Simplifying a complicated car?

[Skeletoaster]

I have a rather specific curiosity that I couldn't find answered anywhere on the internet, so I thought I should ask about it here.

I have an old run down luxury car. It's a post-2000 model, so the car's entire system is computerized. There are so many electrical cables going absolutely everywhere. If I don't install the rear view mirror properly, I won't even be able to start the car. That's how bad it is. So my question is, when one is in posession of a car like that, how feasible do you suppose it would be to just strip all but the most essential electronic components, and try to make it more like a simple old fashioned car?

 

[Sevs753]

Well, there are likely two options. Get a standalone ECU. They're on the expensive side and you would have to get someone to set it up and tune the car but It would be used to run only the engine and the basic systems in the car.

The other option would be to find all the electrical things you want to disable, find out how they work and loop the cables back so that the car always thinks its there. Thats not easy or straight forward and likely expensive as well. Like you said, if the rearview mirror isn't installed correctly, the car won't start so you need to make the car think the mirror is there and correctly installed, even though it's not.

The easiest and cheapest way is to just leave it as is and deal with things as they break. Either options could just further complicate things and cause more issues if not properly done.

 

[Spectre]

The easiest and cheapest way is to just leave it as is and deal with things as they break. Either options could just further complicate things and cause more issues if not properly done.

No, the easiest and cheapest way is to sell or trade the car for something that's actually simpler. Keep in mind that many of the things you want to disable, you can't, even by looping the cables back - the computer will freak out. And if you use a standalone ECU, you may be in violation of multiple Federal laws regarding tampering with emissions equipment which *includes* the computer system. Your car must be 25 years old before the EPA stops caring much about that.

Additionally, many if not most post 2000 cars use computers to run *everything* - even the turn signals aren't just simple relay circuits any more but run through a lighting module or the body computer. The airbags won't work without the computers that run them and it may be illegal to remove them depending on the state. Interior and exterior lighting? Yup, computer driven in many cases. You might get the engine to run and *maybe* get the transmission (if automatic) to shift with a standalone, but you may discover that literally nothing else will work - not even lights or the instrument panel.

Like I said, easier and simpler to buy a car that's not that complex, if that's what you want.