Samcrac, a popular YouTuber (@Samcrac) in Florida, gained nearly two million followers by buying cars for cheap at auction and fixing them with simple tools. Doing so has allowed Sam to buy some seriously cool cars for less than $1,000 and then flip them for much more than that, like a Porsche Cayenne.

In a recent video, Sam picked up a Porsche Cayenne S for $700. The auction listing said it had low miles, no exterior or interior issues, and no accidents to report, but it wouldn’t start. The dashboard lit up with every warning and error light possible. The company listed the SUV as ‘non-running.’

Sam said the seller listed the car online for several days, but no one placed any bids. He made the first (and only bid) and won the car without contest. The tow truck driver arrived with it on a flatbed, and after the two struggled to get it out of park and into neutral, Sam got to work.

The first thing Sam noticed was that the previous owners “fixed” a common relay problem by using alligator clips to ensure the relay received a constant source of power. When he discovered this, he found the second issue.

The Porsche was waterlogged

In addition to the shoddy wiring “fix,” Sam saw nearly an inch under the floorboards. Everyone with a basic understanding of electricity knows water and wires don’t tend to get along.

Sam grabbed his wet-dry shop vac to suck up the excess water before taking a deeper look at the wiring. He traced the wire and quickly found the source of the problem. The connectors for the wire had corroded and fallen off. This, he said, made it so the alligator fix was ineffective.

With the issue found, he grabbed his $9.99 wire strippers, pulled back some of the plastic covering, spliced the wires, and started the Porsche on the first try. The results shocked him.

“So, we have many less warning lights, but we still have some issues to figure out,” he said.

He tracked down the leak, too

Sam said the Porsche Cayenne and related Volkswagen Tiguans had common drainage issues: one in the HVAC system, and the other with the sunroof. After a typical Florida rainstorm, he determined the cause to be the leaky sunroof.

He used a dollar store drain snake, cleared out the outside area of the drain, and resealed it. He also shrink-wrapped the wire he repaired, too. The passenger’s side was similarly blocked, so he used a silicone sealer to prevent any future drainage issues.

After he fixed all the warning lights at no extra cost to himself, he scanned the engine light and found the only issue to be with the catalytic converter, which he would fix.

“We might have gotten really lucky with this Porsche,” he said. “This $700 Porsche is looking to be more like a $7,000 after a restoration and budget fix.”