I'm thinking about buying a '94 or so Z28, and I was wondering what kind of expensive troubles can be expected. The cars I'm looking at have about 80,000 to 90,000 on them. I have owned an LT1 car before, but it never had problems because I only had it for about 2,000 miles and then sold it. And it was an '84 Monte Carlo SS. It was a rebuilt engine that I put in myself also. Any help you can give, thanks.

 

Well I bought my 94Z from a dealer with 62,000 miles. Car was inspected & perfect at the time. No oil leaks ; spotless. I purchased an extended warranty thru the internet for an additional $850. Welll worth it IMO. I drove it daily and had no problems until the 3rd week when the a/c stopped working. It was a bad pcm that needed to be replaced. $450 from a dealership $50 out of my pocket with warranty. All was well until 72K than while driving to work the tranny pump gave out and spilled an oil slick to the bottom of the car, $900 repair bill $ 50 out of pocket again; a warranty item. So far I had 2 window motors replaced, electric door lock activators, air pump, and just a few months ago a starter motor & battery since the time of purchase. I now have 99,000 miles on it & it runs great. Warranty has expired though so I may be selling it in the near future for either a newer Z28 or for something else that was this much fun to drive.
I would look for oil leaks, find out what electrical problems the car had ( If possible) see if you can get a history on it and make sure a mechanic looks at it.
They are notorius for opti spark problems and oil leaks from the intake manifold. Both repairable for under $1,000
Good Luck

 

a lot man. tranny problems, get ready to get a rebuild. opti spark, 94 Z28 has a non vented, which is very fragile. oil leak, happens sometimes to some people. the engine itself is pretty strong, but LT1 has a lot pf problems. but hey, it is cheap and worth the problems IMO. as for me, i already did a tranny rebuild (not the car's fault), it my my stupid mechanic who did not fill up my tranny with fluid. i got my starter replaced (it was sucks), left me stranded in the middle of a parking lot. other than that, this car has been pretty good to me.

 

O my god, you people and your problems.... I have a 162,000 mile LT1 94 Z that has only had a water pump and an opti replaced. ANYTHING ELSE that has gone wrong with the car is something stupid that I did to it. Yes the window motors go and yes the opti sucks and yes it isn't perfect. But with care and maintenance you shouldn't be deterred.