Salvage inspection in langley?

[mikeinaus]

Hey guys. I recently purchased a 96 jetta 1.9l turbo diesel off of craigslist with a salvage title. Before I bought it i did a carfax and an icbc report, both of those listed a rear end collision and the car was given a salvage title. The rear end damage had been repaired before I purchased it and I bought it for cheap because it wasnt running and had been sitting for 4 years.

I installed a new battery, replaced the fuel filter and primed the fuel lines and I was able to get it to start quite easily. I would like to now get it inspected and put back on the road and I was wondering if anyone had any information about this as I'm having trouble finding much info online. Is the inspection the same as an out of province inspection? What exactly is inspected? Is it just the damaged areas or do they go through the entire vehicle with a fine tooth comb? Can most vehicle repair shops do the inspection? Are there any come to you mechanics that can inspect it at my home to save towing fees? Any idea of what an inspection should cost?

The only issues I've noticed with it in my limited time working on it are:
E brake handle doesnt always stay up when engaged
Passenger headlight glass has patially separated from the headlight housing
sunroof doesnt work (blown fuse?)
a seal in the trunk
in my short test drive around the block I noticed the brakes were a bit weak, it was a bit low on power (4 year old fuel?) and the suspension felt a bit soft.

Are any of these reasons for it to fail inspection? I'm assuming the ebrake and the weak brakes could be an issue? do brakes loose performance from sitting, then come back to life when they have been worked in a bit? The pedal isnt spongy, and the pads on the front calipers have a lot of life left in them.

Before anyone suggests just scrapping the car or selling it, it has very low mileage and it uses the same engine that I have swapped into my suzuki samurai. My plan is to use the car as a commuter and as a spare in case I ever blow the engine in my truck.

[Port Man]

Adjust e-brake or get a shop to do it if you don't know how, get new pads... not very expensive, get a whole new headlight. These cars have been around for a while you can find a used one

[mikeinaus]

My question was more related to the inspection process and whats involved rather then how to make the repairs. I have no doubts in my abilities to make this car "safe" to drive and be a reliable commuter. I'm just trying to figure out if the expense and difficulty in getting it insured is worth the money and effort.

[Zedbra]

I used to work at a shop that fixed many Rebuilt title cars. In short, yes, they go over the car very detailed for an inspection, including the straightness of the frame; so the rear end better have been fixed correctly.

Parts for these cars are cheap like borsch, though. You can get a cheap headlight for $35. Brakes are cheap, you should be able to get rotors and pads all around for just over a few hundred. You will need to fix the parking brake, though. The rear cables are cheap to replace, if needed - though it could be a caliper backing itself off causing the handle to drop. ALL safety lights/devices must be working properly. I had one inspector saying he wouldn't even start until I replaced one missing lug nut on a truck.

I'm more interested in this Samurai - I've seen a few TDI conversions at VND - is that where you had yours done?

[mikeinaus]

The ebrake I believe is something wrong with the handle. It doesnt always ratchet as it lifts up, but if I push it to the right while lifting it it will ratchet and hold like normally. Once its up if you hit it to the left it will let go though.

My issue with throwing parts and money into it like you said is what happens when i put $400 in parts, $100+ in towing fees then however much the inspection costs just to have it fail. That could easily push the cost of it beyond the value of the car.

Honestly I cant even tell it was in an accident. Theres 1 decent scratch on the drivers side rear 1/4 panel but the bumper and the trunk look fine. The paint and condition of the rear panels isnt perfect and unless they were replaced with used parts of the same colour I have no idea how bad the accident was. I doubt it could have been too severe as why would anyone put in that much effort into repairing a vehicle then not bother getting it inspected.

The story of the car from that I understand: This guy was a vw enthusiast and had 7 or 8 vw's that he had bought for cheap and was storing at his friends yard but never really did anything with them. The friend had moved a few times over the years and had kept towing all the vehicles with him around as he moved. Back in May his lease ran out again and rather then towing all the vehicles he just sold them off for cheap. The guy I bought it from had purchased like 5 of them to fix and flip for profit. He didnt know anything about diesel thought and couldnt get it running so I got it from him. I just wish I had the space to tear this apart and part it off and just keep the engine. I could easily get what I paid for it back and have the engine for free.



As for the samurai I swapped the engine myself. Its been a long and painful process and I've had a lot of bad luck with it. I swapped a 1.6td into it last august, drove it for probably 350km and overheated it on the highway and warped the head. It had an issue where it would overheat on the highway and I got stuck in a dangerous area that I couldnt just stop on.

I then Installed a 1.9td head onto the 1.6l block and ran for about 150km but it was too hard to start and smoked way too much in the cold weather because of the lowered compression.

I then resurfaced the old head and put it back on and got it running great except I couldnt get it to stop overheating, it was like coolant wasnt circulating.

Fast forward to last May and I found a 1.9td engine, swapped that in and still had the overheating issue, turns out the T where my overflow bottle was hooked into was too low in the system for it to bleed out the air from the heater core. I was told by multiple mechanics it wouldn't matter as long as the overflow was the highest point in the system. It was odd because it had worked in that position when I first swapped the engine. I then figured out my original overheating issue was caused from the thermostat. For whatever reason the stock (95c thermostat?) was opening too late for my cooling system and I had to drop it to an 85c (I think). Now its running great but has been parked since I got the bugs worked out as it has low oil pressure. The last of the parts I need to rebuild the bottom end are in the mail and should be here within the next week or 2 hopefully. I'm changing the im shaft, crank and rod bearings as well as the oil pump and I'm installing main studs while I'm in there. That should hopefully get this thing back on the road and ready for lots of boost!



This isnt a recent engine bay picture but was taken somewhere along the journey of working out all the bugs

[Port Man]

Icbc has gotten stricter in the last 3-4 years about salvage cars. Used to be able to show pictures of how you got car damaged and after it was fully repaired from all four corners... They now require pictures documenting rebuild. Broken headlight and smashed hood fender? Take picture before, removed head light picture, removed fender... Picture. New fender picture... You get the point now. Not sure where that would put you at.. But you also would need a body integrity report from whoever did the body work on the car.

I would get in contact with PO and get info of who fixed rear end. There should be someone in Port Kells who does inspections

[mikeinaus]

Tracking down whoever did the repairs is going to be tricky. That I know of I'm the 3rd owner since it was written off. Looks like I'm going to just sell it

[donk.]

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/cvse/vehicle...pdf/mv3199.pdf

Everything on the car has to be almost "as new" or it will fail. Obviously depending on what shop, and what tech is doing the job.

[mikeinaus]

Cool thanks for posting that. So are pictures and documentation regarding the repairs required or does it just need a mechanic to inspect everything on that list? As it sits right now I don't think I it would need much to pass off on that list. Some new pads, fix the brake handle and replace the hood latch and headlight and it should be good. Everything else on the car looks to be in good condition. It was well maintained before it was written off, it doesn't even look like the engine has had an oil leak.

[Port Man]

You don't just need a vehicle inspection, you also need the body integrity report, wheel alignment is also required for inspection report

Pictures are for body work. Before you sink anymore money into it I would go to someone who does salvage inspections and tell them ur situation. They will tell you more than any of us can

[vitaminG]

Did you buy it from a in Bridgeview who had a bunch of jettas and a bunch of Chrysler 300Ms?