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This is an FC that's for sale by me. Has been parked for a year and a half. Had a new 13b put in a year before it was parked. Left rear taillight is smashed. Interior is torn up a little. Exterior is pretty nice.

You can shift through all 6 gears (5 forward and reverse) without clutching. Not very good.

The problem is, the dumbass who previously owned it put the wrong battery connectors on the wrong terminals. So SOMETHING got fried along the line on the computer's electrical system.

However, once we switched the terminals, the lights worked, as did the blinkers and stuff (how the headlight motors didn't go out is beyond me, they do whenever you park a car with pop-ups, must be a miracle). But the car still wouldn't start. Not even a click from the starter.

How severe could this problem be? Is the car worth $225?

 

Can someone please help?

 

Well, you pic link won't work.. says access forbidden. Also, no offense, but you might want to wait more than 22 minutes to get a response before you start bumping...

Sight unseen, $225 is pretty cheap for a parts car. Obviously depends on condition, year, options, etc. But just from your description, it should easily be worth $225.

Not sure what your problem is though, could have fried the ECU and/or various fuses. I'd go through and check all fuses (inside the car AND the engine bay) and if it still doesn't work, you could try replacing the ECU. Those should be fairly low cost items to try -- esp. if you can just borrow a known good ECU from someone to try.

 

So you don't think that we'd need to completely re-wire the car?

 

It is very unlikely that the wires fired. Fuses would have most likely blown before that could happen. Or the ECU would have given.

Try the suggested tips to find out what the situation is. More than likely, the problem won't take more than an hour to fix.

My friend got his 86 SE for $250 because of exactly the same type of problem. He replaced some fuses and drives the sucker every day. It now has over 250,000 miles on its original engine and still going.

 

The wiring itself should be fine. Have you checked all of the underhood fuses? Usually when you hook the battery cables up backwards, it does 1 of 3 things.
1) Blows the main fuse. No huge deal, replace it and be on your way.
2) Blows the ECU - Needs replaced
3) Blows fuse and ECU, and a few other electronic components as well.

BUt still, for $225 , even as just a parts car it would be very worth it. You could make close to 3 times that just parting it out..

 

polarity doesnt matter to copper wires.....however that the wires are connected to....it does matter =]

 

fuses... guess what they're made for... to blow, in case of problem, overloading, etc.

check every stinking fuse you can find. under dash, under hood, EVERYTHING. D/L the factory service manual and look for everything. If it ain't one of the fuses, probably a good chance of an ECU. You should be able to pick up an ECU cheap, but as I said, if you know someone w/ a known good one, you could swap it real quick to see if that is the problem...

as stated, no pics, but parts on the car are easily worth the money mentioned. and good chance worth more than that because a simple problem to fix and make it run. keep the car, fix the probs, you'll thank yourself.

good luck, keep us posted!

 

Don't are trannies have syncros, so that shifting minus the clutch can be done?

 

Why not? Every manual car I have been in and/or driven has been "shiftable" without the clutch.

 

About the shifting thing... when the car doesn't run, it's a moot point. You can shove the shifter through all the gates because there are no moving parts to get in the way. BTW, are you holding the clutch all the way down when you crank it? (No insult intended...)

 

When I first got my FC I hooked up the battery connectors incorrectly too (oops!) - checked all the fuses and they were fine...

 

go smack the crap out of the kid who owned it before!

 

what they said, also you might wanna check the tightness on the wires, like if anythings hanging there off to the side. and if you bought it for 225 then your in luck, and if your trying to sell it for that much give me a pm

 

I didn't buy it. And I'm not planning to. My dad REFUSES to let me own a car, and that pisses me off. I mean I could sell it for like 4 times what I'd pay, and make a ton of cash. He says I can't get a car until next fall, but I'm gonna try to get him to say next summer.

By the way, ditto, feel free to have a look. If you know Madison, go where East Washington Avenue is in Madison, get on it and head towards Sun Prairie. When East Wash turns into a freeway, it should be coming up on the right side of the road. Feel free to buy it.

 

About the shifting, I'm not clutching at all. I can just move through all the gears without doing anything. I assumed that you shouldn't be able to do that, my friend's dad (a real car guy) said it wasn't good.

I can't smack the crap out of the person who owned it before. It's a lady of about 40. She stopped driving the car because she broke her back, and we all know how cramped and low 7's are.

Apparently her ex installed the battery. Now I know how he became her "ex"

 

If the car ins't running, you should be able to row through the gears.

 

If you were closer, I would buy it for $225.