How to identify a drowned car?
Administrator
posted this
09 October 2018
Most of the countries or their regions are not immune from heavy rains for a few days, and as a result, from floods. Naturally, in such conditions, cars suffer, which after goes through a service station and sold as second-hand, through private-sailers and through unprincipled dealers. How to recognize auto-drowned and not buy it?
Before continuing, it should be noted that in fact, everything depends on the duration of flooding and water composition, and on timely measures which were taken in order to eliminate the consequences.
PRICE
Low price the first sign that something seems off about the car.
CAR CABIN (smell, stains, swollen plastic)
Pay attention to the car cabin, as the signs of cars been drowned are here. Stains on the fabric, on the plastic, the condensation under the dash, swollen plastic is evidence of the drowning of the vehicle. Replacing all the above, will not be cheap for the owner of the car. There's no less if, something was hidden from your view, the scent won't let down with. "Swamp" smell in cars is the most obvious and simple evidence of drowning. The longer the car was in the water, the more difficult to get rid of this smell, and dry the cabin is almost impossible. If, however, you feel a sharp smell of pine needles or other flavors, it is possible that the seller masks the smell of damp and rot.
CORROSION
Without leaving the cabin, check all joints and look under the skin of the seats on the metal parts. Rust is the easiest and most obvious symptom of drowning the car. Machines do not rust from the inside, especially if they are less than 10 years old. Rust stains can be cleaned, but new corrosion spots can also appear. If the car is drowned in salt water, all aluminum parts will suffer. Сurbsider cleans them with solvents, so look aluminum for too clean or whitish spots.
CONDENSATION on headlamps
Condensation and moisture on the inner surface of the headlamps is a simple and obvious sign of drowning. In this case, the seller is likely to change the lights but new and cheap. Pay attention to the replacement headlights, anyway.
ELECTRONICS
In this case, we are talking about the buzz of the generator, bad or incomplete connection of the "check" signals, breakage in the air conditioner, etc. Most likely, the "reasons for the low price" is pushed to problems with electronics. That is, the price is low, because the car does not start well, and so for this, there can be a lot of reasons. One of the most undesirable is drowning.
OIL and grease
Replacement of oil, brake fluid and filters, just before the sale should alert you. Pay attention to the lubricant, but rather the presence of white milk foam. Replacement filters, it should be noted, should alert the buyer in any case. Perhaps the owner of the car at all for the first time replaced the filter, just before the sale, and other parts of the car have already suffered.
