Give us a clue....

Joined
7 Feb 2008
Messages
25,033
Reaction score
5,270
Location
Northumberland
Country
United Kingdom
A friend of mine has recently bought a tipper truck for use in his landscaping business.
It looks clean, tidy - obviously bulled up for sale but overall in quite nice condition (08 plate).
Doing the odd job for him needed me to remove several dashboard trim bits - these had obviously been out before as quite a few of the plastic locating pegs were snapped. Nothing too unusual about that, either.
However, the inside of the dash panels (and wiring) were very heavily coated in soil dust - to the extent that some actually needed scraping away with a screwdriver.
Now - what does that indicate to you?? :p I have my suspicions......
John :)
 
Sponsored Links
Mmm, flooded? In which case they did well to get it going again.

Peter
 
Thats the conclusion I have come to as well.....much to my surprise the truck works well enough, sweet engine and so on. Everything works except the horn which I've replaced.
I would have thought these days the vehicle would have been immediately category B write off but there's nothing declared on the V5 or anywhere else.
Surely an engine can't survive being immersed for too long :eek:
John :)
 
Sponsored Links
I suppose as long as they didn't try to start it before draining and refilling the sump it would be OK but I'm surprised the rest of the electrics survived.

Peter
 
Wonder if they replaced the transmission oil. Water (and worse) could get in through the breather I'd assume?
 
Remember some tippers never get cleaned out so it might just be a six-year build up of quarry or tar grime? If it has been flooded you'll probably get niggly electrical problems rather than major engine/transmission problems.

I also don't see why a flooded vehicle would necessarily be a Cat B write off (only the parts can be salvaged on a Cat B), more likely to be a Cat C or D (can be repaired and put back on the road, but costs deemed too high for the insurance company to do so). Cat C is stated on the V5 and the vehicle needs to pass a Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) at an HGV test station before the V5 is issued. However VIC's were really introduced to stop "ringers", so might not be so common in trucks as they were on, say, hot hatches. Cat D isn't mentioned on the V5, but all the above categories will show on an HPI check. You also get Cat X write off's, also called unregistered. AFAIK these are vehicles which insurance didn't pay out on, for example if your car was sitting in your driveway uninsured and ended up flooded you could still sell it on and nobody would know about the flood.

A private seller doesn't need to declare that the vehicle is a Cat D, it's up to the buyer to check. I believe rules are different for dealers tho.

Edit...Cat C isn't specifically mentioned on the V5, it's the fact that the vehicle has passed a VIC that's stated.
 
I'm obviously just speculating and will never find the truth anyway......the grot under the dash is up to steering wheel height, and there's various bits under the bonnet that are new.....expansion bottle, timing belt cover etc so I don't know what thats all about. Even the door cavities have been full of mud.
Still, at the end of the day the truck goes well enough with no major faults so thats all that matters I guess.
You would think that any engine and transmission that has been drowned would have issues though - there's got to be a few valves / breathers at least open to let the water in, hence my comment about the write off potential.
John :)
 
John also worth thinking there may well be breathers that are open but water can only get in if the air inside gets out otherwise the water will be stopped by the air pressure inside.

Engine crankcase systems are quite well sealed for emission control purposes. Electrical components might not fare quite so well.

This vehicle might well have been flooded. Level of crud marks would indicate this but it may also have been used in a high humidity atmosphere for part, or all, of its previous life.
 
If it has been flooded you'll probably get niggly electrical problems rather than major engine/transmission problems.

I also don't see why a flooded vehicle would necessarily be a Cat B write off (only the parts can be salvaged on a Cat B),

Alan, my Daughter purchased a Toyota Yaris from a Polish woman in south London, only to be confronted with loads of electrical probs, took it to a Toyota garage who promptly called my Daughter in to have a look at what they had found, interior trim and door cards had been removed by Toyota tech's only to find a "tide mark" up to the bottom of the windows, flood damage!!! The car had previously come from the Midlands where all the floods had occurred that year. An HPI was organised, and yup, it came back as a CAT B!!! Also had a bogus V5, how the hell you get one of those is beyond me. So, flood damage can secure a Cat B, all to do with internal corrosion I'm led to believe.
 
As a Cat B the vehicle should not be put on the road, which explains the fake V5 too. Someone was pulling a fast one on that Yaris. Here's a definition of Cat B...The vehicle has not been repaired following significant damage. It was deemed too damaged to be repairable however did have salvageable parts. the bodyshell must be crushed.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, it sure sounds like that tipper has been flooded. The difference could be...whether an insurance company paid out on it or not. Maybe a previous owner reversed it into someone's pond or something but didn't claim on it? I'm also not saying that flood damage never ends up a Cat B, just that it might not, maybe it depends on the severity?

Hopefully the tipper will be good for years to come, and I also hope the Yaris story ended well.
 
Thanks for the positive waves, Alan ;)
Curiously enough, the only electrical problems the tipper has had have been with the horn and towbar, but I'm sure it will come my way again!
If it has been submerged, I hope they fitted a new timing belt as thats due shortly.
John :)
 
I hope they fitted a new timing belt as thats due shortly.
Now changing that, and any other belt, might be a good idea sooner rather than later.

Condition under the covers might also be interesting as to signs of any flooding.
 
Just to add to my happiness, the belt cover is actually new - or at least the paper sticker looks that way......so is the expansion bottle (above and behind the engine so no collision damage there).
I'll never get to know what the true story is.
John :)
 
Hopefully the tipper will be good for years to come, and I also hope the Yaris story ended well.

Cheers Alan, re; the Yaris, this all occurred about 6yrs ago, after accepting the car was a Cat B and having a hooky V5 my Daughter contacted a well known company who "buy any car" ;) They looked at the car, looked at the paperwork and offered her a price and she accepted! Maybe a bit naughty I know, but they should have done their homework.
Since that day she has only ever bought new cars every 3 yrs.
Motto; CHECK THE BLOODY HPI!!!!
 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top