What kind of mess has a P.O. left for you?

ttop88

ttop88

Member
Mar 12, 2007
42
0
6
indiana
#1
What kind of mess have you gotten into or have you found that a previous owner caused? My latest disaster came with my brand A car with the brand X engine in it. Car was built to be a drag car. Spent a ton of money on the drive train. This is a 450+ hp NA small block. Well I got the car and the rear main was pouring oil and the oil pressure seemed a bit low. So today I pull the engine(cause thats the only way to get to the rear main seal) put it on the stand. I get the pan off and the first thing I see is a beautiful set of rods and forged pistons. The next thing I see is a high volume ,high pressure pump.:eek: OH ****!!!:eek: The car has no room for a big oil pan. A stock oil pan and that pump don't mix. In the ten seconds it takes to do the quarter it will suck the pan dry! So I pull the rear main cap and sure enough the bearings are worst then anything I had ever seen in a running engine and the crank is absolutely destroyed! So here I am 4 hours later and a grand lighter and still can't believe it. I have no reservations in saying this thing would of knocked down a high 10 sec run today before the engine came out. It ran great, sounded awesome, and showed no sign of any damage other than lower than I wanted to see oil pressure. So What kind of traps have you fallen into?:shrug:
 

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#3
I just did an intake swap for a friend on a car he recently bought sight unseen from a dealer in Chicago. It was billed as "mechanically excellent" and "doesn't leak a drop of oil". Well, both were lies. The coolant came out black, there was no thermostat in it and there was oil on the radiator cap. You guessed it: it has a bad head gasket.

Oh, and it leaks oil very nicely, thank you.
 
#8
ttop88 said:
What kind of mess have you gotten into or have you found that a previous owner caused? My latest disaster came with my brand A car with the brand X engine in it. Car was built to be a drag car. Spent a ton of money on the drive train. This is a 450+ hp NA small block. Well I got the car and the rear main was pouring oil and the oil pressure seemed a bit low. So today I pull the engine(cause thats the only way to get to the rear main seal) put it on the stand. I get the pan off and the first thing I see is a beautiful set of rods and forged pistons. The next thing I see is a high volume ,high pressure pump.:eek: OH ****!!!:eek: The car has no room for a big oil pan. A stock oil pan and that pump don't mix. In the ten seconds it takes to do the quarter it will suck the pan dry! So I pull the rear main cap and sure enough the bearings are worst then anything I had ever seen in a running engine and the crank is absolutely destroyed! So here I am 4 hours later and a grand lighter and still can't believe it. I have no reservations in saying this thing would of knocked down a high 10 sec run today before the engine came out. It ran great, sounded awesome, and showed no sign of any damage other than lower than I wanted to see oil pressure. So What kind of traps have you fallen into?:shrug:
Click to expand...


An HV pump will not suck a stock pan dry, Ive been running a HV pump on mine for about 1.5 yrs and plenty of 1/4 mile passes with no problems.
 
#10
Bald tires, horrible paint, horrible interior, needs valve cover gaskets, something is ticking in the engine, No AC, Needed brakes, Pretty sure the shocks are wasted...That about covers it :p
 
#11
My radio harness was cut off to wire a cd player..... thats about all I found wrong with mine. I plan on cutting one out of a junk mustang and soldering and shring tubing it back to normal

not a big deal but it kinda ticked me off.... I can't immagine how you felt
 
#12
Well luckily I bought my fox from my best friend and he and I did most of the work on it when we were in high school. But when I headed off to college he decided to convert it to Mass air and ordered all the parts and then took it to a shop to have it done. So they took out the SD computer that was chipped and wired up the new MAF setup. They then proceeded to take out the chip from the SD computer and put it in the new MAF computer and I guess they had a hell of a time getting it to run. Anyway years later I bought the car after it had sat for about 5 years and was doing some tune up/maintenance stuff on it and checked the timing. It was set a like 23 degrees when I checked it and I almost had a heart attack. It was running like crap too. I wouldn't run when I adjusted the timing to a normal setting and at the same time I had picked up an A9P for the car and discovered the problem when I went to swap computers. Other than that, no problems with the car at all.
 
#14
my previous owner is an idiot too. the list of things my car needs is like the ECTO1 car from ghostbusters.

backyard, half ass paint job.
no battery hold down, so the battery is crushing my radiator overflow tube and the low coolant sensor wires. now my radiators blown a hole! which is now spewing coolant onto my fan, which is splattering coolant ALL OVER EVERYTHING. including my alternator. But namely the distributor, so now its misfiring because i also dont have the ghey leather dizzy boot.
brakes are shot, shocks are leaking, and its been in an accident so its eating front tires.
now the body is rusting away

wow i just made myself really sad
 
#15
this isn't really a mess but it made me angry....when i was seaching for a car 2 big things for me is that it was "original 5.0 and original 5-speed"....lady swore up and down it was both then 9 months later when i go to swap my clutch and pull the tranny sure enough you could see where someone had cut in the floor to do the AOD swap. Not only was i pissed that it wasnt an origianl 5-speed but that she lied straight to my face!
 
#16
one owner car anyone??? mwahhaha still one owner. always will be, but not technically b/c it is about to be switched to my name. I know everything that has/was/will be done to my car!!
 
#17
Where to start.

86 Capri (owner before last - bought it from a friend where it sat some)

Leaking water pump, bad alternator that killed two batteries, bad MSD box that worked when it wanted to. Bad wiring to electric fan (eaten by battery acid..lol), vacuum leak in intake, leaking rear main seal, No SCT chip but was supposed to have one, no E brake, bad wheel cylinder, F&F monster tach (removed), POS alarm that went off when you turned on the headlights, etc............................

House (bought new in 2004)
Leaking roof
Hole in drain pipe under sink
Had all hardwood replaced 3 times
Garage floor and driveway concrete spalling
Misc. sheet rock issues
Wiring issues (dishwasher didn't work unless sink light was on - explain that one)

In general, the contractor was a fuggin moron. I did get 3 years out of a 1 year builders warranty though...........;)
 
#18
My '89 Hatch had the usual hacked in stereo and completely rusted solid actuators so you couldn't even lock the doors anymore. Stained seats etc. It was in the usual condition you see them after a few years of owner neglect. I was lucky with my notch though and got it from the original owner once he decided he shouldn't be driving anymore. Clean, all paperwork from day 1. Very rare opportunity which is why I sold my little Civic DD to buy it. My brother got his '83 from the original owner and has everything back to the bill of sale. His car has about twice the paperwork my notch came with. Friend of the family who he's told for years he wanted it when they decided to sell. They did and he was lucky to get "the call". Sorry to hear about some of your luck. The important thing is that you're turning these cars around!
 
#19
no problems at all with mine. i knew it since the day it was bought. always extremely well taken care of. just to give you an idea, everytime it got washed the wheels came off and got cleaned front and back, wheel wells cleaned everytime, interior basically spotless other than normal type discoloring in seats from use. everything was still stock except k&n filter and no airbox silencer. stock radio still and the plastic sticker over the display.
 
#20
not much

Nothing big

* dry rotting tires

* brakes worn down to nothing

* drum brake covers painted ricer red? :shrug:

* headliner in rough shape

* gangster lean driver seat

* transmission fluid black as night

* 160deg t-stat :nono:

* plug wires in horrible shape

* battery leads nice and crusty
 
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