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Anyways it got me to thinking of all the wacky stuff I run into that previous owners had done to vettes I have bought in the past and other cars.
One that comes to mind on my vette was the 2 foot long exhaust tips the previous owner put on the car. Looked like 4 pipes added to step on to get to the top of the car or something. One car I bought had the spare tire held under the car with duct tape.
One of the stupidest things if not the most stupid was that the previous owner glued new carpet over the under dash carpet rather than removing it first....
One of the stupidest things if not the most stupid was that the previous owner glued new carpet over the under dash carpet rather than removing it first....
Whats the stupidist thing the previous owner did to your car
Mix up the keys.
I bought it CHEAP, b/c "it wouldn't start". I diagnosed teh problem down to:
1. a bad CCM, or
2. the wrong key.
It's not common for the CCM (BCM)'s to fail, BUT it's not very common to have the wrong key to a car you own, either....so I tested the theory w/a variable resistor in place of the VATS harness; started on the second try -the key was wrong.
In the paper work that came w/the car was a work order from a Chev dealer; apparently the car died, got towed to the dealer, they diagnosed a bad CCM, installed new CCM, cut new keys for the car, owner got it back, ran it for a while...then one day "it wouldn't start". I'm SURE, that he mixed up his keys. Stupidest thing HE did to that car...though it worked out pretty fantastic, for me.
The other thing he did that was stupid was set off a confetti bomb in the car. I was pulling confetti out of it for a year or more.
I bought it CHEAP, b/c "it wouldn't start". I diagnosed teh problem down to:
1. a bad CCM, or
2. the wrong key.
It's not common for the CCM (BCM)'s to fail, BUT it's not very common to have the wrong key to a car you own, either....so I tested the theory w/a variable resistor in place of the VATS harness; started on the second try -the key was wrong.
In the paper work that came w/the car was a work order from a Chev dealer; apparently the car died, got towed to the dealer, they diagnosed a bad CCM, installed new CCM, cut new keys for the car, owner got it back, ran it for a while...then one day "it wouldn't start". I'm SURE, that he mixed up his keys. Stupidest thing HE did to that car...though it worked out pretty fantastic, for me.
The other thing he did that was stupid was set off a confetti bomb in the car. I was pulling confetti out of it for a year or more.
The dealer (no less) replaced the injectors with NOS, which went bad in just a couple years of exposure to alcohol.
My wife's 69 C3 suffered the doings of some sh*t-fist juvenile electrical hacking of the wire harness in attempt at installing one of those resonator stereo things (popular in the early 70s), along with a host of other crap such as radar detectors, etc, etc.
In the end, I wound up cutting out a soccer ball size wad of wiring; including some lamp (zip) cord that had been used instead of hookup wire(s). Splices amounted to twisting the bare ends of wires together and wrapping it with cheap electrical tape...that was unwinding at best, had fallen off altogether with time.
Then there's the 81 that had the CCC (computer controlled carb.) disconnected, including all the vacuum hoses and electrical so as to revert to a manual Holly carb setup. What a friggin nightmare! We're still sorting that one out!!
How about a motorcycle? For those of you who don't ride most cycles have a safety switch on the kickstand. The motor cuts out if the kickstand is down and you put it in gear. PO of my BMW had disabled the safety switch as they can be problematic. Its a "hot" switch so all you do is connect the wires. Seems he wasn't aware of the process of splicing so he shoved a piece of foil from a stick of gum into the socket for a connection. I was having sporadic stalling issues for over a year til I found the foil rattling around, making contact randomly. Here's the real twist, the PO was supposedly an airplane mechanic (shudder).
Previous owner installed an after market radio and botched the job up and didn't even try to correct it.
Same here. Previous owner must of had a neighbor that dabbled in stereo installation. Horrible hack job that included a customized DVD player and in-dash TV. Yes, I said in-dash TV.
I yanked it all out. It cost me a bit to get it back to stock appearance.
Thee PO of my 85 had taken apart the fuel pump relay and had soldered the circuit board. The solder was the size of a #2 pencil. His soldering job eventually gave out. The board was also scorched from his work The relay at the time was only $15.00.
since you posted "car" not C4. It's a open market. Ok. I had a 88 formula 350. The manifolds glowed red. I pulled the motor apart to find Multi Sized bores from Std - + .040, 1st gen variable cylinders??? A flat tappet cam on OE roller lifters. Awesome profile.. The OE cam front retainer was not installed due to a flat tappet cam. And the fuel regulator diaphragm was torn.
Last edited by THE 383 admiral; 02-01-2016 at 11:58 AM.
since you posted "car" not C4. It's a open market. Ok. I had a 88 formula 350. The manifolds glowed red. I pulled the motor apart to find Multi Sized bores from Std - + .040, 1st gen variable cylinders??? A flat tappet cam on OE roller lifters. Awesome profile.. The OE cam front retainer was not installed due to a flat tappet cam. And the fuel regulator diaphragm was torn.
Wow...multiple epic fails on one car. OUCH! That had to be a real pain and cost a few $$ to sort out.
I purchased a 89 TA the owners could not sell due to the Vats lead was broken in the column. I told them how to test. I went there on a Sun. Read the key. they did not have the correct Resistors It was 1/2 the value. I found more on the floor twisted the 2 in series fired up the engine. Bought the car cheap..
The PO of my '88 coupe decided at some point to rebuild the motor...an ditch the TPI for a carb'ed setup.
Where do I start? They spent some cha-ching on the block (NOM) by chamfering the oil returns, punching it .040 over and adding Glyptal to the block surfaces. But the pulled the TPI off and botched the carb setup. Thankfully they did not cut up the injector harness as they stuffed both sets of wiring/injector clips down the backside of the motor (say WHAT?)! And, to disable the VATS and fans they simply ripped the wiring out of the fuse block.
Oh, and on the rebuild...when they went to fire it up they only had water in the block. It ran for a minute or two and then it would not run right. So, apparently, they shoved it in to the barn where it sat for nearly 8 years. And once the 1st freeze hit guess what happened? You got it...both sides of the block split.
Thankfully she is in good hands now. Here are a few pics of the carnage.
Later,
Lee
Motor as I found the car. Notice the four different sizes and brands of plug wires. Mmm hmm...
From the drivers side...UGH.
Wiring for the manual fan relay switch and big red wire for the alternator. 'Bubba' was here.
All on the old engine...Wow. And not a good wow either.
Glyptal in the block. Done well and a nice thing to do but sadly the block was toast. Thankfully they did not screw up the #113 heads.
One of the cracks from the ruined block. These were crescent shaped, popped out about 1/4 inch and were identical on both sides.
my 1st 94 Admiral purchased from FL. PO had a rebuilt engine. With kinda nice internal parts. with a known head gasket problem. I pulled I believe a B series motor to find the head bolts were finger tight. Sold all of the internals. Already had a LT1 block from a Z28. This is the block I built my current 383 with.
Last edited by THE 383 admiral; 02-01-2016 at 12:31 PM.
Installation of Anti-Theft FEATURE. You need to find the "secret" button to crank the car. Turn it to run and push button to crank. Motivated by the starter relay fusing and him being too stupid to diagnose and repair it
One runner dented
FX3 removed and bulb removed too.
Junkyard CCM that failed
Poor service done. All fluids were murky
Misc stuff broken like the DIC because he was too stupid to find all the screws.
E-brakes were unnecessary because this was an Auto car so it froze and got cut off
Wrong size and poor quality tires
Wheels were from different cars with different part nunbers
expedition i bought they filled the washer fluid with coolant. Then used window weld to try stop the windshield from leaking after the coolant rotted all the rubber.
01-31-2016, 11:15 PM
Whats the stupidist thing the previous owner did to your car
The relay at the time was only $15.00.
