This looks like it could be a great deal on a real unicorn IF I can replace the CEM and a few other things and be good. If not, it could be a nightmare. What say you?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321477159130?forcerRptr=true&item=321477159130&viewitem=
This looks like it could be a great deal on a real unicorn IF I can replace the CEM and a few other things and be good. If not, it could be a nightmare. What say you?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321477159130?forcerRptr=true&item=321477159130&viewitem=
Nightmare. 
Nightmare. RUN!
Yes, you are completely insane. You will be chasing various electrical gremlins from now on. But... That's never stopped anybody from trying it before. If you can get it for well under challenge money (1K) that could be one heck of a deal and maybe worth the trouble
Anyone here done something similar to this?
Total nightmare. Salt water throughout all the wiring and electronics and you're considering it? You can almost be guaranteed its not just the CEM.
If it was an older car, maybe. But an '07 is new enough to have a lot of really complex electronics that are probably bad.
While my initial reaction is nightmare, I gotta give kudos to the guy for a very thorough and seemingly honest approach to selling it.
I'd give him Challenge money, with the expectation that very bad things could happen due to the salt water exposure.
The more I consider this the less I want to take it on. IF he would take 2k, I would probably take the risk but not for almost double that.
Offer no more than $1500, strip it to bare bones, especially removing every electrical component not needed to run, and make it a general purpose motorsports beater.
For any other use run away.
It won't be just the CEM. It will be the UEM, the TCM, the ECU, the LCM, the ... and all the bus wiring, actuators, and sensors will be suspect.
I agree with HappyAndy - if you want a shell for motorsports, great, otherwise run away.
The list of computers in that car is incredible. There's something like seven of them involved in the climate controls alone.
The CEM is located in the dashboard, above the bottom of the steering wheel. This seller somehow "found" it was damaged by flooding. That then lets you know that all his other claims about undamaged and unflooded components are untrue. The only way he would be able to determine the CEM is bad is to apply power to it. That lets you know the rest of his statements about the car are untrue.
Perhaps you'll be lucky, and everything is good and it will fire up. It might. More likely, you're looking at several thousand dollars in electrical components, and another $500-1,000 in dealer service fees to get them all coded to the car. You do realize that most of the computers are programmed specifically to the VIN, and a dealer will have to configure them to actually function in this car.
Run. It's a shame when a unicorn dies but let it go. He paid too much, had big dreams, realized how big the challenge and is trying to get out. Treat it as a tub and anything else salvageable is a bonus. I knew someone that bought a Katrina Miata for spec miata. Stripped down to just the tub we could never get the smell out of it. Seeing the carnage done by flood has guaranteed that I will never even consider this challenge.
At this point I would almost offer challenge money and pull all the electronics and run a megasquirt and have a $4k rally beater but I can't justify that.
singleslammer wrote: At this point I would almost offer challenge money and pull all the electronics and run a megasquirt and have a $4k rally beater but I can't justify that.
This would be my solution. Gut interior, rewire from scratch, add Megasquirt.
I've got a very clean 240 wagon.
I'd love to strip this, throw away all the electrical, megasquirt, and build a monster 240.
But not at that price.
The only way to save that would be to dunk it in a pool of R/O water before the salt water dried.
It's toast, does not qualify for Unicorn status.
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