Best story of easy fix on a car you bought cheap or owner thought was broken

I have two friends that have bought cars that the owners thought needed too much work.  Both had chokes that were stuck.  One of the car was an Austin Heally 100.  True story!  He drove it around the block and fixed it.  My other friend bought an mg that had a stuck choke.  The price was something unreal cheap.  He paid for it, fixed the car with a rag and some wd-40, but did it in front of the owner.  The owner FREAKED out, went nuts and demanded more money for the car.  Amazingly my buddy paid more, but it was still an amazing deal.

My best story doesn't touch these.

What about yours?

Rust free 98' Legacy L wagon, auto.  Bought it off my exwife for $500.  She was told it needed rear brakes, 4 new wheels bearings and a muffler to pass safety inspection.  Rear brake pads and 4 new tires are all I've done to it over the last 3 years, most trouble free car I've ever had. 

I bought an early 90s Accord with a blown timing belt for about $100 because the owner needed it out of a shop and could not afford the repairs.  I fixed it and made a good profit.  The only hard part was removing the crankshaft pulley and damper bolt.  I'm not sure why it was so freaking tight.  I ended up using the biggest most powerful electric impact a local tool rental place owned.  They swore it had more torque than air guns, and it must have.  It was way too hot to touch when it finally came out from the hammer action of the electric impact.

I bought a Ford Ranger a few years back for $250 because the engine was stuck according to the owner. Initial plan was a engine swap for the Challenge anyway so I just took him at his word. Couple of months later decided not to build it so looked at the engine. Sure enough a breaker bar wouldn't turn it. Pulled the serpentine belt and the engine turned easy. Quick check of the pulleys showed the alternator stuck solid. $20 in the junkyard and I had a running Ranger I sold for $1000. 

I had a friend literally drive a Dodge Ram 50 until the wheels fell off - specifically, it broke one of its front ball joints. He offered it to me for free if I could get it off the road before the sherif towed it. Had it back together in about a half hour.

Personal rule:  never do the easy fix in front of PO.  If you buy a ford that has no fuel pump sounds and suspect the inertia switch, wait till they go back inside while you're "waiting for a tow"

I'm not usually on the side of easy fix, but i did get a truck for $150 because they didn't want to do a fuel pump and a cadillac for $99.50 because it had been sitting for 10 years and he didn't want to bother.  One battery later it started immediately and was awesome.  Got best 74+ Cadillac with it one year at the GM Nationals in Carlisle

Got an old FJ40 for basically peanuts because the distributor got loose and broke and the owner and all the shops that touched it could not fix it for some reason. 

Years ago at work an office guy brought in his old lawn mower to toss because he thought it was about to throw a rod. One of the shop guys asked if he could have it, and he said sure. Later the shop guy was telling me about it, and I said start it up let's see how bad it is. It started on the first or second pull and ran but made a hell of a racket. I noticed some vibration so I told him to turn it off. I then grabbed the motor and shook it. Turns out the mounting bolts were loose. 

I bought an early 70s Buick Estate Wagon from a guy at work. It had a nasty knock in the 455 engine after he had replaced a freeze plug. Trailered the car home. Turned out it had slipped off the jack stand and put a dent in the oil pan. The crankshaft was hitting the dent every time around. I tack welded a threaded rod to the dent, and used that to pull the dent. Started her up, no more knock. I never even drained the oil or dropped the pan.

I bought the T2 not running, but had a good feeling about it.  Unflooded it and it was fine.  Cleaned some nuts out of the area of the turbo, put on a front wheel bearing, and it was good to go.

Late 90s I was working nights. Student told me about a 78 Futura that had problems and owner wanted to sell. I was racing with Ford 2.3 engines and was always looking for cheap donors. Went to see it on lunch break. Dark and difficult to see, owner says engine runs rough, stalls and transmission does not shift right. It is a 6 cyl but car looks clean inside and out. $50 dollars change hands and I drive it back to shop. Once inside we open hood, start engine and with light we discover a vacuum hose rotted off. Replace it, took it for a drive and sold it to a student that night.

About the same time I bought a Pinto Pony that wouldn't start. Again, $50 was exchanged. I changed replaced the timing belt in the street and drove it home. Down side, it took 2 days to clean dog hair and oder from interior.

One I could not do. Late 70s, checking out cars for sale in newspaper. Early 70s MGB for sale, needs a transmission. Take Blazer and wife expecting to tow it to shop. Owner tells me he just had a clutch installed. Start engine, clutch feels good and shifts thru gears. I look under car and find transmission to drive shaft bolts missing. I told him to car shop that did the work.

Mid 80s I see a Volkswagen Thing for sale on side of the road. Owner says the front end needs to be rebuilt. I test drive, pay him $900, slowly drive it home, replace the steering damper and drive it for years.

98 Honda Accord Coupe. Advertised at $800 and it said it didn't start. I can't remember what I paid, but between the car, a new battery, and a windshield wiper I was in for about $850 and drove it away. 

I sold it a few months later when the wheel bearing gave out and I didn't have time to fix it, and had already bought another car. I did not break even when you consider registration and insurance, but I did drive it for about 6 months when I needed a car.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot... It had 4 new wheels and tires on it. I swapped those wheels and tires with the steel wheels and worn out tires that I had in the garage, and they ultimately ended up being used in trade for a good camera. So I guess with that in mind I came pretty close to breaking even. 

I have the build thread on here of my infamous SAAB 900 Turbo that had a fresh head gasket but ran like crap that turned out to be a loose distributor hold-down bolt.

There was also the Jag XJ-S with the L98 swap where a shop had numbered the cylinders like a Ford (1, 2, 3, 4) instead of a GM (1, 3, 5, 7) so all I had to do was reroute the plug wires.

The Alfa Romeo Spyder and Rambler Classic were both just crud in the tank.

AnthonyGS said:

I bought an early 90s Accord with a blown timing belt for about $100 because the owner needed it out of a shop and could not afford the repairs.  I fixed it and made a good profit.  The only hard part was removing the crankshaft pulley and damper bolt.  I'm not sure why it was so freaking tight.  I ended up using the biggest most powerful electric impact a local tool rental place owned.  They swore it had more torque than air guns, and it must have.  It was way too hot to touch when it finally came out from the hammer action of the electric impact.

Welcome to any 80s/90s Honda crankshaft pulley bolt removal 101 haha. 

Nothing that crazy but I talked the PO of my Sequoia down $1000 because the hatch window wouldn't roll down. He said he got a quote for $400 in parts and $500 in labor and I told him that was a dealbreaker. $50 on rockauto and 30 minutes later that issue was fixed. 

My son in law bought a Ford Focus for really cheap, because it had a ghastly sounding clunk in the rear whenever it went over a bump. When he was cleaning it up prior to putting it in the air to have a look at it, he found  the ball mount for the hitch loose in the spare tire well. Clunk gone!

Got my first NA11 MR2 for free.  Previous owner (kid of a rich family) abandoned it at a mechanic shop because they thought it was broken.  It had a dead battery....I paid $60 for a battery and drove it away.

Guy at work. His father blew the engine on a Bronco II and sold it for $100.   Smoke coming out of engine.  Nobody wanted these at the time.  

Friend drives it home with smoke blowing out and changes the oil sending unit that was blowing oil all over the engine bay and exhaust manifolds.  

I got a free Geo Tracker 4x4 because the caliper and rotor were rust-welded together.

After trying everything, I took a 3lb hammer and just shattered the rotor, paid like $20 for a new one and I was off!

In reply to Turboeric :

Wow!

Early 90s se-r.

Owner (older female friend of my wifes) was told it needed an engine by her "trusted mechanic". I had a standing offer on the car, and the mechanic was offering her $600 for it (72k, one owner southern car)

Brother Dustin and I cut the belt off the seized ac compressor and Dustin drove it for 4 years. He forced her to take 1k

Those shady bastards aren't in town anymore. 

wearymicrobe said:

Got an old FJ40 for basically peanuts because the distributor got loose and broke and the owner and all the shops that touched it could not fix it for some reason. 

Probably a $15,000 vehicle now!

When I bought my fc rx7 the guy told me that the power steering was screwed and would need to be gone through. When i muscled the car back to my friend's house we noticed that the power steering reservoir was empty. We dumped a bottle of fluid in it and bled it and worked perfect. It didn't even leak any fluid. I never had to do anything to the power steering again in 5 years of ownership.

Small cool story about car that is semi related to this thread. The FC rx7 has these little triangle shaped vents that direct air to the side windows. Well those little bastards were about impossible to find. I was working at an event at CMP and i was telling a buddy about those vents, a guy who raced an FC overheard me and pulled the good ones out of his car and gave them to me. He told that they only made his car heavier. I wish i remember his name.

Gs400 that I bought for 900 that just needed a starter.

Bought a 328i at the auction with "no reverse" written on the windshield.  It was missing its shift knob and auction staff didn't realize reverse was not below 5th gear.

Bought last years challenge car with a "blown headgasket".  Turned out to be a bad relay not activating the fans properly.

cars:

1. summer of 1983, neighbor of dad's friend has 1972 Monte Carlo brought home on a hook.  shop diagnosed as "needs engine", kid couldn't afford to fix.

dad pulls distributor cap, asks kid to crank engine, rotor doesn't move, dad offers $100 and kid accepts.  we go to NAPA and get timing set, fix in driveway over weekend, drive home for grand total of about $121.  that car was my HS graduation present @123k miles.  i junked it 8 years later at 254k.

2. spring of 2003, my buddy's '96 probe GT with 142k is making hella rattle, sounds like connecting rod wants to come out. towed to garage, "needs engine", he's already ordered a new 2003 Mazda6, tells me $1250 and it's yours".

google suggests timing belt tensioner strut failure.  garden hose stethoscope confirms.  buddy refuses to accept more than $1250.  i paid the man, towed it home, R&R timing kit plus water pump, and daily'd for 8 years including driving to and competing in $2006 challenge (31st out of 62, went 15.12 @ 89 bone stock with full tank of 87 octane).  sold at 229k.

non-cars:

1.  winter 1995, boss says "old snowblower doesn't run, who wants it?"  tightened spark plug, used for 7 winters, gave to neighbor when we moved.

2.  winter 2017 iirc, old-ish neighbor has baller honda 2-stage snow thrower that (1) is too big for him to handle and (2) only runs on starting fluid.

disassemble fuel shutoff valve, clean ethanol goo, reassemble, agree to clear his sidewalk for the life of the machine.  so far, so good.

do the cheap fix in front of the PO only after the title is signed and they are paid.

My first car ever was a 1989 4-Runner.      had teh venerable 22RE, no start issue.   Owner had just done a tune up,  would not start after tune up.  Garage could not figure out.

Bought it for $400,   brought it home.  Dizzy was loose,  he had knocked it out of time when doing his tune up.  little twist of the cap and it fired up sold 2 years later for $1500, and it was still a good deal at that price.