Ahh, buying a used car from an 18-year-old has its advantages. Haggling the price using your superior knowledge of Hondas, for one. But it also has its disadvantages.
When I bought this car a week ago I knew I was in for a hard time. I'm good at electrical problems, and I know a LOT about electronics, so it was worth it for me to be spending less on a car with more problems. But kids these days, they will buy just about anything off the internet and bolt it to their cars.
When i had paid for it and began driving home, the only problems I had found were a broken wheel sensor wire (ABS and TCS lights) and engine whine thru the speakers (of which only the rears seemed to work). Not a problem I thought. An afternoon and these are fixed.
As I'm driving, my cluster lights just.. go out. My headlights also flipped from lowbeams to DRL. My tails and license plate lights are off. No amount of flipping switches will help. After a couple days of tearing through the electrical system I found the following problems:
1. Aftermarket headunit improperly attached to vehicle lighting system (infamous orange wire mistake)
2. Aftermarket halo projectors improperly installed (2.5V LEDs connected directly to headlights in parallel, H1 halogen conversion by wrapping wires in tape, and cutoff shroud tumbling around loose inside headlight)
3. Right headlight bulb connector loose, wire melted and shorting to chassis
4. Aftermarket alarm/starter module poorly installed (no bypass = no start function but still attached, entire module done with tape and no soldering)
I still have to replace a couple fuses and bulbs, but the problems are mostly fixed. The head unit is fried, so I will be looking for a new one. The alarm/starter module is useless, so I will be replacing that too.
Total cost of the vehicle not including repairs I had to make:
$4200 + $100 annual registration + $240 annual insurance
Total cost of repairs to date:
$10 haynes manual
$5 fuse kit
Projected near-future costs:
$100 headlight bulbs
$150 sony bluetooth-enabled head unit
$160 2-way alarm/starter with bluetooth and LCD remote
Lesson: When doing aftermarket crap to your car, please, please, please do it PROPERLY
I think I'm still ahead so far.. if only it weren't snowing!!
When I bought this car a week ago I knew I was in for a hard time. I'm good at electrical problems, and I know a LOT about electronics, so it was worth it for me to be spending less on a car with more problems. But kids these days, they will buy just about anything off the internet and bolt it to their cars.
When i had paid for it and began driving home, the only problems I had found were a broken wheel sensor wire (ABS and TCS lights) and engine whine thru the speakers (of which only the rears seemed to work). Not a problem I thought. An afternoon and these are fixed.
As I'm driving, my cluster lights just.. go out. My headlights also flipped from lowbeams to DRL. My tails and license plate lights are off. No amount of flipping switches will help. After a couple days of tearing through the electrical system I found the following problems:
1. Aftermarket headunit improperly attached to vehicle lighting system (infamous orange wire mistake)
2. Aftermarket halo projectors improperly installed (2.5V LEDs connected directly to headlights in parallel, H1 halogen conversion by wrapping wires in tape, and cutoff shroud tumbling around loose inside headlight)
3. Right headlight bulb connector loose, wire melted and shorting to chassis
4. Aftermarket alarm/starter module poorly installed (no bypass = no start function but still attached, entire module done with tape and no soldering)
I still have to replace a couple fuses and bulbs, but the problems are mostly fixed. The head unit is fried, so I will be looking for a new one. The alarm/starter module is useless, so I will be replacing that too.
Total cost of the vehicle not including repairs I had to make:
$4200 + $100 annual registration + $240 annual insurance
Total cost of repairs to date:
$10 haynes manual
$5 fuse kit
Projected near-future costs:
$100 headlight bulbs
$150 sony bluetooth-enabled head unit
$160 2-way alarm/starter with bluetooth and LCD remote
Lesson: When doing aftermarket crap to your car, please, please, please do it PROPERLY
I think I'm still ahead so far.. if only it weren't snowing!!
