i been wanting a good 'MARO! all my life but all the ones i had experience with (early 90s and late 80s) have been money pits, crappy computers, fuel pumps.......and don't get me started on the window....GOD @#$%!#$%@$%@#$% WINDOW!!!!!


ended up getting a 2006 mustang gt but wanting a camaro convertible.... i found this one for 8k - i hear the 2000 models are pretty reliable , does this look like a good buy to u?

Cars for Sale: 2000 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible in Prescott, WI 54021: Convertible Details - 356364892 - AutoTrader.com


i asked about a 95 v6 a while back and u guys said it looked great and the carfax said it was awesome, but it gave me soooo many problems from day 2 :'( does this one look nice, does it look okay under the hood?

its v6 but i dont care about speed anymore, im all about aesthetics! im getting old and my racing days are gone - now i just wanna cruise and look like a boss 302...oh wait camaro forums... i mean cruise and look like a pimp!

 

The V6 3800 is a good engine... it's the same one that's used in just about any FWD car that GM made at the time. It's the Buick 3.8, just evolved over time.

You should be safe with the 3800, BUT (and this is big) you have to watch out for the LIM gaskets on the engine. They're made out of plastic (stupid design imo) and they're prone to shrinking/cracking and leaking.

You also have to watch out for the belt tensioner, I've seen a lot of people have them snap because the tensioner isn't bolted onto the block, it's its own assembly. The heater elbows are also known to snapping and will leak coolant.

While on the subject of cooling, the hoses that go into the belt tensioner assembly (also called the heater hoses) are known to be fragile. Once they get old enough, they tend to shoot off and spray coolant all over the engine bay. If that ever happens, you would have to get the "modified design" which makes the hoses clamped on instead of clipped on to the belt tensioner assembly.

Other than that, the engine is pretty reliable. Like I said, it's the 3800 which is known for durability. Usually everything around the engine will give you problems, but not the engine itself - of course once you change those gaskets. It's the only known problem of the 3800. The heater hose issues are Camaro only.

Past the engine, the 4th gen is known for the windows. You can't escape it... The window motor and regulator are just to small for that big *** window. The window motor is a corporate one. They were used all over the place, so naturally these window motors were designed for smaller windows. As far as I know, they came off the Tahoe/Yukons of the time (The GMT400's not the 800's). It's a design flaw, and it won't happen every day. Just buy a new one from Advance Auto Parts or Auto Zone. They come with a life time warranty. Once you swap it out once, it's easy because the holes are already in the door and the job is how it was supposed to be (bolts instead of rivets).

I can't tell you how the car looks based on pictures. You have to go to the dealer and test drive it. I will say this... $8500 for a Camaro seems a bit steep... then again I bought a 2002 for $2000 but it had more miles (115K) and it's a T Top, not a vert.

Good luck, and hopefully you get a good Camaro... I would recommend one that's was cruised, not raced... the ones that give problems are the ones that were driven "spiritedly" The ones driven by secretaries and mature people are usually well kept.

 

sweet thanks a lot!

hey are the 2000 computers better? my 95 gave me EGR problems out the ace, even the chevy dealer couldn't figure it out - they did a million tests and said everything is working 100% fine, yet the computer kept throwing EGR codes :S i hear that the 95 computers were very bad.

how are the 2000 fuel pumps?

 

The word in red was your problem. Dealers are incompetent. Trust me, I know... I have an Oldsmobile and I used to have a Pontiac... Every visit to the dealer left me 3 blocks further back than where I was beforehand. Just because the dealers are the representatives of the car make doesn't mean they know everything... plus we're in 2014. The 95's are reaching that time where they're becoming 20 years old. The dealers are usually trained in cars no older than 10 years old. You would have had better luck if the car was a 2000. The 95's had different engines than the last Camaros of that body style.

A lot of people flip out on the 94 and 95 computers because they're (affectionately called) "OBD 1.5". What this means is that the computer plug is the same as the 96 and up computer plug (OBD2) but the DATA on it is the same as the other GM cars of the time (OBD1). The design was weird, and on top of that, not many people are experienced in OBD1 because that technology is disappearing. That's why nobody could figure out the issue on that car. 95's are a weird year because it's the last year of the original On Board Diagnostics (OBD) computer system.

So to answer your question, yes the computer is much much better because anyone with a OBD2 scanner can read the codes. It's also a more advanced system. It is more specific than OBD1. Also, with the right scan tools you can read the computer's data as it goes along, and every shop has the tool so you can take it where ever, they can read the computer and see what the engine does for it to trigger a SES light. You can do this with OBD1 as well, but more people have the machinery and the understanding of OBD2.

As far as the fuel pumps, they're hit and miss. GM cars of the time were hit and miss with the fuel pumps. The fuel pump on my old 03 Pontiac Grand AM went bad, but the fuel pump on my Camaro is all original, never given me issues. I believe as long as you don't let the "Check gauges" light come on (which is really the gas light combined with the voltage gauge since most other cars have a gas light instead of check gauges), then you're good. Don't let it venture too deep past the quart before empty or else the pump will eventually go bad. This is of course, considering that the car was well taken care of. If a car is abused (letting it stall out due to no gas frequently) , then yes the pump is gonna go bad, but it's not a "replace every year" feature. Swap it once with a good brand new replacement and you're good for at least another 10 years. It's just a part that wears out easily if not well maintained. I personally feel the fuel pump issue is more of letting the pump dry out, so that's more of the issue than a faulty pump from factory.

 

Fuel pumps are an issue on ANY GM product at 15 years old. You should only have to do it once.

The most important thing about any 15 year old car is how it has been taken care of. I have a 96 with over 200K on it. To date it has been the cheapest per mile car I have ever owned. 3800 is almost bullet proof if it is maintained right but problem do happen. One of the big issues is find someone that knows the cars. Dealerships tend to have high turn over rates. A lot of the guys that work there rarely worked on 4th gens.

This price for that seems pretty high. If it is the original top it will most likely need replaced soon. The best advise I could give you take to a good mechanic and have it looked over and take it by a rag top place and ask them how long they think it will last. If you tell the dealer what you are doing they should not have an issue would you taking the car for the afternoon.