Last year I convinced my dad to let me get his C4 1990 Corvette running again. He ordered it new from the factory with a build date of 09/1989. It's a convertible with a hardtop and a 6-speed manual, triple black.
He drove it for 8 years and parked it at the end of 1998 and never drove it again. Life happened, was working a lot of hours at Ford and health problems crept up on him and mom over the years. So it sat covered up in the garage for 27 years.
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In the Spring of 2025 I had a local shop come pick up the car and go through it to get it on the road again. New tires, changed most of the hoses, new cap and rotor, alternator, fuel pump assembly, turned the brake rotors, drained the fuel tank from old gas and some other odds and ends. Replaced the mufflers due to rattling from a broken baffle.
I had to replace the entire stereo system because it no longer worked; a common problem on C4's. New head unit, 4 speakers and an amplifier.
Another common C4 problem was the nylon gears in the headlight motors would turn to dust over time. Same happened to this car so I replaced them myself.
I also polished and waxed it last year and it looks great. (Time for another wax now)
Last summer I drove it about 2,000 miles or so and then stored it in the winter. I kept the battery on a tender over the winter and when I'm not using it during the week.
This Spring after getting it out of storage I had some more planned work done to it. Changed some more hoses, flushed the brake system and the cooling system and other odds and ends.
Then I started having trouble with it a few months ago. I drove it to breakfast one morning and it was fine. When I went to leave it would crank but not start. Had to have it towed back home. I didn't have time to look into it for a week or two. When I got back to it it started up just fine. Weird. So I decided to get it back on the road and check out a new shop I found closer to home who deals with older cars, exotic cars and specializes in Corvettes. I never made it there. I got 5 miles and the car just quit and wouldn't restart like before. Had to be towed again.
I wondered if the fuel pump was getting flakey, even though it was replaced last year. I put a fuel pressure gauge on it at the Shrader valve and it was perfect 35-40 psi while cranking. So I ruled that out.
I made my way to the new shop I wanted to check out (using my daily driver of course). Told them the story and the history of the car. A week later they came and picked it up in a covered trailer and brought it to their shop.
After diagnosing it they found that the fuel injector on cylinder #1 was shorting out the ECM and causing it to kill the engine.
So they replaced all the injectors with new ones. While they were there and had the intake off, they replaced the spark plugs, gaskets and found the thermostat was leaking and so replaced that as well. I also had them do a common C4 mod and that is to bypass the coolant passing through the throttle body. This car never drives in the winter or freezing temperatures and I don't need it heating up already hot air going into the intake. Plus it eliminates a few more connections that have the potential to leak. Had them change the oil and grease the fittings too.
The car has just over 47,000 miles on it today. Dad changed the oil, filter and greased it every 1,000 miles. A bit overkill, but it's cheap insurance to keep the engine healthy and reliable for a long time. I'm keeping the same interval now that I own it.
I got the car back from the shop Friday afternoon and since then I've put about 300 miles on it and it's running great again.
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