So one day around the beginning of the month i a signed with Copart, a place where insurances sell cars they bought for customers after reimbursing them the whole market value of the car. I know it sounds strange but here's how it happens. The car gets wrecked and the cost of repair is over the cost of the market value of the car. In which case the owner can't say anything if he is paid that value. Usually with that money the owner can get from a dealer a similar car. Though i don't believe it is 100% moral or equivalent cause buying a used car involves a great deal of stress especially since you don't know how the ex owner took care of. It could probably work with people who don't care much about their cars. Like the owner of this car i bought from auction. The battery was not replaced at the recommended year interval. At 5 years of battery age you could not start it again after it was jump started and run it for an undetermined interval of time. Throttle body was supposed to be cleaned at 30,000 miles on owner's expense but wasn't. At 35 it wasn't and had a hesitation and i cleaned it 3 times, twice with alcohol and once with CRC and finally gut rid of all the gunk built in there.
What happens is car's got an electronic throttle, without cable and a step motor instead. The step motor's power is limited. The computer knows how to open the injectors based on the position of the throttle (and other sensors). When the throttle is almost closed or pedal barely touched like most of the time the dirt counts for a significant amount of opening or extra closing to be more exact and engine gets less oxygen and more fuel contributing to bad mileage and overheating the catalytic converter. Also the dirt could cause the step motor to skip steps and be into a different position or hesitate to open. All these also translate into erratic driveability and bad mileage.
Also. There is no scheduled interval to service the brakes until this mileage. The brakes had a dead interval of about half inch. Which means you applied them and they won't react until you press about half inch. Then they would have a tendency of braking to hard or almost looking. A few days ago with the help of Angela who pressed the pedal i removed a single bubble of air in both front brakes, didn't have time for the rest. Brakes work now normally.
Also. At high speed it had the tendency of pulling both sides, depending on the state of the road (right now I5 between 217 and 205 is a mess in both ways. With deep grooves and now with extra grooves from removing the white markings because of the enlargement work). At the alignment they told me both front toe angles where out of specs, towards the exterior of the car. That is left wheel towards left and right to right.
There was a flat tire fixed with the kit the car had. Fixed that one for free at Les Schwab.
All these things dramatically decreased the driveability of the car and most likely contributed to the accident.
The car was initially sold at Copart by State Farm. On the windshield it had a C and a D which means was on lane C at the first sale and on D at the second. Lane D i think is for vehicles that are driveable and usable or in top shape (for a place like Copart).
The car initially had been in a fender bender which broke the left headlight and slightly bent the hood. There is a few mm misalignment between hood and fenders barely visible. Obviously not visible in the picture above and not by us when we went there at Copart location in North Portland saw it. Also saw a lot of cars that day.
But whoever bought the car the first time from State Farm fixed it partially. That is he put a headlight in there and made it look like it had not been in a wreck. Which worked for us. Than he put it back in the auction with of course the intention to make some money of it. Because the letter C from the windshield was never erased but just put in parenthesis it is possible the car was never taken out of the lot but fixed there and all paperwork faked.
Copart has some qualifications for each car. Probably not legally binding since the cars are sold "as is" and without any warranty. However misleading since you see a car that is qualified with "minor dents and scratches" and in reality had been hit and with mechanical problems and partially repaired. Qualifications that are shown on all the other cars.
We went to see the car about a week before the day of the auction. I remember there was a funny sweet smell brought on the lot by the wind in that day. Some Arab guy asked me a question. When i got home we went and bought Teryaki and had a severe dysphagia episode (the kind that brought me to ER a couple of times but never checked in).
The auction itself took place on 4/4. I added some money on my Copart account. (For each thousand dollars you bid except for the first you have to have 100 dollars deposit). In that day Angela took some hours from work and we both had the pleasure to bid at the first ever online auction in our lives.
It was very similar with a video game at the Casino. You would see the amount raising as people bid by clicking their mice in different location of the world. There was some repetitive music and comments. Finally got to "our" car. After passing a certain amount, i think 3000, it was only me and somebody from Alaska bidding (yes you can bid from out of state and other countries and have the car delivered). That guy was bidding because he had not seen the car. Me because i haven't seen it enough and certainly was not thinking of buying it in the moment i saw it. I won the auction at 3450. With Copart fees of which the biggest is "Internet Bidding Fee" around 800 for that value and other fees total price should had been 4150. But a few hours later i got an email from Copart saying the owner had raised the price with 900. That is because again the car had a qualification on it saying "on approval" which means the seller has to approve the final price. Kinda goes against any idea of auction i particpated in the past, in fact only one. So the seller rose the price 900 after basically winning the auction which i did not accept. To my surprise, got a few more emails from Copart saying the owner had made new offers, lowering the price in the end to 150 dollars more than final bid which i accepted. With Copart fees it bought the car at 4325 dollars or something like that can't remember the exact amount to dollars.
In that day i went to Copart to see the car i didn't look really close to it cause wasn't thinking seriously of buying it. Cause i would have seen:
The battery was dead.
There was a broken headlight and windshield reservoir in the trunk.
The engine was making a ticking sound.
The paint on the hood was corroded by boiled coolant.
There was a C and a D on the windshield (The guy from Alaska would have seen that in the pictures too if he knew what it meant. I guess not. Both C and D are not visible in the pictures).
I brought the car home in the Friday after the auction. That is April 6. In that morning i first drove myself to Copart and paid. They say they can arrange towing for 52 bucks but next week (later i saw it was for 152). I decided to drive the car home in that day.
After buying insurance, a permit from DMV (which was initially wrote with the wrong VIN number). The guy from insurance signed it for liability only and asked him to upgrade it. When he heard the car was totaled he hesitated but in the end he hand-wrote on the initial offer "upgraded to comprehensive and collision" and initialized. Later the paperwork came in the mail with liability only. (After a show last Friday with the owner of the agency and telling him my Sentra was totaled when i bought it and paid full coverage since 1999 until i decided a few years ago to go liability only because the car was not worth it he changed his mind and gave me full coverage for about 80 dollars a month which is a great rate. Don't know if there's any catch yet).
Angela drove me there in the afternoon or i drove with her (can't remember i was very tired from not sleeping enough that night). At Copart a guy drove the car outside the lot and let it running which seemed odd. Angela said she saw some white smoke coming out of the tailpipe which i didn't. For some reason i stopped the engine. I was amazed by the number of options and button and lights and indicators the car had. And the look. Our newest car (truck) is since 98.
Then when i wanted to restart it and it wouldn't. Then i dared and popped the hood and saw it was missing coolant. Oil looked ok. I added some water and asked the same guys in there to give me a jump start figuring the battery was dead both by age and sitting unused for a winter in the auction lot.
That worried me a bit thinking i have to drive it home with almost no battery having an electrical power steering (EPS). However i did it. But when i started driving it i first heard a noise at the engine.
However it was too late. I came home and checked coolant again. In the radiator it was low again. I noticed by feeling the radiator's hose that softened too soon after i stopped the engine. It should hold pressure for at least about 10 minutes. (I know this trick from mechanics i went to who would check the hose by squeezing in hand before opening the radiator's cap. My car holds pressure for about 3 minutes only.)
The exhaust has a strange smell of ammonia. Could it be the newer cats, or the combination of unburnt fuel from burning reach and small amounts of coolant. Something DEQ or sensors on your car don't even search for. http://www.cnn.com/2000/fyi/real.life/12/18/car.pollution/
Had trouble restarting it. Jumped started it several times before deciding to buy a battery from the dealer (cause the last one i bought one at NAPA leaks so i decided to take no chances with the EPS).
I was driving the car around to see how it does. I even went to the casino a couple of times. In the mean time i realized the noise was from the front of the engine. I replace the belt which had two indentations probably from a foreign object than from jumping. I tried to remove the water pump pulley but there is not enough room between the engine and the frame to do so. However reinstalling the pulley i noticed the wobble was much smaller. But the next day would come back. I did that several times.
In the mean time i read about noises and figured it might be a piston slap. About two weeks ago i ordered an endoscope from Amazon for about 12 buck. That is a small camera with a USB connector that can go inside a cylinder and take pictures. The camera came two weekends ago but i haven't use it until last Sunday. I haven't seen any scoring of the cylinders due to piston slap. I was intrigued by the strange shape of the pistons with valve relief indentations and the fact pistons were made of cast iron instead of aluminum. The whole engine is made of aluminum with cast iron sleeves inside cylinders.
But first think i saw was a drop of oil on one of the pistons. That came right out of the thread of the spark plug in cylinder number one after i removed it. There was oil in the spark plug compartment i don't know from where. Spark plug number one had zero torque on it while the others were very loose. So i took several pictures from inside the cylinders, cleaned the spark plugs and put them back until the next day when i bought NGK irridium only (no laser welded) which have a more irregular shape of the tip.
Most of the ticking noise that was from an exhaust leak in cylinder number 1 was gone. I was quite happy after finding that oil and that loose spark plug thinking my troubles are gone. But i was wrong. Original spark plugs where NGK irridium laser which are good for up to 80 thousand miles. I put in NGK irridum (only) which are 8 bucks a piece expected to work up to 50 thousand miles. But i could not find on the internet the right gap. Original ones were gaped between 38 and 40 mills so i gaped the new ones at 36. However i found out later at the dealer that the specs are 39 to 44. Can't remove to re-gap them cause the built in washers are one use only. The smaller gap accounts for a delay in timing which means worse mileage.
The serpentine belt i replaced in the few days after getting the thing. It had two indentations from two foreign objects. One that passed between the belt and water pump pulley. The other that passed on the other side of the belt between the belt and crankshaft pulley. Both pulley are wobbling a few tenth of mm. That is enough to vibrate the AC compressor to the point of getting the connectors loose and start a leak.
But there's more. I think the belt jumped from the pulleys. The engine might have been run without water pump rotating for a few minutes until boiled and corroded the paint on the hood. Though only on the outside. There is nothing on the inside. With that and the constant disappearing of coolant today i reviewed the pictures i took the other Sunday. And guess what i found in two of them.
The green spots in the lower side of the first picture and middle of the second could be none but coolant.
But there is a whole story with the pictures too. I bought the endoscope which is a tiny camera with LEDs and the end of an USB cable from Amazon being advertised as working with Android which it didn't. But it worked with Windows. So i put the all in one Angela's computer on top of the engine and through the spark plug holes took the pictures. But it was sunny that day and didn't see much on the screen outside. Then i looked at the pictures inside but not at all of them and only looking for cylinder scoring. I didn't see in three of the pictures there was coolant on top of the piston.
Now i figured what would have happened at Copart after coolant leaked in significant amounts inside of a cylinder after staying there for a while. When they started it they might have bent a valve because coolant acted as a hydraulic fluid when engine was turned to be started. But i don't hear any valve ticking with the stethoscope. Only injectors.
Also each morning i start the car the water pump is wobbling severely and makes a noise. If i loosen the belt and all four connecting screws of the pulley and tighten everything back again the vibration is brought to a minimum.
Today i went to several places with the pictures on a tablet. They gave me estimates for a head gasket which would be broken in order for the coolant to leak in there. Starting at 600 and ending with 12 to 18 hundred at the dealer (in case there's a bent valve). It's not that bad but when thinking about the water pump and possibly the crankshaft itself bent for the short distance outside the engine, i don't know. It looks like i got myself in big trouble.
Today when i looked at the pictures and copied them on the tablet i saw the location is... Microsoft One drive. It looks Windows 10 generously moves files from your computer without asking in the cloud from where they can be seen by anybody with a password. And Angela does not have a very strong password for her Microsoft account.
Yesterday i went to Hyundai dealership in Beaverton and changed oil and also serviced the AC. There was a puddle of oil from AC on a plastic cover and the screws from the connector to the compressor showed traces of being turned with tools. When i left the car was sluggish. This morning had a few misfires and i hear new ticks all the way to the bottom of the engine. I think they did things to make that engine worse. Now when i accelerate i hear a bit of misfires. Maybe filled a cylinder with oil and bent some valves which can be blamed on the starting at Copart wth coolant in a cylinder. Just to make it break soon and cover other Hyundai specific defects.
I think the recall with the thing in the brake pedal is to cover the problem of air bubbles in the braking system. They are changing a little plastic thing behind the brake pedal. In reality they are airing the brakes real quick.
There are two technicians there i talked to. Dan and Brandon. Brandon took care of the car yesterday and Dan today was nervous and kinda hostile when i showed him the pictures with the inside of the cylinders.
While i was writing here the place got filled with some smoke that got me a bit high.
When i came back i talked to Angela and considered all options. One is to buy a new engine. When i talked to the dealer again to ask for a price they said they can't give me any cause the company they work with was closed at that time. When i asked for a wild interval or "order of magnitude" they put me on hold indefinitely.
While i was finishing writing above the end the place got filled with some sort of smoke making hard to concentrate. I just went outside for a walk and remembered. The type of the engine. But it's not only this episode that is a set up. I remember the day i drove to Steve, owner of Lucky Autobody where i went with my vehicles for the last ten years with my hands full of foam that i could not clean. I was holding my both hands crossed on the steering wheel and they looked like mummy wrapped when i was waiting at the red light on TV Highway in Beaverton in front of City Hall when a guy passed the red light just to have the camera started and get a picture of me. A few days later i first saw the Gangnam style video on youtube. He was holding his hands the same way i did a few days before when riding an imaginary horse. For a while now i believe Psy and Kim whatever are the same persons.
Also the guy upstairs and at least the woman at Apt.9 here looks Korean.
Daewoo was also present in Romania for a number of years with a factory. Craiova is knwon in Romania as being the center of far right. In 1995 just before i came here i went in Bucharest to a meeting of reverend Moon dragged in there by and ex High Shcool class mate, the guy who looked like Travolta.
"This vehicle is being sold as is where is".
That includes the description for primary damage, MINOR DENTS AND SCRATCHES, secondary damage, none? There are many other cars in there with damage descriptions like MECHANICAL PROBLEMS, FRONT, REAR, PARTIAL REPAIRS etc. The car was first sold from State Farm to Copart then some guy bought it, partially repaired on the spot and reintroduced it in the auction. Copart new about the initial damage and partial repairs but did not disclose them.
Just went to Multnomah County site where the address of Copart 6900 NE Cornfoot Drive, Building 1, Portland, OR 97218 belongs thinking about downloading forms for small claims court. However i feel discouraged to continue. Lately this whole area including Portland feels like under occupation. What do i want with a small claim when there are such problems going on.
https://multco.us/
https://multco.us/https://www.google.com/search?q=mayor+of+portland+sanctuary
Updated 05/07/18
On 04/21 i finally used by borescope camera that arrived about on week before in the mail.
I took several images, looking for cylinder scoring from possible piston slap. I didn't find any of those though. Besides seeing coolant drops on the pistons (pictures above) there were other things in those pictures i ignored. Signs of the piston hitting the valve. Signs of oil on the pistons.
Over the weekend and almost 1000 miles later i took more pictures from inside the cylinders and intake manifold. Old oil dried on the spark plug seat. More signs of piston hitting a valve.
In the mean time more people told me the passenger door was painted. That means the impact from the accident was bigger than i thought. With nobody on the passenger sit side airbag was deactivated by the sensor so it did not blow. None of the 4 airbags was deployed.
Conclusion. During the accident the timing belt jumped. That lead to pistons hitting valves. That bent the valves and caused wear of the valve guides and leaked oil into the cylinder. Valve timing being off intake valves were closed by the pressure during expansion cycle and exhaust with oil from valve guides leaking flew into the intake where it can be seen. (Got more pictures on a phone done also yesterday).
Good news is i realized in time and will not drive it anymore. Further damage could break or bend the pistons and seize the engine. If driving on high speed at that time that could lead to loosing control of the car.
05/08/18
I don't believe anymore i have a jumped chain and the pistons are hitting the valves. In the pictures is just hot gases blowing the oxidation and/or carbon deposit out of the top of the pistons that seem to be made of cast iron instead of aluminum. That is happening because after all the maintenance work i've done so far the engine started to burn more normally and is burning the carbon deposits.
The noise i hear could come from a sticky or bent valve on cylinder nr.1. To make sure, further tests are necessary. Just in case the valve is sticky due to carbon deposits i also added some Lucas injector cleaner additive that is supposed to help do clean those and the injectors.
