compression scheme

I sell/flip used cars from time to time, ive been hit with this scheme a couple times in the last few years so id though id share it here for informative purposes. I am a skilled mechanic so obviously haven't fallen for it.

Heres how the compression scheme works:
The buyer comes to take a look at your car.
They want you to open the hood so they can run a compression check / test.
They hook up the compression gauge and tell you to go turn over the motor.
You crank over the motor then get out of the car and go around to see the results.
The gauge shows 0, so they tell you they want to try another cylinder.
You repeat the process and the gauge still shows 0.
They say they're not interested in the car and drive off.
You get a call from them about a half hour later and they say they want the car and will give you about half of your asking price for it.


90% of the time this scheme will work on people that dont know much about cars. What they do is they reset the compression gauge before you come around to take a look at it. They say 0 compression and it shows 0 right on the gauge.

sounds like a good time to slam the hood, while their hoses are still in it

If there's 0 compression on a cylinder then you should have a definite miss to it. It's not gonna sound smooth with 1 or 2 cylinders missing from action.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

If there's 0 compression on a cylinder then you should have a definite miss to it. It's not gonna sound smooth with 1 or 2 cylinders missing from action.

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most people dont even know how to change the oil of a car, how are they gonna know how an engine works

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Originally Posted by Bear

sounds like a good time to slam the hood, while their hoses are still in it

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Or slam the hood with their fingers still in it.

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Originally Posted by Bear

sounds like a good time to slam the hood, while their hoses are still in it

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Or their NOSES still in it.

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Originally Posted by jghilino

most people dont even know how to change the oil of a car, how are they gonna know how an engine works

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Ha Ha.. A Sad but VERY TRUE statement!

I remember my cousin was about 17 and had a Firebird, The thing died on her.. Happened to die during a Family function/holiday.. My uncle goes out pulls the dipstick and says "Geez Alie.. there isn't a drop of oil in this thing- when was the last time you had it changed?" She said "What? Well I didn't know you had to do that!"

People use the "check engine" light to determine when to service a vehicle. Sort of like using the smoke detector as a timer when cooking.

I agree that most people don't know how to work on vehicles but the guys designing them don't help any and it's only going to get worse the days of backyard mechanics is slowly dying out. With designs that make no sense in terms of repairing the vehicle i don't know how many times i have cursed out the guy who "thought of that!" My wife car is a nightmare to work on had to change the timing belt recently just about had to tear the whole engine apart to get to it. I like old trucks simple, easy to work on plenty of room! My favorite is to hit the horn when their head is under the hood LOL! gets em' every time

NHscrapman: Was your wife's car a Ford ZX2?

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Originally Posted by sledge42

Ha Ha.. A Sad but VERY TRUE statement!

I remember my cousin was about 17 and had a Firebird, The thing died on her.. Happened to die during a Family function/holiday.. My uncle goes out pulls the dipstick and says "Geez Alie.. there isn't a drop of oil in this thing- when was the last time you had it changed?" She said "What? Well I didn't know you had to do that!"

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Working at a Volvo dealer in the early 90's a lady came in with a blown motor. It had 30,000 on it and never had anything done to it including checking the oil. She said "It's a Volvo, you don't have to change the oil".
On the flip side we had a trade in that needed a clutch. They sold it the next day before I had a chance to replace the clutch. The PO's next door neighbor bought it without test driving it. It was 5 years old with 370,000 miles.
My younger brother came in and said "I checked the oil in the car and it's low". Dad said there is some oil in the barn. My brother came back in a said "it would not all fit in and over flowed. I had him show me where he put it and he pointed at the power steering [he's a computer geek].
I also remember doing 2 brake jobs that needed everything except the steel lines because someone put engine oil in the masters. One had gotten so hot the tire valve stem cap had melted.
Then there was the lady that had all 4 hub caps replace because her old ones where radio active and she was being tracked by satellite.
Dad told me about a Dr. who called to complain his driveway was not plowed in time and he had to shovel it to get to work. 4 inches of snow on a 30 foot long driveway and he drove a 4WD SUV.
Enough rambling
Chris

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Originally Posted by Immulmen

Working at a Volvo dealer in the early 90's a lady came in with a blown motor. It had 30,000 on it and never had anything done to it including checking the oil. She said "It's a Volvo, you don't have to change the oil".
On the flip side we had a trade in that needed a clutch. They sold it the next day before I had a chance to replace the clutch. The PO's next door neighbor bought it without test driving it. It was 5 years old with 370,000 miles.
My younger brother came in and said "I checked the oil in the car and it's low". Dad said there is some oil in the barn. My brother came back in a said "it would not all fit in and over flowed. I had him show me where he put it and he pointed at the power steering [he's a computer geek].
I also remember doing 2 brake jobs that needed everything except the steel lines because someone put engine oil in the masters. One had gotten so hot the tire valve stem cap had melted.
Then there was the lady that had all 4 hub caps replace because her old ones where radio active and she was being tracked by satellite.
Dad told me about a Dr. who called to complain his driveway was not plowed in time and he had to shovel it to get to work. 4 inches of snow on a 30 foot long driveway and he drove a 4WD SUV.
Enough rambling
Chris

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...alm_statue.jpg

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Originally Posted by NHscrapman

I agree that most people don't know how to work on vehicles but the guys designing them don't help any and it's only going to get worse the days of backyard mechanics is slowly dying out. With designs that make no sense in terms of repairing the vehicle i don't know how many times i have cursed out the guy who "thought of that!" My wife car is a nightmare to work on had to change the timing belt recently just about had to tear the whole engine apart to get to it. I like old trucks simple, easy to work on plenty of room! My favorite is to hit the horn when their head is under the hood LOL! gets em' every time

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Oh come on the new cars aren't to bad just remove the engine transmission sub frame and front suspension as one piece from under the car then do the repair lol

I knew of a feed salesman that never changed the oil in his company owned pickup, he would just add it as needed.
When they gave him a new one an employee bought the old truck and the first thing he did was change the oil/filter.
He had a heck of a time removing the drain plug and filter as they had never been touched.
After the change the truck began to smoke and burn oil, it never stopped.
Probably still smoking to this day.

When I hauled campers, we had one of our drivers that that had his oil changed at a fast change place.
It was a diesel and was acting up when he pulled into the terminal, we checked it out and they had drained the oil and refilled it into the transmission spout. The only reason the engine did not blow was the driver always used Slick 50 in his oil, and it ran 5 miles back with no oil in it.
Saved the motor but sure did not help it any. Screwed up the transmission tho, he had to take it in for trans. service, then sued the fast change place.

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Originally Posted by sledge42

NHscrapman: Was your wife's car a Ford ZX2?

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nope she has an 02 elantra right now. The car is constant maintenance... exept compression just got new plugs... but better than a payment :)

Wife has an 05 Mazda tribute. They put the alternator on the back underside of the block that's. 6 hrs just to replace it. I had to pull wheel, fender, hub. It was rediculous. All for an alternator. The one thing u should be able to say with no doubt you can replace. Oh but u know the compressor was right on top and easy to get to cause you know your just replaceing those all the time. Jack butt engineers.

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Originally Posted by NHscrapman

nope she has an 02 elantra right now. The car is constant maintenance... exept compression just got new plugs... but better than a payment :)

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It was a longshot, but I know that if anyone even thinks of buying one.. if it jumps time.. and it will (buddy of mine's wife's ZX2 has jumped time TWICE) he has to tear the passenger side wheel off and a ton of other items to get it back to good. Pain In The A**
;-)

Wait..your supposed to change the oil..?


:lol:

Sirscrapalot - I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes. -- Jimi Hendrix

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Originally Posted by Trot

Wife has an 05 Mazda tribute. They put the alternator on the back underside of the block that's. 6 hrs just to replace it. I had to pull wheel, fender, hub. It was rediculous. All for an alternator.

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Sounds like my wife's Ford Escape but I also had to pull the front axel out.

Yeah had to do that to. I'm fairly certain there the same setup.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

I knew of a feed salesman that never changed the oil in his company owned pickup, he would just add it as needed.
When they gave him a new one an employee bought the old truck and the first thing he did was change the oil/filter.
He had a heck of a time removing the drain plug and filter as they had never been touched.
After the change the truck began to smoke and burn oil, it never stopped.
Probably still smoking to this day.

When I hauled campers, we had one of our drivers that that had his oil changed at a fast change place.
It was a diesel and was acting up when he pulled into the terminal, we checked it out and they had drained the oil and refilled it into the transmission spout. The only reason the engine did not blow was the driver always used Slick 50 in his oil, and it ran 5 miles back with no oil in it.
Saved the motor but sure did not help it any. Screwed up the transmission tho, he had to take it in for trans. service, then sued the fast change place.

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I wouldn't take my ex's ride to any place like that. There's a reason why it's quick and cheap ! Under paid high school kids work there ! I've paid to have oil changed one time in my life and NEVER again ! It was low on oil and the filter fell off after 20 miles !

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Originally Posted by ron22

Sounds like my wife's Ford Escape but I also had to pull the front axel out.

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just a hint if anyone has to do one like this, take the right axle out and loosen the rear sub-frame bolts bit so the frame drops an inch or so. makes the job 10 times easier, oh and some long extensions and u joints for your sockets

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Originally Posted by joef1812

just a hint if anyone has to do one like this, take the right axle out and loosen the rear sub-frame bolts bit so the frame drops an inch or so. makes the job 10 times easier, oh and some long extensions and u joints for your sockets

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On the extension thing my step son laughed when he saw the contraption of extension I had going.

I had to do this twice the first alternator only lasted 1 month :(

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Originally Posted by ron22

On the extension thing my step son laughed when he saw the contraption of extension I had going.

I had to do this twice the first alternator only lasted 1 month :(

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Was it a Napa rebuilt?? Long time ago they were bad about that. Take in a core, repaint it and resell after checking the voltage. No new bearings, nothing.
To be fair it was a company that "rebuilt " them for Napa.

Ive always worked in automotive so I never had these problems. Construction on the other hand, I'm a total noob. Slowly learning more by donating time/labor to people doing work on their own home.

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Originally Posted by sledge42

"Geez Alie.. there isn't a drop of oil in this thing- when was the last time you had it changed?" She said "What? Well I didn't know you had to do that!"

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We had a kid come in to our shop, wanted to save some cash and decided he was gonna attempt to do his own oil change. Picked up ONE liter of oil, and an oil filter. Knowing something was off, we asked if he was just topping it up. "No, i'm changing the oil" oh yeah, he was driving a truck too. The thing took 6.

Happens every day. Someone attempts a brake job, doesn't torque the lug nuts properly, wheel fly's off a day later. $50 bucks for the tow, parts and labor, plus chances are those brand new rotors are now junk. Ends up costing them more than if they just let the pros do it in the first place. Those 5 years of school aren't just for fun ;)

First time I ever paid for an oil change, they were a quart short. Glad I checked.

But the worst was when I got a set of tires at Tire Warehouse on the one ton dually. About 50 miles later, I had a load of sand - two tons - and made a turn. Left duals came off and wound up across the road in the ditch. Mechanic later figured out they'd been put on too TIGHT. Besides having to unload the sand and get the snowplow off to get anyone to haul it, repairs to the brakes and axle was $800. Tire Warehouse denied responsibility cause I hadn't brought it back to be checked within 25 miles.

Speaking of schemes - Back in the 50s, my Dad went to a dealer to trade cars. He tried getting over on them by pouring thick oil in the crankcase to mask bad valves. But the car he traded for had sawdust in the transmission to keep it from slipping for awhile.