Nearly a quarter-million C5s rolled off the Bowling Green assembly line during their eight-year run, and they have turned into one of the true performance bargains of our era. The LS1 is regarded as one of the top small-block engines from Chevy, with many examples highlighted on the popular forums still going strong at 300,000+ miles.
If you want to get in the high-mileage club and extract the most out of your C5 experience, popular enthusiast and YouTuber Toys4Life C5 is one of the go-to guys for tips and advice. With nearly 33,000 subscribers, this YouTuber has established a following who trusts his content. And today’s video guide, curated exclusively by CorvSport, is no exception to his helpful content. [Author’s Note: This article is FREE and not behind a paywall. If/when any popups occur, please click to make them disappear and continue enjoying the article.]
CorvSport knows you live a busy lifestyle, so we’ve summarized the video to give you a quick read and find the tips that may help you, with exact timestamps, if you want to dive deeper. We’ve included the video below if you want to join one of the 22,000+ enthusiasts who have already tapped into Toys4Life’s insights on this video. Let’s dive in!
Ten Things A C5 Corvette Owner Should NEVER DO
“C5 Ownership 101”
#1
[0:22] Cold Start Guidelines
“The first thing on this list, it just makes me cringe thinking about it, never ever rev up your engine to high RPMs immediately after a cold start. And along those same lines never really get on it and hammer the throttle right away after you start driving the C5 Corvette. You’ve got to wait till the oil temperature warms up to somewhere around 150° preferably 160° F or warmer.
There are two main reasons that you don’t want to do this. The first one is when the engine is cold all of the metals have fully contracted and that means there’s excess clearances between things like the pistons and the cylinder liners. Yep, even though the engine block is made of aluminum and the pistons are made of aluminum the cylinder liners that are pressed in are made out of iron and the aluminum expands more when heated than the cast iron cylinder liners do. So the gaps, when cold, are left intentionally large by taking the time to let the mighty LS engine fully warm up.
That piston is allowed to expand and close the gap between it and the cast iron cylinder liner to closer to the ideal tolerance, and as a result, the engine wear will be minimized. This same principle applies to all other moving parts within the engine as well, like the crankshaft connecting rods, roller rocker wrist pins, etc.
The second reason not to get on that engine until it’s fully warmed up is because the oil is cold, and cold oil doesn’t flow nearly as well as hot oil does. But toys for life, I’m confused; my oil pressure is higher when the oil is cold, so isn’t that better? No, it’s not it sounds like it would be, but cold oil is thicker so it resists flow and that impedes the oil’s ability to flow through all of the nooks and crannies in the engine and provide abundant lubrication to all of the parts that require it.”
#2
[2:13] Fuel Tank Additives Advice
“The second thing you should never do is waste your money by pouring additives into your fuel tank except for the occasional use of Techron or BOOSTane if you happen to have a supercharged engine. All gasoline sold in the United States already has federally mandated additives. But, of course, it is true that some brands of fuel have better additional additive packages than others.
It’s beyond the scope of this video, but if you want to nerd out a little bit and make sure your C5 is getting the best gas available, head over to toptiergas.com and find a list of stations that have voluntarily agreed to comply with a higher standard. Otherwise, just be sure that you frequent gas stations that are always busy, and that’ll help ensure that you always get fresh fuel.
So why is the fuel additive Techron an exception? Well, even though I’ve never had to use it in my C5 Corvette in the past 10 years, there’s just too much anecdotal evidence out there to ignore that if you’re having issues where your fuel gauge is faulty or not working, at all, Techron is the additive to help fix that. Adding Techron to a couple of tanks of fuel in a row is well-known to clean the little contact points on the fuel-sending units that are located inside of the fuel tanks. And, after a tank or two of treatment, many people report back that their fuel gauge is working once again. So, let the group know in the comments below if you have any strong opinions about Techron or any other additive for that matter that you’ve experienced firsthand.”
Author’s Sidenote: I’ve had the fuel gauge issue, most recently on the 2000 FRC I bought last year. After using one treatment of straight Techron, I used Chevron’s 93 octane exclusively, which has the Techron already added. The problem never resurfaced.
#3
[3:37] Washing Do’s And Dont’s
“C5 Corvette owners are known to wash their c5s a lot, and that’s a great thing. But, making mistakes when washing your car can easily scratch your paint, so never do any of the following things. Never use an automated car wash that uses anything to touch the paint on your car, other than water. Any kind of spinning brush or cloth will likely be contaminated with larger particles of dirt which can easily scratch the crap out of your paint.
When washing your C5 at home by hand, be sure to rinse it first and take plenty of time washing it from the top to the bottom, and this will remove most of the larger part particles of dirt. And then when you follow that up with the microfiber mitt, start again from the top and work your way to the bottom. But, do stop frequently and rinse your mitt off so you can remove the smaller particles of dirt that are going to want to cling to it.
And for the love of God, please don’t use the same mitt for cleaning your rims that you do for cleaning your paint. Your rims are going to have a light coating of brake dust and iron from the rotors, and that by definition is extremely abrasive, and you don’t want that touching your paint.”
#4
[4:54] Wheel Removal Tips
“Whenever you remove your rims, and you go to put them back on, when you tighten those lug nuts, tighten them in a star pattern. And, most of us are well aware of this rule, then make sure you never fully tighten your lug nuts without using a torque wrench. Torque wrenches are cheap and they’re easy to use. And, if you fail to use them the lug nuts can come loose and damage your rim, or worse yet one of your wheels can fall off while you’re driving down the road.
It happens once in a while, and sometimes it goes the other direction and the lug nuts are tightened so tight that those hard steel lug nuts actually damage the softer aluminum rims, and that’s no good. And lastly, when you’re tightening those lug nuts, you’re also tightening up your brake rotor, and brake rotors have a very tight runout tolerance. So if you don’t tighten all of those lug nuts equally, you can end up with kind of a vibration at higher speeds, or a pedal that pulsates when you apply the brakes.
Also, know that if you bring your C5 into a shop for work to be done when they throw the wheels back on, the vast majority of technicians will use just an impact gun exclusively to tighten down those lug nuts because time is money. However, how tight or loose your lug nuts end up being is absolutely a safety item, so ask the shop manager to write on the work order that the customer is requesting that the lug nuts be torqued with a torque wrench and that the customer will be spot checking them when the car gets home. They probably won’t give you any grief, but if they do, don’t let them get away with it because using a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts is absolutely the correct way to do it.”
#5
[6:38] How To Jack Up Your C5
“Never jack up your C5 with a jack unless you know what you’re doing. There are certain areas underneath the car that it’s okay to use for jacking, and there’s other areas that can easily be damaged if you place the jack underneath it. Or worse yet, the car will fall off the jack and damage you!
Here’s an illustration from a GM service manual (at 7:00) of the different points underneath the car that you can use to lift the car with different types of jacks. And if you’re new to the C5 game, there’s a video right up here that demonstrates multiple different ways of lifting the C5 off the ground for maintenance, and it goes through each one of them in fine detail.”
Author’s Note: I’ve included Toys4Life’s full-length video on how to jack up your C5 below.
#6
[7:17] Important Maintenance Reminders
“Never forget to have your c5’s transmission or differential fluid checked anytime the car is up on a lift, And this goes equally for manual and automatic transmission cars. The reason is because C5 transmissions and differentials don’t have dipsticks.
You actually have to remove a plug to be able to ensure the fluid is at the proper level, so be sure to ask for this anytime your C5 is in the shop being serviced for something else, and it’s on the lift or on jack stands. Anyway, it only takes a few minutes and they should only charge you about a quarter-hour of labor extra.”
#7
[7:47] Battery Advice And Warnings
“Never use regular sealed lead acid maintenance-free batteries in your C5 Corvette. There are two reasons for this. Number one, the engine bay in the C5 is very small and tight, and it’s got a big V8 in there that generates a lot of heat. And that hood is sealed with weather stripping against the fenders and the cowl so it keeps a lot of that heat in there like an oven.
And that big old V8 absolutely heats up that engine bay. It’s not uncommon in the summertime when you’re driving on long road trips or in stop-and-go traffic for the engine bay temps to exceed 150°, and over time, that’ll absolutely heat up the battery itself as well. And that’s a hostile environment for a car battery to live in, and sometimes, all of that heat creates too much pressure inside the battery. And, unfortunately, there’s enough pressure to push out some of the acid where it drips onto everything below.
Part two of the problem is what lives underneath the battery, and that just happens to be a couple of main wiring harnesses that go to your computer. And if enough acid drips onto these components over time, it can cause serious damage that’s very expensive to replace. So do yourself a favor and inspect the area around your battery often for any signs of battery acid leak, or better yet, get yourself an AGM battery, which stands for absorbed glass matte battery, which virtually eliminates the possibility of sulfuric acid leaking out of your battery and destroying your wiring and computer.”
#8
[9:18] Parking Your Baby
“Never commit either one of these two parking lot sins. The first one is pretty obvious. Never park next to a car that’s in anything other than excellent condition. It doesn’t have to be a Bentley, but it has to be in good shape because it’s in good shape for a reason. They’re careful about their car, and they’re just less likely to go ahead and open up their door and smash into your car.
And also, when parking, don’t deliberately park and take up two spots. Some vandals will consider this a personal invitation from you to mess with your pride and joy. Instead, park towards the middle or rear of the lot under a well-lit portion. And, if you can, make sure you park next to a Porsche or a Bentley.”
#9
[9:56] Other Maintenance Tips
“Never neglect the other fluids that are inside of your C5. Be sure to replace your brake and clutch fluid every few years by removing the old, dirty brown fluid with an evacuation pump and pouring in some fresh DOT 3 or DOT 4 brake fluid. While you’re at it, be sure to replace the fluid in your power steering reservoir as well, but make sure to use a separate evacuation pump.
You can use the same pump for your brake fluid and your clutch fluid, but then you need to use a different evacuation pump for your power steering fluid because power steering fluid and brake fluid are not compatible, and cross-contaminating things can cause damage, especially to your brake system parts.”
Author’s Note: As an owner of numerous manual C5s, I recommend changing the clutch fluid every 1000-2000 miles. The reservoir is located on the driver’s side, between the windshield fluid tank and the cowl.
#10
[10:37] Check The Date Codes On Your Tires
“Never drive your C5 Corvette on old tires, and this can be a problem because there’s a lot of C5 owners out there that only drive their cars, you know, 2 to 4,000 miles per year because they use them as a weekend toy. And the problem is when the tires get old, it’s not super obvious, like mold on the bread you’re about to put in the toaster. But it’s absolutely true that as the tires age, they get hard, and that leads to less traction.
The good news is it’s super easy to tell just how old your c5’s tires are. All performance tires made since 2000 have a code stamped on the side of the tire, and mine has the code of 1521, which means my tires were made in the 15th week of 2021. And if your tires don’t have this code on the side of them, chances are they’re older than 24 years old, and it’s time to toss them.
So, how old is too old to keep performance tires on your C5 Corvette? Now, this is the subject of a lot of debate. I think if you ask the tire manufacturers, they’re going to say around every four years, but in my humble opinion, from everything I’ve read and from what I think, it’s probably prudent to replace them at the five to six-year mark. It’s highly recommended to replace them if they’re 7 or 8 years old, and if your tires are 10 years old, then you’re definitely rolling the dice.”
Did any of these tips surprise you? If you want to keep up to date with all the fresh Corvette news and maintain a pulse on the lifestyle and culture of this exciting, iconic brand, CorvSport has the fastest-growing Corvette community on our Facebook page, with over 172,000 followers (53,000 since January 2023!). Come join other hardcore enthusiasts and say hello. This is Douglas B. signing off–click here if you would like to see more of my features.
Author’s Note: These tips and tricks were curated from Toys4Life C5’s video and are fully credited to Toys4Life C5. CorvSport was not compensated for curating this video.
Feature Video
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