Stupid things that PO's did to your car

[M-technik-3]

Installed crappy alarm systems with botched wiring so you can't undo it without a new wiring loom.

[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)

the above is for my car,

the following is for my wifes e30 that i rebuilt..

1.) left some tools on the intake manifold and closed the hood denting it frm the inside.
2.) ran the car off the road and dented the gas tank profusly
3.) inprocess of running it off the road he ruined the front valence.
4.) spliced the two wires for the drivers side fuel tank float together (makes the gas gauge say its always a full tank) -what a freakin moron!
5.) put a "e" gague cluster in an "i' car.....deeerrrrr
6.) broken the drivers door "door" break.

thats all for now...

[themightyquinn]

Cut out the fenders, and riveted on fender flares to fit 8" wide, 0et wheels...


Looks ghey, handles nice, so meh.

[pbr87]

Shift knob.

Muffler.

[FredK]

...the low beams weren't working and I figured it would be an easy fix.

...NOT!

ouch.

[IronmanE30]

This is my favorite PO fix.



Cheers,

Jim

[scottinAZ]

This is my favorite PO fix.

[ATTACH]25593[/ATTACH]

Cheers,

Jim

EGADS, did they have stock in JB weld????

[NC325iC]

he let the car sit for 5 years, and put 25% of an i exhaust on it...

yeah this could get awkward if the PO is on the board

[jquirit]

Seriously, it seems E30s are a cursed breed. When I bought my car, the PO forgot to mention:

1) the oil filter housing was cracked and JB Welded shut (which leaked since the JB weld couldn't hold after repeated temperature cycles). Wish I could find the pics of the oil filter before I repaired it, but it must of been on the old phone.

2) the lower oil pan was cracked, repaired (welded), and reinstalled using copious amounts of gasket maker and MISSING two bolts in the rear of the pan. All because.. well.. when attempting to repair the pan they filled in the two bolt holes. Awesome. Picture below is the pan right after I dropped it. You can see all the gasket maker all over the place, and where it was leaking out of. There's even two little nubs where the gasket maker managed to work it's way into the upper oil pan and make a nice impression of the threaded holes where the two oil pan bolts were suppose to go into!



3) the stereo is a rats nest of wires. I fear tracing all of the premium stereo harness to see what they did and didn't cut so I can get the stereo working again. At least I found some wiring that apparently was originally used for a sub/amp combo that's no longer in the car.

There's also lots of other niggling things, but most of them I expected to have with a car of this age. However, the first two really pissed me off. Considering I know the PO has had this car on a lift (as I've seen pics of this car on a lift), it should of been pretty obvious they were missing. The PO even passed off this car as his daily driver.

This is why you never buy a car without a mechanic looking at it, and never late in the day. Lessons learned for the next time!

[Balleristic31]

put a crap alarm from the 90s in it.
a crappy sony cd changer that didnt even work. Plus the wiring on it was rediculous.
about 10000 pounds of dog hair everywhere in the interior
cig burns on the carpet.

Besides that i got lucky and bought it from a guy who was bmw enthusiast and kept the car all stock sep for a dinan chip.

[DRTSRFR]

Ha!...got the lights fixed and the car quit running. The PO disconnected the alternator! ...it was running on battery power alone.

[Denny]

I got one for you guy's..

PO said the car is "RUST FREE..." I trusted him....ARGGGGgg@#$!@$@&!#!!

[karpiel]

I got one for you guy's..

PO said the car is "RUST FREE..." I trusted him....ARGGGGgg@#$!@$@&!#!!

Never trust anything the seller says about a car, particularly when it comes to rust. When buying a car with known rust issues under the carpet, pull the seat and lift a corner of the carpet up before you buy and if he wont let you, walk away.

Most people that own them aren't aware that it's even an issue.

[ck_taft325is]

I got one for you guy's..

PO said the car is "RUST FREE..." I trusted him....ARGGGGgg@#$!@$@&!#!!

Similar story for me too. Pretty awesome of the previous owners... sucks for you and me, but in all honesty, it's our fault for not checking. No one elses. Live and learn, right?

How deep does that rot go? I have some on my drivers side trunk bottom (where the factory jack sits) that's all the way through. I've treated it so it wont spread, but not being able to put anything smaller than a tire in the trunk blows ass.

[Denny]

Similar story for me too. Pretty awesome of the previous owners... sucks for you and me, but in all honesty, it's our fault for not checking. No one elses. Live and learn, right?

How deep does that rot go? I have some on my drivers side trunk bottom (where the factory jack sits) that's all the way through. I've treated it so it wont spread, but not being able to put anything smaller than a tire in the trunk blows ass.

YEAP! its my fault for sure....its just not that kind of thing where you can ask the owner to remove the seats and carpet....when I removed the carpets they where no longer good thats how bad it was. Its rotten all the way trew all four places on the floor...now I need to become a welder LOL...