Stupid things that PO's did to your car

[scottinAZ]

I'll start this one off. I finally had enough of the previous owners (or thier mechanics) dumbfuckery, so Im gonna start a thread on this. I cant be the only poor bastard out there.

1. Front struts: About the only thing they had in common was that they were blown. Two brands (monroe, and some other shit that wasnt labeled but was red in color) Who in their right mind puts two different brands of shocks or struts on the car. I always replace in pairs, so there isnt any "odd" handling from a half worn one, and a brand new one.

2. Pass front wheel bearing. Some shitheel decided that 210 ftlbs of torque was too much for his limp wristed girly wrenching style, so they stuck with FINGER TIGHT!! The only thing holding the bearing hub on was the staking on the nut. I shit you not.....

3. The Entire center console. Just sitting there, not attached to ANYTHING. No e-brake boot, no nuts to hold it in, this should have been the first warning sign. not to mention that half of the switches for the windows were missing, and the other half didnt work (connectors disintegrated, and since replaced) Funny how some junkyard switches and all can make those pesky power windows work again, isnt it.

4. Instrument cluster(fuck) I knew this one going in. the tach and water temp gauge were out, no biggie, new SI board (or batteries) well, it ended up being a burned trace on the main circuit board. took out the check panel while it was at it...

5. Thermostats are useless right?? Yeah, it didnt have a thermostat in it. Probably to cover the fact that the fan and the radiator had an argument at some time, and neither one won. A new rad, a new fan and clutch, plus a 15 dollar thermostat saved it from overheating (again??) Damn good thing the water temp gauge was shot to shit, huh.

6. Master Cylinder. I was told it "needed the pads changed (came with the car at least) and the brakes bled" well, the pads in it were nearly brand new, and bleeding didnt do shit. A new master however did the trick.

7. How can I forget this one. Wheels so goddamn ugly that I UPGARDED to bottlecaps!



So what kinds of dumb shit have you found wrong with your car that the PO either didnt disclose, didnt know about, or just plain fucked up?

[Holland]

PO put a shitton of stopleak in the cooling system, resulting in the entire replacement of the cooling system. Also wired in a shitty aftermarket third brake light double sided taped to the rear window. OH! and a shitty 100 dollar bling bling walmart deck that I have replaced with a beautiful blank panel. Damn thing would skip driving over painted lines.

[Nic01101011]

the things a pile, just about every piece of maintenance was neglected

[nickpdx]

Put in some early '90s aftermarket car alarm that I need to remove...now my wiring is a complete fucking rats nest that I need to tackle but haven't worked up the courage to do so yet.

Glued stereo controls and other things to the dash/center console

Bunch of paint chips and little parking lot dings

[scottinAZ]

Yeah, I forgot about the POS phone thingy that was stuffed under the dash, seat, rear window, and other assorted places, im still finding places that it is

[stevofthahill]

I feel so lucky, my car was 100 percent bone stock untouched goodness.

[ZombiE30]

325e:

had almost no clutch left
a kill switch wired into the glovebox? wtf?
ultra bizarre aftermarket tape deck wiring

325ic:

1st and 3rd gear didn't work (I knew that)
mad PS leak (ditto)
dash bulb and odo broke (ditto)
overheats while standing still
old ass radar detector that goes off when oxygen is nearby

I guess I have it easy......so far

[Jfan16]

Previous owner fucked with my air flow meter. My emissions for NO now are twice as high as permitted by the state of California. I gotta go through and replace the O2 sensor, cat, and potentially the air flow meter itself and the ecu just to get it to pass smog and then I get to pay late fees for registration since the PO never registered it.

Hooray.

[ck_taft325is]

$1,200 in painting materials. 40 + hours body work. To what? Paint over 3 severely rusted areas. Painted the rub strips (bumpers and sides) body color ON THE CAR without prepping correctly. Flaky areas that where never sanded out.
PS Delete - Removed the Power steering pump belt and called it "deleted" power steering.
Duct tape - On the rats nest the M42 holds under the intake instead of re-routing/deleting it, he duct taped every cracked hose (all of them nearly).
Stretched tires - 195's on 8" wide rims. Not against it, but 195's was a bit much...
Taurus side skirts - I'm not against it, but using self tapping drywall screws to mount it all across the TOP of the side skirt (into the sheet metal down the entire side of the car).
Retarded Claim - "I like to keep it clean and make sure everythings right", also went on to tell me how often he detailed it. There was (Wendy's?) french fries stuffed into the sport seats and crap all underneath. Not sure he knew how to remove the seats.

All in all, I do want to say, I'm not disappointed with the purchase. I enjoy the car tremendously and I can't hold a guy's total lack of wanting to get his hands dirty and/or phobia against him. Very glad I got it and that it'll get the proper care.

Still a lacking owner though. And often times, that's the worst type of owner...

[Trucidatio]

Destroyed eurobumpers to put in turn signals.

I believe that calls for a lynching.


But i guess i took care of the bumpers the rest of the way.

[karpiel]

Had a $3000 stereo installed in 86. Multiple equilizers, amps, 2 8'' subs installed in the rear deck, the works.

I probably removed 50 pounds of wire, at least 10 ancient hunks of metal, standalone antenna control etc...

I'm sure I would have thought differently when it was installed. Driving around in a new 323i with a $3000 stereo.

[scottinAZ]

Had a $3000 stereo installed in 86. Multiple equilizers, amps, 2 8'' subs installed in the rear deck, the works.

I probably removed 50 pounds of wire, at least 10 ancient hunks of metal, standalone antenna control etc...

I'm sure I would have thought differently when it was installed. Driving around in a new 323i with a $3000 stereo.

car probably handles better without all that shit in it.

[iamsam]

Yes that's right, he painted the seats, interior panels, grill, and bumper trim blue, and installed spring clamps to "lower the front of the car", cut the rear valence with a sawzall to fit a fart can, covered the engine in blue wire loom, installed a LED light-up shift knob, and ran speaker wiring ACROSS the carpet under the floor mats.

Beat that.

[blueapplesoda]

I had a plant growing in my quarter panel at one point.

[karpiel]

car probably handles better without all that shit in it.

I did notice a difference, all the stuff filled a 32 gallon trash can.