I plan to purchase an 84' with 75K. Car runs ok but want to know if I should expect problems with the dash? I hear alot of problems with the Crossfire but don't know why. Why is this injection system problematic? Any replies are appreciated.

 

I bought an '84 w/Crossfire about a year ago, and all I hear is how much problem people have. But the people who say they have problems don't own one. Mine works fine. The dash goes blank every once in a while, only last about a second and comes back on. In the year that I have owned it, that has happened a couple times. Other than that everything works fine. I have 113K miles on mine, I run it hard(up to 100MPH as often as possible) and never add oil.

As far as I can tell the only real problem with Crossfire is, not enough power. You know how that is we always want more!

 

Hey bbdman, thanks for the feedback.

 

By the time the 84 cross fires came out, GM had ironed out a lot of the problems of the previous years and they seem to perform ok. Course, in 87 they went to a 2 injector throttle body on the pickups and on some Camaro's with 5.0. So I think you should be ok, Corvettes are known for dash problems and there are several sites around that extole the problems and repairs to those I/P. [8D]

 

This is all in my personal opinion...

I have a 84 vette. 167,000 miles... tops out at 115 runs good. I recently did a compression check and got back these numbers...
95
120
120
130
120
125
130
125

For that many miles i find it impressive. So the engine is sound (at least in my car.)
I have not had any problems with my engine in the 2 years ive had it.

Here are my complains for the 84s....

1. Cooling fan kicks on at 225 +/-5 degrees (just a little warm for my personal taste, but the car hasnt gotten over 230 (at least when the fan was working.) Can be cured for a little cash with a new temp sensor, thermostat etc..

2. I do not know what you want to use your vette for... track car/ weekend cruise / daily driver / racing etc... but its hard to find infomation on mods that will workon the crossfire. Alot of the mods are for the 85+ vettes. If you are looking for mods, you might check out some of the camero sites out there since the crossfire intake was also used on the 82-84 cameros. So most of the "problems" you hear are from the people that didnt take much time to learn every thing about the engine since it was only used for a short time. Which is where I have decided to start my "project". I am trying to find the fastest 1/4 mile time on a crossfire engine. My goal is to beat that time.


3. I have had problems with my dash and thought, oh crap here goes $300-500 on ebay to get a new one etc... Did a google search, found my problem, brought the dash to a local tv repair shop and said "can you solider this to that... $25, now its as good as new. There are a ton of places out there with dash repair info. I even have a site somewhere in my favorites to where you can customize the colors of the displays if you are interested PM me.

Overall I am happy with the car, Yes, Ive had to spend a decent amount of money working on it, but the fact is the car is 22 years old.


However I do recommend you get the helms manual for your car. It is worth it. Its helped me fix the cooling fan on my vette, a short/ no start issue, as well as help me trouble shoot some emissions problems. In 2 years the manual has paid for its self prolly 10 times.
www.helminc.com.

Unfortunatly i am a driveway mechanic and starting to get in over my head with this learning experiance which brought me to this forum. I hope you enjoy your vette as much as I do mine. (even if you decide against the 84.)

 

drewber; thanks for your feedback. Any info I can get at this point is helpful. I'm just looking for a weekend cruiser so the 84' will probably suit me just fine.

 

oh, i thought of one complaint, but mosts gms from this ear have the problem. Leaky valve seals that make the car smoke on startup, and foul out the plugs. overall im happy with my car as my semi Daily Driver.

 

drewber, looks like you got a leak in that first cylinder

 

yeah, the first cylnder was low. But then again the car has almost 170,000 i was expecting the problem to be worse lol.

I am wanting to rebuild the engine, but im gonna upgrade the parts while I have her in peices. Just doing all the research I can to make sure what I want to get will work/fit.

 

in our vette we are having a problem with the dash going dim after the start up and the dimmer is turned all the way up.

we are having a problem keeping the car running is getting fuel but wont stay started. thinking a clog fuel line. any thoughts?>