When I had the car checked out, it had a flat battery. Previous owner had the voltage regulator on the alternator rebuilt. He put in a new battery before it shipped out to me.

Get the car here, whole saga ensues as the car has multiple needs that result in the motor being pulled. Mechanic has the work ethic of a sloth and after 2 months I get the car back uncompleted.

Driving it around today, voltmeter reading 13. Turn headlites on, voltmeter goes down more (I have the rennbay harness and all grounds were recently cleaned and good as the motor was out).

Get home, park car, turn it off. Headlites are going up and down and I can hear a relay cycling under the dash.

A previous owner installed some kind of alarm, but hitting the button does nothing. Disconnect and reconnect the battery, headlites still cycling up and down.

Argh! Disconnect the battery and go inside to eat dinner.

I'm going to rip any alarm crap I can out of the car, but I have a feeling I'm going to need a new alternator....

I can't wait to get on top of the maintenance of this thing. It has been fairly neglected the last several years and I'm paying for it.

 

The headlights going up and down is almost certainly the alarm. I installed car alarms for 2 years and whoever hooked up your alarm didn't know what they were doing. Take it out!!!

Good luck, let me know if you need help with any of the alarm stuff.

Phil

 

I thought the car was advertised as solid...

 

The headlights cycling on and off, if they're popping up and down that is, could just be the switch itself. Not necessarily an alarm. I'm not sure how it's related to a charging problem or a drain, but the headlight switch, when turned off, can cause the headlights to pop up and down.

 

How can the head light switched, turned off, cause the head lights to go up and down?

Yeah, car was advertised as solid, guess that didn't include the failed timing belt tensioner and dangerously loose timing belt, leaking oil pan gasket, blown motor mounts, fractured clutch guide tube and basically wasted clutch, AC inoperable, charging problem, etc, etc... These were all things the shop that did the PPI missed btw.

Gotta find out what brake pads are in the car, coming to a stop the car sounds like a garbage truck. I'm a huge fan of the OEM textar pads for the street, I have a feeling these are "street-track" pads, which basically suck at everything and are really noisy.

 

Sorry to hear all the issues Josh. Always frustrating, especially when you thought you were paying for a sorted car.

 

Yep, lesson learned. I'm never buying a car out of state again, unless it's from someone I know and I can take it to a shop I've personally used in the past and trust.

I'm also rejuvenating some things in the interior, lots of missing fasteners, need new drivers side carpet (came patched with black duct tape!) a few dash pieces, fix a bunch of rattles, etc.

One thing's for sure, car will be solid when I'm done with it and whoever buys it from me down the road will be getting a very sorted car.

 

This sucks, sorry to learn of your troubles.
My car is almost sorted after an engine rebuild. I am almost inclined to sell it before I have to put money into it again. A good 944 turbo ussually has a ton of money into it.....

 

Yeah, since the motor was out I debated doing rings, etc, but everything looked good and I have a receipt showing that the head was completely rebuilt and a widefire head gasket placed not that miles ago, so I left it alone.

While the motor was out we rebuilt the axles and replaced a wheel bearing, did tie rods, etc, etc. At this point there aren't very many areas of the car that haven't been touched. Those last ones will be getting attention next week and I've been hammering away on the interior this week.

 

I had a car a few years ago did that. The switch internally shorts or something, causing it to pop the headlights up and down. Now I can't remember if it was the switch or the headlight motor itself. It's been a while. I'd just part the car out.

 

Where's Lart?

 

How's the Vitesse Stage II so far? Did you get thru emissions OK?

 

Can't really tell yet. Last mechanic didn't finish the job, so the boost solenoid, MAP sensor, etc aren't hooked up.

Car didn't pass smog because the previous mechanic hadn't finished hooking everything up, or resolve the vacuum leaks before he ran it through.

Needless to say I'm through with him, car is going to a different shop tonight and will get completely finished and past smog in a week.

 

Sorry to hear about all the difficulties with that mechanic, but glad you've got someone else lined up to focus on getting it finished!

 

Yep, they get to clean up whatever mess was left behind. I can't wait to get the kit up and going on the car. I also picked up an extra mirror switch to use to swap between low boost/high boost maps.