I am, of course talking about parts of the car itself, not the license plates and personal effects.
The car is a 2002 Daewoo Lanos. It is being junked because the engine failed (the cylinder head cracked), and I decided to buy a different vehicle instead of replacing the engine.
When it broke down, the car had a new battery (literally only a month old) and I disconnected the terminals so it wouldn’t go bad. I’m planning on keeping that, as well as the metal hold-down clamp, since the other car I bought is missing the clamp. I put premium speakers into the car, and I plan on pulling those. I may actually keep the factory stereo as well, since it fits other models.
Anything else worth keeping? I put a new starter in this car a year ago, which would also fit the Chevrolet Aveo and certain other models. Unsure if it’s worth the effort to pull that. I also put a new rear oxygen sensor on this car last year, unsure how universal these are. The car has a nearly full tank of fuel, and at today’s prices it might make sense to try and pump that out. Anyone know of a low-cost siphon pump which would work for that purpose? Anything else worth taking before the scrap yard gets it?
Do you have another vehicle right now that needs that exact battery? Do you have a way to store it and keep it charged?
Do you have another vehicle that can immediately use those premium speakers? They’re usually vehicle specific.
Do you have a safe way to drain the gasoline out of the car? Do you have a way to store the gasoline? If the tank was full, you might be talking 10-15 gallons of gasoline. Which wants to explode, by the way.
Totally agree with the other comments to let the car go.
I pulled the battery out of my Intrepid and put it in the tow truck at the time, pulled all the stereo system (custom sub box, amps, cross over, speakers, EQ and head unit, every wire for it), installed it all in another vehicle…
The Buick pulled all the same stereo system as above, pulled the 700 mile on the new tires off and traded them in for the replacement vehicle… (used them for road hazard replacements)
The Corolla, pulled the tires off (high end) and put them on my daughters vehicle, left them on it when we traded it in on her current vehicle…
My point is everything I pulled off of the junked vehicles, went almost immediately on other vehicles I had, I had a legit use for everything…
The Buick had a brand new A/C system on it, daughters vehicle had a few brand new parts on it, they stayed with the vehicles, not worth keeping…
So if you have a current legit use for parts off your junked vehicle, then pull them and use them, if not let them go with the junked vehicle…
And I defiantly would not buy a $10-$15 tool to keep $15-$20 worth of gas… If I already had the proper tool and a place to put the gas, then yeah I would keep it and put it in another vehicle ASAP…
I found a local core shop to sell the cores I had accumulated under the work bench; 10 A/C compressors, 10 starter motors, 8 alternators. They paid $5 to $8 for each core.
For one vehicle however, not worth the time to remove them and drive to a core dealer. If you remove the alternator and then collect a few over the years, it might pay in the long run. Also; starter motors and alternators have a couple pounds of copper inside.
I would not save or try to reuse the oxygen sensor.
The fuel tank will need to be drained eventually, why not keep the fuel?
Fuel tanks are easy to drain; disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail, add a length of hose, remove the fuel pump relay and jump the connector with a piece of wire. Pump the fuel into a 5 gallon can or into a car that is parked next to this one.
During the Toyota/Lexus fuel pump recall a few years ago, we were draining fuel takes every day. We were not provided with special equipment for this. We were able to actuate the fuel pump using the scan tool, so there was no need to look for the relay.
I kept the hood ornament and the little cover for wheel lock from my diesel olds. Made a desk mount for them. Ok not on topic but I put a wheel chair in the trunk of the aurora when we junked it. I bought it used when the wife broke he leg. She never liked it and I didn’t know how to get rid of it.
As others have said, unless you have an immediate use for a part, take nothing. Otherwise you’ll end up storing a bunch of worthless 2002 Daewoo parts that nobody wants.
More important, Recyclers typically pay the you or the charity $300 for the vehicle but if it’s heavily stripped out may decide to pay you or the charity nothing.
Depends. Around here, there is a distinction between a junkyard and an auto recycler. Junk yards remove fluids and crush cars. They don’t care much about the content. Some will dissect the car, separating various materials but they are not interested in component resale, just scrap value.
The auto recyclers will most definitely adjust their offer based on content. This is how they make their money. If you pull the OEM radio, that is something they can no longer remove and sell. You can easily strip much of the value they have in the car and their offer will reflect that. If you settle on an amount and the guy shows up to haul it off, notices you took most of the valuable stuff off of it, they will renegotiate on the spot or worst case, decline to buy it.
I’ve just found it’s a slippery slope to hang onto random things you “might need one day.” That’s how folks end up with a yard full of “project cars” in various states of disrepair, and/or garages full of random stuff. It’s been my experience that you’re far better off taking a chance on “not” needing said item, and “maybe” having to buy another one down the road.
If you have a good full-size spare you might want to keep it and put the tire on a rim that might fit another vehicle. If you have a good car jack, lug wrench or other tools, you might want to save it and use in another vehicle.
but the most important thing you should do is look in between and under seats for anything that that might have fell in the years that you have had it, that might have your personal info on it.
There is a house just down the road from me, where the owner accumulated 4 Volvos from the '70s-early '80s. Over the years, a grove of trees grew up around the never-touched Volvos.
After he died, the new owner had the Volvos hauled away, and when all of the trees were cut down, it turned out that he had also stashed a Chevy/GMC van from the '70s. Based on how far back it was, it appeared that the van was his first “treasure”, followed by the Volvos.
This issue is a little personal for me. I have aging family members who have houses full of decades of “stuff”, most of which is not being used. They’ve accumulated this “stuff” for a variety of reasons, and it’s not been used for the same variety of reasons. But while they’ll insist they’re “going through and getting rid of stuff”… it seems like none of it actually goes into the trash or to Goodwill. Instead, it gets moved from one room or closet to another.
When “the inevitable” comes in the next few years and we have to clean out their houses… I’m already dreading having to deal with the “stuff”.
Unfortunately fire bombing houses is frowned upon in my state.
My hoarder friend died last July, and his wife (who refused to live in their cluttered apartment) was saddled with the task of cleaning out all of the “treasures” that he had hoarded over the space of a few decades. This is the guy who filled his largest closet with 40 watt incandescent bulbs (the same wattage that he used throughout his apartment) because “nobody will ever want those LEDs”. He was convinced that he would make a lot of money selling those bulbs, but he lived in a town that is populated almost entirely by young, affluent couples, many of whom work in tech.
The last that I checked with him, he had never sold even one bulb. Even if those young folks did want an incandescent bulb, apparently they didn’t want their homes to be illuminated with 40 watt bulbs. And, the bottom line is that his grieving widow had to rent a dumpster in order to get rid of all of his “treasures”–including the bulbs.
Look a little harder, there are at least 4 complete transmissions and 1 case without the tail housing (so 4 or 5 depending how you look at it, in the picture), I have all the parts for the gutted one, just not sure what I am going to do with it yet…
I also have another complete trans on another wall, some of the converters were removed for one reason or another… One has the black oil drain pain on it with the green folding chair against the wall, converter is in it…
I will have to look again, but I might have one facing the other way below the case with no tail housing installed… lol
Years ago, I also had 4 big blocks and 5 small blocks, rear ends and all Mopar’s, plus even more transmissions, lots of heads and tons of misc Mopar stuff, sold most of it all…
