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After a week and a half of being missing, the police contacted me this morning to inform me that they found my car. It is now home, safe and sound. The damage is contained to the ignition cylinder, which they gouged with a screwdriver. The lower part of the column is broken open, but none of the wires appear to be cut or otherwise harmed. With a little persuasion, he started up with a jump. The indicators work, the wipers work, the cruise works.   Naturally, anything else of even small value was taken from the car, including my prescription glasses I kept in it for driving at night. That will not be expensive to replace—nothing that was taken is. I'm just glad to have it back.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:02
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 07:50 |
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I'm glad you got your battle wagon back safe and (relatively) intact 
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Jun 11, 2015 05:06
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Glad you got your ride back. It might be your old man Buick, but its YOUR car, and its nice to have it home. Luckily, they made millions of these cars, so hitting up the pick and pull will be easy to find replacements.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:08
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Luckily, they made millions of these cars, so hitting up the pick and pull will be easy to find replacements. I don't even need to do that. I have a replacement ignition cylinder on deck. Since the damage to the column is cosmetic, and everything still works, I'm just gonna replace the cylinder and call it good.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:11
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hell yes
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Jun 11, 2015 05:14
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Slow is Fast posted:hell yes  Doesn't look like it was driven very much, and it was found about four miles from my house in a shopping center. Battery was stone dead. It may be damaged. After I jumped it and drove it around to recharge it, restarts resulted in slower cranking than I'm used to. The battery has a warranty, so I'm not too concerned.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:22
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So how bad did you get raped on towing/storage fees? When my 88 Accord got stolen, the cops waited about a week to contact me after the guys driving it had been arrested.  Go through it. I asked the cops if they'd done a complete search, they swore up and down they did. I found a decent amount of coke and a small amount of weed in the trunk once I got it home. Glad yours was found relatively unharmed. Mine had a roasted clutch, smashed front bumper and hood, was missing the stereo, my amp wiring had been used to tie the front bumper back on, and I found pawn slips from pawn shops all over Dallas for everything of value that was in the car.  Mine was found about 20 miles from where it was stolen.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:29
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some texas redneck posted:So how bad did you get raped on towing/storage fees? When my 88 Accord got stolen, the cops waited about a week to contact me after the guys driving it had been arrested.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:42
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Did they put Pass Key into the 90s A Bodies?
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Jun 11, 2015 05:47
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KennyLoggins posted:Did they put Pass Key into the 90s A Bodies? No, and that's the reason why it's so easy to steal.
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Jun 11, 2015 05:57
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Glad to see she made it back mostly unscathed!
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Jun 11, 2015 06:00
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Left Ventricle posted:$85 to tow it from where it was found to my house. Certainly could have been worse. The dispatcher more or less said to me that I had a half hour to get there or it was getting impounded. Goddamn, not bad. I wound up paying north of $400 to get my car back. And that was in 1999... KennyLoggins posted:Did they put Pass Key into the 90s A Bodies? If early PassKey is anything like the modern version of PassKey, all you have to do is cut 1 wire and do a re-learn to get it to start, you just get a permanent security light on the dash (and have to do a re-learn anytime the battery is disconnected). No offense to LV, but I'm kind of wondering (a) why would they steal a mid 90s Buick and (b) why would they steal something so easy to spot (there weren't many of the wagons sold to begin with)? Had to be someone who just thought "welp, I'm high, tired of walking, and need to get home". Left Ventricle posted:No, and that's the reason why it's so easy to steal. Oops. How weird. I remember most 90s GMs having it.  Not that PassKey really slows anyone down anyway, it's really easy to get around.
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Jun 11, 2015 06:00
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some texas redneck posted:No offense to LV, but I'm kind of wondering (a) why would they steal a mid 90s Buick and (b) why would they steal something so easy to spot (there weren't many of the wagons sold to begin with)? Had to be someone who just thought "welp, I'm high, tired of walking, and need to get home".
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Jun 11, 2015 06:06
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Yay she's safe and home. Time to add the "valet mode" stun gun to the ignition system.
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Jun 11, 2015 14:07
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My friends Toyota Previa was stolen once and recovered at a night club. The thieves had meticulously cleaned all the garbage out of it, shampooed the seats and rugs, put fuel in it, and left an Ace of Base CD in it.
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Jun 12, 2015 07:07
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Left Ventricle posted:Since the damage to the column is cosmetic, and everything still works, I'm just gonna replace the cylinder and call it good. I bet thieves think if they tear the column cover off there will be a switch labeled "hotwire" under it and are shocked when it's just a bundle of unlabelled wires.
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Jun 12, 2015 23:17
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Bibendum posted:I bet thieves think if they tear the column cover off there will be a switch labeled "hotwire" under it and are shocked when it's just a bundle of unlabelled wires. Actually there's a spot on those old GM columns where if you make a hole there is basically a 'hotwire' switch. Found out about it when somebody used it on my Camaro early one morning (and couldn't go anywhere because it had no ATF in it). It's about 180 degrees from where this dude smashed it though.
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Jun 12, 2015 23:43
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Glad you got your ride back! Those pieces are super easy to find in the junkyard if you ever do decide to fix the cosmetic damage, GM used those columns in like 14 brazillion cars for the better part of a decade or two. And also it's a good thing that EEs are rarely in the car stealing business because I'm reasonably certain I could jack any pre-security-key car in about 15 minutes if I found it with the door open using nothing but logic and/or schematics pulled from the internet. Fortunately we usually have better things to do. Remember that you'll need to carry two keys... one for the doors and one for the ignition, unless you change them all out. I learned that the hard way when I forgot to swap the cylinder over from my old hatch to my new one on a long since departed XJ and had to use the electric locks to open it from that point forward 
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Jun 23, 2015 01:41
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Time to throw a fuel pump kill switch etc, in a secret location. A buddy of mine removed his clutch switch and routed it up under the dash so his car won't start unless you hold that switch in your left hand while cranking. Obviously not going to work on an automatic but something to keep in mind, get clever. And congrats on getting the car back!
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Jun 23, 2015 07:02
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kastein posted:Remember that you'll need to carry two keys... one for the doors and one for the ignition, unless you change them all out. I learned that the hard way when I forgot to swap the cylinder over from my old hatch to my new one on a long since departed XJ and had to use the electric locks to open it from that point forward Fairly sure his car already has 2 keys - GM used two keys back then, one for the ignition switch, one for the doors/trunk/glovebox, up until around the end of the 96 model year or so. I've never seen that style steering column setup for the newer style keys personally. So a new ignition lock cylinder just means swapping out one key on the keyring.
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Jun 23, 2015 09:54
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