I bought a nice 2000 Monte Carlo Indy Pace car for my son to use 5 years ago. It had about 115k at the time and is now at about 130k I think. It is a sharp looking car and is still in excellent condition; never driven in the winter, and all that.

A couple of months ago he pulled out the car charger from the cig lighter and used the lighter to start a piece of paper to start a grill (no matches!). The lighter was in for about 20 seconds and then he pulled it out manually and went to start the fire. When he came back to the car, it was full of smoke and more smoke was coming out of the compartment between the seats. I was there and we popped the hood to disconnect the battery. All this probably took 4 minutes.

We had it towed to a shop and they found the wire from the cig lighter, the heated seat wire, and more were melted. Thy followed it up to the dash on the right side and there was still melting of the harness. They said, "Call your insurance company".

The insurance company totaled the car. The came up with an estimate of about $4200 to fix it with it being about $1200 for a harness, $2500 labor, and the rest in miscellaneous parts and tax. The said that I could buy the car back for about $1500 which was the salvage value.

The car is a very nice car other than this issue. We have only had it 5 years but he got it on his 16th birthday and so it has some sentimental value to him. (I own it, he only got the "use" of it).

The big question is: Is it worth buying back?

I'm not going to do the work myself because I don't have time. I don't want to pay a dealer retail labor pricing because it would cost a fortune but I don't know someone that would want to take it on as a "labor of love" at a reduced rate. I also don't know the availability of a harness for a 15 year old car....or for sure that it wouldn't just smoke another one when the battery gets hooked up again.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. I am in central Wisconsin.

Thanks for your help!

 

If you wanted to part the car out, and deal with all of that, the interior and such is highly wanted from that year. That could make back the cost of buying it back, then scrapping it for more cash.

If you aren't doing the work yourself, it's a tough pill to swallow. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to you, or your son if everything is out of pocket. You know the costs associated with the labor already.

Might want to see what you can get that could compare for that $4200.

 

Thanks for the reply! I am still hoping for more too. I good news is that they valued it at $7895 without a fight so if I do just take it and not buy it a back, at least I didn't get burnt on the value.

 

I was also trying to add some pics of the car but can't see how to do it. I am a newer member so maybe I don't have the "status" yet. Does anyone know what it takes to add pics? Thanks.

 

What do you think an interior would bring? Are there any other real desirable parts that would be easy to sell?

 

You car may be fine, but the jumper harness is definitely not. Jumper harness is comprised of cig lighter, traction control on/off button, shifter selection light and heated seat switches. Open up the console and pull this harness out and see where this connection is made to the main body harness. The main body harness may be fine as it usually has larger gage wires. The jumper harness is on the back side of the console piece that am showing a pic of.

 

Thanks. You are right. Those wires are completely melted. There are 3 wires in the main harness that still show signs of overheating, although they are not completely melted, where it goes into the dash on the right side of the car. I am thinking that I need a main harness. Do you know where to get one and how many hours it would take to replace?

 

I do not know where to get one.... other than buying a donor car and pulling that harness out of that car.

 

Well, I found the culprit. An aftermarket (it appears) 15amp fuse that didnt blow. It just stayed intact and melted parts of the harness. Be carefull. Use quality fuses! Fortuately my insurance gave me $7895 for the car and I bought it back for $1200 and I'm going to fix it. I could use that little harness that you speak of. I am getting the main harness out of a 2000 Impala which the dealer says is the same. Hope to get it going again.

 

By chance, was it an OLD Harbor Freight fuse? About 5+ years ago, they had a recall on blade fuses and I think that was the issue, they did not blow when they should.