably has the optional 3.23 rear with an aluminum driveshaft. Many of these have that "tink" when dropping into gear, not a big deal IMO.

3) Check the trans fluid. The 4L60E auto is very sensitive about fluid level. Shifting might not feel normal if the level is too low OR too high. If the level is ok, I would just drop the pan, do a fluid change, and make sure the filter hasn't become at all dislodged (should be pushed all the way up against the valvebody).

4) That rust is 100% normal. Most of these axles would develop surface rust when these cars were new sitting on the dealers lot. Reason being, they are not painted from the factory. It's bare metal, which can begin to rust with any introduction of moisture. If it bothers you, you can clean and paint it, otherwise just leave it....it will NEVER rust through, it's far too thick to ever be a problem. 5 generations of your family could live and die and that axle will still not rust through.

Great find, very good price for a 4,000 mile LS1 car. Finding them with under 20k miles is hard now, and under 10k miles usually means pretty big money. I think you got a great deal, and that color is awesome! I would keep it if I were you.....

stickee

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the great replies.

Yes, the sound when changing gears is kind of like a metallic "tink" only audible when the door is open. It has many peculiarities that I have never encountered in cars before so I thought to ask. Is there a way to visually tell if the car has the optional 3.23 axle? The car also has a problem of getting out of park...sometimes the shift button on the automatic gets stuck, preventing the car being shifted out of park! However, if memory serves me right, this is normal...it even mentions this problem in the manual but it is sure annoying!

Anyways, I will probably keep the car. I just put it out there just because there may be a Camaro enthusiast who can potentially take better care of the car. I basically store it in my garage but there may be others who can store it properly long-term car facility.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

There is a white sticker on the driver's door jamb area that has several 3-digit codes. Look for a code that says "GU5", that is the 3.23 gear/aluminum shaft option. Or, you can just look under the car and check for an aluminum shaft vs a steel shaft (if it's a steel shaft, it will have some dusting of rust on it, just like the rear end). I'm sure you have the aluminum shaft if you have that tink sound though, it's the only cause of that noise, in my experiance.

Are you sure that you're pressing the brake pedal enough while trying to shift from park? There is a saftey switch that will prevent you from shifting out of park if the brake is not engaged. Otherwise, I'm not sure what would be causing this issue.

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Mine does the same thing when it is cold and I have to use both thumbs to make it depress.

Best color ever and not many produced.......

stickee

Thanks again all for the great input. This board is really great.

Its me again with another question that I cannot find through the search function on this board. I have been able to get some great information throughout but not for this particular question.

Well, I have not driven my Camaro for a really really long time. Yesterday, I had to drive the Camaro to work because I had a 1998 BMW 540i whose transmission failed catastrophically-apparently, it is common enough for the dealer to shrug it off and say that's what happens when you buy something from "Broken Motor Works." And those were their own words!

Anyways, as I was reversing from my driveway, the car stalled and the check gauges light illuminated. I took it to AutoZone to have the codes read and nothing showed. The guy said it could be just old gas. To be fair, the car has always bogged sometimes when cold when first shifting into reverse. I am not sure-could it be old gas that caused it to stall?

Also, we debated on how best to warm up a car. I usually idle the car for 5-7 minutes. He said it is ok to drive the car 30 seconds after start-up. I have always idled my cars for a long time without little problem but I have read that it can cause gas deposits to build-up in the engine. How do you guys warm-up your cars if at all?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Again, I'm in a similar situation as you with a very low mileage 12 year old LS1 that is rarely driven, so here are my experiances and what I do:

The first shift into reverse (coming out of the garage) after a cold start is usually when I'll see the biggest idle drop. Normally it'll drop about 100rpm lower than it's supposed to for just a second, then recover almost instantly to normal idle speed. It'll only do that the very first time I shift into gear after a cold start though. It's always been this way, never gotten any better or worse, so I don't worry about it.

The car has never stalled out, but when I first bought it (2004, car had 11k miles then) it did have some idle weirdness and would often take a long time cranking before it would start. This lead to several discoveries on my part, and a few things I've done to fix/prevent the issues:

1) I found that a couple of the plugs were carboned up, probably from short trip driving, etc. I changed all the plugs first, this helped.

2) I was still having some idle issues (occasional inconsistant idle speed, idle hanging too high, etc.), and after trying a bunch of different things to track it down I ended up replacing the EGR valve. GM issued a recall on EGR valves for some 1998 LS1 models, so yours may have been done. Once I replaced that valve, all (and I mean ALL) of my idle issues went away.

3) I was getting some audiable knocking under acceleration due to preignition/detonation. I chalked this up to old gas from the previous owner and fouled injector tips (also due to the old gas). I added as much new gas as possibile and the detonation went away but the excessive cranking stayed. I then found a product called Red Line SI-1 fuel system cleaner. This stuff works great, I used a full bottle for the initial cleanup and about half way into that tank of gas the cranking issues were gone. Car would start as perfect as new, and engine operation was much better. Just like the previous owner, I didn't intend to drive this car much so I wanted to prevent this issue from coming back. This product is safe for continual use, which is exactly what I've been doing for 5 years now; each tank of gas I add 1/5 ounce per gallon (which is within the recommendations of the product). I also add some Stabil to the tank just before winter storage each year. All these measures have lead to excellent operation of the fuel system for years. Even when the car hasn't been run for two months, the motor will fire up after just one or two cranks.

As for warm up proceedure, I always let the motor run for a few mins after a cold start since it sits so long between restarts. But with my daily driver '02 Z, I just let it run for about 30 seconds like you mentioned, then I start driving. Either way, I keep engine speeds under 2500rpm till the motor is fully up to temp.