Repaired my car thanks to cash4clunkers.

[Passat2.8]

As some of you have read in my deer posting, I have repaired my car with parts from a car that I wouldnt have minded driving out of the junkyard it was in, DeNaples auto parts in Dunmore,PA. A Royal Green 2000 Passat V6 4-motion with a tan interior. This car was CLEAN, VW maintained, and traded in as a clunker. I could not figure out why it was in a junkyard, until I looked in the front passenger footwell. A bottle labeled "Clunker Bomb". Mostly all of the vehicles around it were the same. The engine was seized because it was traded in on the Cash4Clunkers program. Now I benefitted from this, but it was such a shame to see this perfect car that was purposely killed for no reason. Maybe the previous owner was a member of this forum, but only time will tell. Until then, I salute this once proud car . Search your local junk yard for parts, there are obviously plenty of good cars to choose from.

[RMB5.5]

i havent even seen a B5 at my local junkyard, (garys u pull it) let alone a b5.5

[theNofJboy]

wow good to hear! congrats

wanna go back & get the center arm rest cover me ?!?! haha ill make it worth your while

[NEWMAN'SOWN]

i havent even seen a B5 at my local junkyard, (garys u pull it) let alone a b5.5

A 2000 is a B5, not a B5.5.

[Seattle206]

A 2000 B5 Passat wouldn't have qualified as a Cash for Clunkers trade-in. The MPG is too high. I have the same model. Must've been junked because of the seized engine.

[Passat2.8]

Seattle, the car was a trade-i; all cars that were clunkers were marked with "CL" and had the clunker bomb bottle inside of it. I would'nt write a BS post.

[l5gcw0b]

clunkers were required to be crushed also.

[holywar0902]

some go to the junkyard some get crushed immediately some get junked then crushed. if it had the clunker bomb then it was obviously a clunker. good job finding a b5 clunker. i almost clunked a b5.5 last week, found out it was a used car lol

[ctheodores]

what is a clunker bomb?

[holywar0902]

i forget the scientific name for it but its basically liquid glass. when heated it form into glass and seize the engine. pour the stuff in the engine, run it at 3k rpm and wait for it to shut down. tons of fun

[dougmcp]

what is a clunker bomb?

It is Sodium Silicate (SiO2/Na2O)
Clunker Bomb: http://www.castlepackspower.com/Catalog/ClunkerBomb/

[vkm]

I feel like an idiot for asking, because its seems you guys know, but why the hell would someone use a "clunker bomb" on their car? It's making absolutly no sence to me right now.

[VAGguy]

I feel like an idiot for asking, because its seems you guys know, but why the hell would someone use a "clunker bomb" on their car? It's making absolutly no sence to me right now.

It is done after trade in and is a condition of the program. It has to be rendered unuseable.
http://www.castlepackspower.com/Site...-procedure.pdf

[CookinSPG]

Cash for Clunker BLOWS! and so do the Hippie Eco Friendly Democrats... Killed so many Great Car's. and then to go ruin them... WTF? these could have been used for part's recycled like most other cars. or go to the yard's where resourceful people could salvage parts. Not all auto part's come from dealer's. AL GORE i'm your Worst nightmare... I wish i new where you lived then i could through my Catyilitic converter in your front yard.

[T's 4MoPassat]

in MN its "CFC" and what they do is kill the engine and then part out as much of the car as they can before it goes to get crushed. Its all bullshit, they could give the cars to people who need it, like people who can't afford a brand new car. Politicians are a bunch of idiots, whoever came up with this saw a chance to get a shit ton of money, only reason the government really does anything, to fill their pockets.
BTW I'd love to find a B5.5 clunker to part out, too bad that'll never happen here lol

[sipes216]

huge misconception of the clunker program... the engines were seized per the conditions, however there was no real asking for the ruining of the vehicle... just making it undriveable and therefore undesireable...
the government labeled these cars as "ruined"
if you can find me proof of where it says "car must be crushed" then i'll retract my statement, but i've found no such thing.

and yes, it is possible for a B5 to be in the junkyard. do not forget that vw had the EARLY b5's out in 97' badged as a 97'. they are just so rare to find because they had already had all their failures and problems before then
it's entirely believeable to see this in the yard.

[sirwired]

clunkers were required to be crushed also.

No, they weren't. They simply had to be rendered undrivable. Most dealers ended up using the clunker bomb because it only took a few minutes and didn't require a mechanic. (The car had to be killed prior to submitting the paperwork to the feds.)

SirWired

[sirwired]

Cash for Clunker BLOWS! and so do the Hippie Eco Friendly Democrats... Killed so many Great Car's. and then to go ruin them... WTF? these could have been used for part's recycled like most other cars. or go to the yard's where resourceful people could salvage parts.

It was usable for parts, which is why the OP saw it at his local yard, and used it to repair his car.

SirWired

[mk3]

This B5 could have been a cash for clunkers car.

Here is a snippet from the official website.

"http://www.cars.gov/files/official-information/rule.pdf"

"(v) Combined Fuel Economy
The specified combined fuel economy rating of 18 mpg or less for the trade-in
vehicle"

Due to the 4-motion it just _barely_ qualifies so sadly the government law caused an OBD II car with decent but not great MPG to be ruined. The combined rating is 18mpg using the "NEW" figures and that is what the law called for.

meanwhile, I could not use my 1995 Passat which probably pollutes quite a bit more since my mpgs were better. I wish they had had more engineers in the group and fewer lawyers when they wrote the law.

[BlakPassat]

wow, i haven't been to denaples in a couple of months, maybe i should browse

[ElliottG]

This is the first I hear of killing these cars with that substance. It's kind of sad...

[vkm]

this program seems like an unbelivable waste. like its over my head. this is retarded. ive heard the stuff about nice cars being clunked and it makes no sence.

[Passat2.8]

This program was a waste of vehicles. Usually, at a junk yard, you can buy entire vehicles if they are not totaled; but these "clunkers" have their VIN's recorded with the government. They can never be registered again. It doesn't matter what condition the entire vehicle is/was in.

[l5gcw0b]

huge misconception of the clunker program... the engines were seized per the conditions, however there was no real asking for the ruining of the vehicle... just making it undriveable and therefore undesireable...
the government labeled these cars as "ruined"
if you can find me proof of where it says "car must be crushed" then i'll retract my statement, but i've found no such thing.

and yes, it is possible for a B5 to be in the junkyard. do not forget that vw had the EARLY b5's out in 97' badged as a 97'. they are just so rare to find because they had already had all their failures and problems before then
it's entirely believeable to see this in the yard.

http://www.cars.gov/faq

What happens to the vehicle I trade in?

The CARS Act requires that the trade-in vehicle be crushed or shredded so that it will not be resold for use in the United States or elsewhere as an automobile. The entity crushing or shredding the vehicles in this manner will be allowed to sell some parts of the vehicle prior to crushing or shredding it, but these parts cannot include the engine or the drive train.

[Shaftster1999AEB]

This whole thread is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g minus the 9/11 stuff of course.

[sipes216]

http://www.cars.gov/faq
What happens to the vehicle I trade in?

The CARS Act requires that the trade-in vehicle be crushed or shredded so that it will not be resold for use in the United States or elsewhere as an automobile. The entity crushing or shredding the vehicles in this manner will be allowed to sell some parts of the vehicle prior to crushing or shredding it, but these parts cannot include the engine or the drive train.

technically by law this car would be able to sit within the junk yard for a given period of time selling off whatever parts, and so long as the junk yard doesn't sell the car as a whole, and does infact destroy the car AFTER parts are pulled, my statement stands

the only conditions they had set for the cars was that they cannot sell engine, trans, or diff, but differentials are one of those things that's tricky to track, so it is likely ignored.

must be made unable to be resold, driven, or or made for any use within the USA. that's all that they say.

now, what i would like to see is the paperwork from the NHTSA themselves, that they gave the dealerships. would be interesting to see what the specified conditions are, not the generalized loosely worded ones are.


also, to those above who believe that this program was complete bs and a waste of time, think again, the newer vehicles that were purchased through this program are WAY more fuel efficient than the ones that were traded in, and as you can see from the value that was redeemed through the NHTSA or the general numbers of sales through the program, that means a lot less gas used, as there's a lot LESS gas WASTERS, be that as they are described. let me translate, this means gas prices drop. demand goes down, supply goes up, price goes down slightly.
dealerships get HUGE sales, thus stimulating the economy, as to have an economy people must spend money for other people to make money, and to pay sales tax which makes our government a little less poor (then they blow it like a child with their first unadvised of a credit card, but whatever).

and of course, you have to admit, there's a LOT LESS pos vehicles out there on the road than there was prior. old broken down vehicles are a problem to everyone, and a potential hazard on the road, insurance companies likely know this and factor it into your rates for your area.


see any more downsides? sure the government was spending a shit ton of the tazxpayers money, but i absolutely support this bill. we still get our parts, gas price goes down, all the hippies and eco-pussies are happy, everyone wins!

[Pokey]

Sipes, I gotta disagree on the impact which the CFC program had/will have on national fuel consumption and the resulting drop in gas prices. From a previous post in this thread:

If this second bill gets passed, it will be $3B going toward reducing our oil usage by less than 1%. The $3B of spending will go toward approximately 667,000 new cars. This represents 0.27% of the 247 million registered vehicles on the road (link). Even assuming that these new vehicles get 100% better fuel economy compared to the ones they are replacing, that only increases the overall national fuel economy by 0.54%. And considering the fact that approximately only 25% of our oil usage goes to transportation (the remaining 75% is accounted for in energy generation and industry), this increase in fuel economy only represents a reduction in overal oil consumption of 0.13% (and that's still assuming a 100% increase in the new vehicle fuel economy).

I do agree that the CFC program was effective in removing over half a million of the most polluting vehicles from the road. But the politicians touting that it will have a significant effect on our national oil consumption is a bit off base.

[Passat2.8]

Well, in the long run, the people who bought cars under this program might not end up coming out on top. I say this because they were financially not fit to buy a new car in the first place, a few months down the road they might not be able to keep up payments and have the banks REPO. the cars. Also, anyone who was anywhere near being able to buy a new car, did, now the dealerships will starve until more people can afford to buy again.

[NEWMAN'SOWN]

Well, in the long run, the people who bought cars under this program might not end up coming out on top. I say this because they were financially not fit to buy a new car in the first place, a few months down the road they might not be able to keep up payments and have the banks REPO. the cars. Also, anyone who was anywhere near being able to buy a new car, did, now the dealerships will starve until more people can afford to buy again.

It is my personal opinion that most of the CFC people were middle class or higher. There are a lot of people who own an old crappy car on the side for whatever reason. My friend just bought a $400 car to transport his 110 pound 6 foot Great Dane in to keep his M3 clean.

I think most CFC's were baby boomers, it would be interesting to see the age demographics for CFC.

[sipes216]

Sipes, I gotta disagree on the impact which the CFC program had/will have on national fuel consumption and the resulting drop in gas prices. From a previous post in this thread:


I do agree that the CFC program was effective in removing over half a million of the most polluting vehicles from the road. But the politicians touting that it will have a significant effect on our national oil consumption is a bit off base.

misinterperated what i said, or i just said it wrong
my statement on the whole reduction of use of the nation's oil supply was more of a side affect. hell, you don't put this kind of program out there just for the 1%, you do it primarily for the pollution, safety, etc.

as newman says, i would as well like to realy see what the age groups were.

as for the spare junker on the side for whatever spare purpose, more power to it! here at my house we have 5 cars. me and my father's karmann ghias, my and my mother's passats (b5.5 and b6) and then my dad's F-150