So I was talking to a friend tonight about first cars, and then brought up the issues I had, and made me curious to see if 1)anyone knew what this issue was, and 2)what everyone else'* weirdest issues have been.

My first car was a '92 Volvo body, but whoever had it before had rigged it up pretty badly...the alternator didn't match ANY alternator from the '90-'94 Volvo'* I'd tried, and the fuel pump relay was the '91 relay. The fuel pump itself was a '93 pump, and the water pump was a match for the '92. I don't know how he managed to mess with it that much. My granddad had come into it, and given the car to me when he passed on. I spent 4 months and almost all my graduation money trying to fix this car'* fuel issue and never could.

The weird part?
It got to a point where if I turned the key to "on", the odometer would start adding miles at an alarming rate. I'm talking, spinning numbers so that within a minute it was 50-75 miles above where it started at.

So even though I long since traded that piece for the Bonneville, I really am curious...why the heck was it doing that?! Anyone have an idea?

Sounds like the wiring loom was pretty messed up, I assume it was an electronic odometer?.
I put a new battery on a customers car once, it was faulty so I replaced it within a week, then replaced it again twice before I got a good one!. Three bad batteries in a row had the whole workshop tearing their hair out looking for a wiring or charging fault and the customer wasn't impressed either.

The odometer was the old school wheel with numbers type deal...super trippy stuff.

I'd hate to go through that many batteries that fast! Awful luck!

Getting a car someone has butchered into the wiring and attempting to make any old part work for them is the worst.

When I worked at Sears Auto we encountered bad battery lots from time to time. It happens. Our cure was to ship them all back and refuse any further if that lot. For having such a good reputation at one time, Diehards had a very spotty record until Johnson Controls took over the brand.

[QUOTE=jdaniels;1513609]The odometer was the old school wheel with numbers type deal...super trippy stuff./QUOTE]

I've had friends who've owned Volvos, (mostly 850'*) and they had an issue with their odometers that just caused them to freeze up. I find it funny yours did the somewhat opposite.