Stupid things that PO's did to your car

[bimmerboy08]

for my red car it was like this:

ran it into a guardrail
stripped the oil drain plug
the worst ghetto rigged stereo I've seen
purple tint
didn't tell me half the cluster didn't light up (i bought it during the day, found out that night)

I know the last part wasn't something they "did" but I was really annoyed at their dishonesty.

[XKXXKXe30]

let me see...

Cut a piece out of the valance
hooked it up to a truck and pulled it by the hood. Thus, ruining the hood fitment.
fucked with the AFM to make it back fire, so i had to borrow one from someone else just to pass smog.
Forgot to mention before: all bushings, shocks, springs where original 20 yr old crap. Never changed or upgraded. - now: h&r sport springs, bilstien shocks, and akg bushings.

[Joe318is]

reused a headgasket

[Fleksta]

Ugly, purple, bubbling, tint on all the windows except the windshield. I'm dreading the removal process.

A complete lack of maintenance, everything was original when I bought the car. After a year I'm finally getting comfortable using it as a daily.

Stored outside in Florida most of its life, the paint shows it.

None of the four tires matched, and all had flat spots and dry rot from sitting.

Somehow the area the sunroof slides into was full of leaves, sticks, and other junk. I still can't tilt it without having stuff blow into the cabin. (Anyone know a trick to cleaning out that area? )

[craiggroves91]

One of my P.O.'s:
1.Painted the whole interior black horribly without masking much off. He sprayed the door cards, seats, and carpet. Got overs pray on the windows door trim and all over the place.
2. Painted some window trim without properly masking the car off getting over spray all over the sides of the car and some up to the hoop. Some how my doors seals are white? Sprayed black?
3. Didn't put loctite on wheel studs allowing them to come out very easily and not torque down.
4. Put early model rear window on a late model car (not too bad). has no seal
5. No stereo but speaker wires running everywhere, probably a nice stereo that wanted to be kept.
6. Silicone put in the oil check valve to help stop the leak because of the O-ring that needed to be replaced.
7. Sticker residue on the windows and some on the body.
8. Odd dent on the trunk that doesnt seem possible
9. Spare tire on the front right. Tires had NO tread on them
Can't think of anything else at the moment. But my stuff isn't terrible.

[BigSam]

Never changed the timing belt, broke at 92,000 miles.
Removed the automatic transmission to try to put into a Volvo.
Trick wood paneling under the steering wheel, complete with cassette holder built in.
Holes all over the center console from different things attached with self tapping screws.
Cut the carpet on top of transmission tunnel to run phone wiring.
Cut a 1.5" hole in the center of the trunk lid for phone antenna.
Glued 50 pounds of lead weights in the spare tire well.
3 different brands of struts throughout the car.
2 Basketweaves, both had SEVERE curbage, to the point where the lip is peeled back, 2 bottlecaps.


Oh. I have a 20mm spacer on one of my rear wheels, yet my car drives straight as an arrow and the body line is perfect. Some things are better not to question.

[Matt-B]

never changed anything except oil

[scottinAZ]

I quit counting dents at 30...on the drivers door
Balljoints so bad the car was unsafe to push
Struts were so worn that they collapsed all by themselves
Glovebox never opened until I took it out
Every fluid leaked copious quantities
Typical wear items: belts/hoses/mounts/bushings, etc, all repaired before it ever was started...poor little thing!

It is still shabby as fuck though. Now on 4th windshield, next one will be new. Gonna get something for a fresh motor, I fucking swear. Interior is falling apart still, seat rails broken, just all kinds of shit.

However, reading what some of you guys got stuck with makes me feel way better!

sounds like your PO was the twin to mine. Dumbasses abound. I got lucky with the suspension though, other than the wheelbearing and strut debacle, it is all tight.

[DeM3n]

Autozone interior :(

Everything was f*cking sick though!

[RainierHooker]

Somehow and for some reason my e21's ignition system was rewired so badly that you have to put the headlight switch in the on position to start the car. That, and they parked it under a pine tree for about half a decade...

[silversleeper]

I'd say the gay magnetic superhero stickers in my trunk, which still reside in there. I'll take pics later on today.

[dr.gonzo]

I had it easy.

[StereoInstaller1]

I love how it seems 30% of the complaints are about shitty aftermarket stereo installs.

The guys in my industry sit around and whine about lack of business when these same guys hacked the living shit out of a car just to make the quick buck...these weren't cheap cars and in some areas, were quite common. No reason to hack, yet 90% of them were!

Dammit, I just fucking hate installers.

Luke

[SpecRaceM5]

I have had my fair share of "fun" discoveries between my cars, my brothers, and my dads. My most resent purchase has been pretty clean. Only a few small complaints. It has about 20 years of dog hair in every crack of the interior. Purple bubble tint which I removed. 4 wires going from the dash to the trunk for a cd changer. The worst part of that is that they stabbed the rear firewall to make a hole for the wires to pass through. Also found it odd that they cut the rear speaker wires in order to install 3 feet of aftermarket speaker wire which was then spliced back into the stock speaker connectors. Otherwise I have been very happy with the car. PO was pretty upfront and honest. The work he said was done to the car (which he did not have recipts for) was actually done! Usually when I hear "the timing belt was just replaced", I later find it was replaced at 60,000 miles on a car that is going on 200,000 miles.

Great thread btw.

[bmwsun]

1.) overtightened the oil plug and went to change the oil after driving the car for several thousand miles and one quarter turn the plug falls out.
2.) he somehow he bent the hood next to the emblem and didnt damage the grills..dont know how he managed to do that
3.) he installed an aftermarket alarm system with a kill switch in the console
4.) he decided to run the front spoilier up on a parking curb
5.) PO slid the car in to a snowbank and dented the gas cap cover and the body (only slightly)