On HPI register for insurance claim for a blown engine?

[Partyvan]

Anyone ever heard of a car being subject to an insurance claim for an engine replacement, and then showing up on the HPI register because of that?

Never heard of it myself

Edited by Partyvan on Wednesday 15th January 19:18

[anonymous-user]

Most likely a hydrolocked engine because it breathed some water - uneconomical to repair so got written off and then had a 2nd hand/refurb engine fitted.

[irocfan]

I suppose that technically it has been written off - the issue then is WHY the engine lunched itself:

hydro-lock due to being flooded could mean other potential issues
venting your engine block like the 2000 MY F150 Lightning did was not un-common and therefore worth a punt

[Partyvan]

Good shout with hydrolocking.

Seller claims the car has never been damaged or painted.

If there's no paperwork, is there any way I can find out if this is all true?

[Heaveho]

Yeah, Copart sell stuff like that.

[Butter Face]

Downshifted from 6th-2nd at high revs?

The only way really would be to find out who replaced the engine and ask them?

[craigjm]

Why are you not just walking away as fast as your legs can carry you?

[Partyvan]

craigjm said:

Why are you not just walking away as fast as your legs can carry you?

Because it's a £25k car up at £16.5k, in a super rare colour.

If it really is original paint and never been crashed, it's a bargain.

[Aluminati]

charltjr said:

Most likely a hydrolocked engine because it breathed some water - uneconomical to repair so got written off and then had a 2nd hand/refurb engine fitted.

This, wrote the missus car of a few years ago when she decided to see how deep the ford was

[Jimmy Recard]

Butter Face said:

Downshifted from 6th-2nd at high revs?

The only way really would be to find out who replaced the engine and ask them?

Would an insurance company accept a claim for that though?

It's possible that an impact could have been serious enough to heavily damage the engine, but in that case I would've thought there would be a lot of structural damage with it and the claim would be for that too. I think that water ingestion seems most likely

[Heaveho]

Water ingestion is the most likely scenario. Mate bought a Merc 320 CDI from Copart with this issue, put 2 rods and pistons in it and took it on a 1000 mile flat out lap of Scotland the day after the repair with no issues. The insurance co simply regards this scenario as requiring a new engine, hence the Cat D status due to cost.

[BertBert]

My brand new caterham ingested a load of cement when I hit a bag of the stuff that was on the road having fallen off the back of a lorry.

Insurance co paid out for the engine rebuild. Was a chunky bill, but not enough to write it off.

To the OP, there's probably not much you can do. Check the engine condition and either buy it or not. If you buy it it could be a good deal, but be warned, as we are all terrified of write offs it'll be a complete pita when you come to sell it.

Bert

[Agila b 6yr 6k]

I've heard of someone destroying a sump after hitting some debris at speed on a motorway and killing the engine.

[ging84]

Partyvan said:

Because it's a £25k car up at £16.5k, in a super rare colour.

If it really is original paint and never been crashed, it's a bargain.

Good luck

[poo at Paul's]

BertBert said:

My brand new caterham ingested a load of cement when I hit a bag of the stuff that was on the road having fallen off the back of a lorry.


Bert

How did it get through the airfilter / box, was it damaged in the impact?

Is the filtration all it should be, could be a concern for the longevity of the motor.

[Roboticarm]

I'd be checking the car every thoroughly, they wrote off because of the engine but the list of damage isn't extensive usually just the main reason, car might have sat in 5 door of water which won't have done the other parts much good

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Quite a few cars have been written off recently due to people driving them through floods and hydrolocking the engine, so I dare bet there is a lot of this type of salvage about.

This thread wouldn't be about a BMW by any chance???

[BertBert]

poo at Paul's said:

BertBert said:

My brand new caterham ingested a load of cement when I hit a bag of the stuff that was on the road having fallen off the back of a lorry.


Bert

How did it get through the airfilter / box, was it damaged in the impact?

Is the filtration all it should be, could be a concern for the longevity of the motor.

It was the Reverie R500 air box with the letter box size air inlet mounted under the radiator at the front. The perfect scoop for cement in a bag on the road! It gummed up the throttle bodies and the car was recovered to Minister. They initially cleaned it all out, sorted the TBs and gave it a clean bill of health which I paid for. 3 months later it was serviced and the oil was rather gray!! After some investigations and oil analyses the engine was pronounced "worn out". A friend suggested I tried the insurance co which I did. They were a bit bemused but paid the 8k refresh bill.