cigr

When I bought my 1985 a few months ago, I knew it was going to be a project. That was part of the reason I bought it. The more I dig into it, the more I've come to despise the previous owners.

Apparently this guys answer to electrical gremlins was wire cutters.

Power door locks aren't working, turns out the wires are cut.

Cargo latch switch in the passenger door isn't working. The wires are cut.

Horn isn't working. The wires are cut.

Most of the time the wires aren't even just cut off at the item, but there and back at a wire bundle somewhere so I can't even find the original wires.

KYC4

Yeah, my prior owner and his pals did my '88 no favors at all. Let me count the ways...

tried to convert it to a carb (thankfully did NOT cut up the FI harness...only butchered the fan and alternator wiring)

Rebuilt the motor but reused the L98 cam, timing set, oil pump and used mis-matched the head bolts

Spun a bearing on the rebuild and had only water in the engine...come winter time it froze and split the block on both sides

no Loctite on the flywheel bolts and no thread sealant on the head bolts

pulled wires out of the fuse block to (I assume) 'bypass' the VATS, fans and FI

drilled multiple holes in the shifter/console plate and the front instrument/radio/HVAC plate (at least I have a spare of that one and a spare cup holder cover)

three sizes of lug nuts and of course no lock for the lock nuts

cut wires to the Sport seats instead of simply unplugging them

took out the 4+3 O/D switch and rod from the shifter...for no apparent reason

missing bulbs & bulb locks from the 'Atari' cluster and info center

reinstalled the cluster, center section and console panels out of order therefore cracking them in multiple places

Missing three Bose speakers (????)...how do you have a car with only one speaker? They did not even change the head unit!

My car is not a project...it's a rescue mission!

Feelin' for ya,

Lee

kg4fku

I feel your pain. Been there before.

Had to rewire an entire Fiat Spider because of a previous owner just like yours. Electric radiator fan wired to a house (110) switch, stereo installed with electrical tape, relays bypassed and stuff just blatantly missing...

I love troubleshooting and repairing stuff but I get really frustrated when I have to repair other peoples butchered messes.

I am sure you have not even scratched the surface with this yet.

Good luck.

DGXR

These accounts make me think this damage may have been done as revenge or something, like a crazy ex- might do, or someone else not at all fond of the owner. Also may explain why the car was for sale... not wanting to deal with repairing the damage, or wanting to get rid of the car while it's still worth something (before further damage).
Sorry to hear it guys/gals...

cigr

I have a feeling it was the last owner. He told me he was having battery drain issues when he first bought it. I guess his solution was to **** everything out.

KYC4

I think there is some truth to this for some cases. People can be vindictive and take it out on cars for sure.

In my case the prior owner had lost his eyesight and was selling his cars off. It had been a slow loss over years for him. He also closed his used car business and I think he and some of his pals just got stupid with the car and did what they did out of ignorance and not caring one bit.

Later,

Lee

scotth48

Not all corvette owners or any other car owners are truthful and honest concerning vehicles they are trying to sell. I think it is a problem of greed and if you don't ask they are not going to offer any information about a problem, it might mean they would have to lower they're price. Carfax may not always be reliable either as a problem was fixed that may not have ever been reported.
I know mine had body work as the door had yellow paint on it like recyclers use to inventory parts. Carfax said it was clean. The other giveaway was the door lock did not use the original key. Another don't listen to a sob story of why they need to sell. Sure some maybe legitimate, but a word to the wise!

sahhas

well, there's always my mom's favorite quote:

"you're buying someone else's headache!!!"

that's sort of the thought i think of when i'm looking at all these vettes for sale, what are they being truthful about, what are they not telling you!!!

here's my fave: back in the fall of '93 when I was in grad school, i bought this (old) '83 dodge ram pickup truck from some farmer outside of Terre Haute,IN. can't remember the price, days before the internet, probably paid too much!
anyway i leave in it, go to fill it up w/ gas, and then notice that i have this huge flow of gas coming out the bottom. i take it to the local dodge place, they said the gas tank had a hole in it. so after spending my $$ on a truck, i have to put $300 to put a new gas tank in it.
i was a bit pissed, but once it was fixed, it was pretty trouble free car... i liked that truck.....
probably should have kept that one!!!!!

94corvetteC4

I have always looked at buying used cars as buying someone else's problem. Unless you know the person well or buy from family expect the unexpected. The 94 LT1 I just traded into was supposed to be a 2 owner car with no issues. I pulled a car fax report and I am owner #7. Then the problems started to come up. Headlight motors needed rebuilding, Clutch master cylinder leaked, Alarm going off at night for no reason, antenna works correctly some of the time, car shakes above 70 mph and I think that covers it so far.


Most of that has been fixed except for the antenna and shake above 70 mph.


I also found that the factory shocks have been replaced at some point. The shocks on the car are black with no markings but the car rides nice so they are staying on the car for now. I also found a rats nest in the airbox at the opening to the air filter. It was a densely packed nest of what looked like house insulation that covered the entire hole that lets air into the air filter. That nest tells me the car sat for a while, that and the sun burned clear coat and 3K miles the previous owner put on the car in the 8 years he owned it. Makes me wonder what issues it had that it sat for so long.

Dt86

I'll consider myself lucky with just having the power antenna wires cut. Oh and of course the wheels were on backwards.

WW7

My 89 was mostly intact when I got it 7 years ago...I have changed alot on my car,things like a new motor and removing all the emissions crap...The one thing I didn't do was cut any wires, I just tucked them in out of the way, so anyone that buys my car later on can just hook everything back up if they want to...I have a box with all the emission parts so they can just bolt it back on if the want.......WW

c4cruiser

The best step you can take now is to get the FSM for the '85. There will be one book with all of the wiring diagrams for the various electrical systems on the car along with troubleshooting information, a component locator section that will show you where on the car you will things like relays and connectors. There's also a section that has pics of the various wire harness connectors.

The FSM will be worth it's weight in gold when you start to repair things.

astepup

Reading stories/threads like this make me feel VERY lucky when I bought my 94. I believe I'm the fourth owner but fortunately for me every PO kept every piece of maintenance records for the car. They were in a nice folder that I've continued to add to as I do things/replace items. I don't ever plan on selling it as it's my very first vette but should the day come whoever buys it will know it's history.

astepup said that

HlhnEast

The PO of my car spent a ton of money on cosmetics and nothing on mechanical. I have been paying the price ever since. As they "restored" the car they made many mistakes. They used a guy that "knew all about Corvettes" Yeah right. I have been correcting his screw ups as well.

First thing I did was buy the FSM. I know how to correct the screw ups and fix what ever comes up.

Good luck and hang in there!

whalepirot

Twas said of high end German cars owners, a while back, by a pal who owned a shop specializing in repairing them

Carfax is not always a full and accurate picture. Not all repairs, even from shops, are reported. I have never seen the occasion to use or pay for it.

I'd call the OP the Mother Theresa of C4s.

Paul Workman

I feel you pain, buddy!

I don't know what it is about ppl, but it seems not knowing the least about electronics doesn't stop some people from getting in and butchering the hell out of a car's electrical systems! Both my wife's C3 and one of a friend of hers were butchered so bad it defied description!

I ended up stripping out a wad of wire and old, unraveling electrical tape the size of a soccer ball from my wife's car and essentially re-built the wiring harness from scratch.

Well, good luck! The good news is by the time you get is all fixed, you'll know how everything works!