One of the biggest challenges of not buying a brand-new car is this: you constantly worry about the vehicle’s past, how it was treated before it came to you. At the inspection, for instance, you constantly worry if the seller or dealer cleared off the codes before putting the vehicle out for sale.
Today, I’ll show you how to figure out if this is the case. But, something first: why is the used car market deceit-filled today?
The answer is clearly spelled out below, right after the photo.
Article Outline
Why the Used Car Market Is Heavily Ruled by Deceit
Nine out of ten times, if you attempt to buy a vehicle without the proper knowledge, you’re getting scammed, guaranteed. If this worries you, you need to relax: the reason is simple – there are simply more bad cars on the roads than there are good ones.
To worsen an already complex problem, owners hardly sell vehicles that are working great. Usually, it’s the problem-fested units that end up on the sales lots.
You see, most people are allergic to properly maintaining their vehicles. They barely scrape through when the vehicle’s under warranty and as soon as the warranty period is over, begin to mess with things themselves (without the requisite skills), allow their friends do so or generally opt for the cheapest mechanics they can readily find – the ones ready to compromise on quality and labor charges.
But, usually, first-time owners manage fairly better than the rest. For this reason, if you’re inspecting a one-owner vehicle, you’re statistically more likely to get a better deal, compared to say, on a vehicle that has been through 3-5 owners.
Eventually, the first owner, after 5-10 years of use, moves on from the vehicles they bought brand new – and at this point, most users who couldn’t afford the vehicle new now become owners.
With vehicles, if you can’t afford it new, you most likely can’t afford it used. This is especially true for luxury brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.
The end result? Vehicles that are barely managed and held for the next available user. Buying such a car means one thing: you’re also paying for the sins of the previous users too.
This is why, when it’s time for such careless owners to sell, these cars have a ton of problems by then. To make a sale by all means, they resort to trying to mask the problems such vehicles have.
This is where the check ‘engine light scammers’ come in.
Who’s a Check Engine Light Scammer?
A ‘check engine light scammer’ is a seller of a used vehicle who knows that the vehicle he’s selling has a check engine light illuminated, but instead of fixing the challenge, leaving the light illuminated, or offering full disclosure, prefers to nefariously hide this fact from potential buyers.
There are various ways that this is carried out, depending on the challenges the vehicle has and/or the mechanical aptitude of the seller.
Most sellers simply remove the negative terminal of the starter battery for a minute or two. This action distorts the ECU’s memory, temporarily erasing any check engine light on the cluster.
For the more mechanically inclined, masking the check engine light takes another dimension: with a cheap code reader like the Ancel AD310 or the Motopower MP69033, the check engine light is cleared in mere seconds, with the instrument cluster looking as neat as a trouble-free vehicle.
There’s a third and final category, which operates on the level with the devil himself. These folks don’t bother with the battery terminals, nor do they have the time/patience of using an OBD II code reader to perpetrate their evil.
What they do, instead, is to remove the entire instrument cluster and pop out ALL the active bulbs, illuminating the check lights, right from their sockets. This way, though the various lights on the cluster (CEL, ABS etc.) haven’t gone anywhere, it’s impossible to now see the lights illuminated, at least, starting up the vehicle and manually observing.
How to Protect Yourself from Check Engine Light Scammers
There are many ways of protecting yourself from check engine light scammers. However, the two outlined below are the best, easiest, and most foolproof. These are by close observation, checking OBD II readiness monitors, checking the distance covered since DTCs were cleared, and taking a long test drive.
1. By Close Observation
The easiest way to catch an engine light scammer is by close observation, especially the species that go out of their way to remove the bulbs behind the lights, right from the sockets.
Without any tools and relying on only the ignition key, cycle the key to the ON position (but do not start the car). In this position, take a close and interested look at all the lights on the instrument cluster, with specific emphasis on the ones that have not illuminated.
Just so you know, all the light points are visible even with the vehicle ignition cycled OFF. Leaving the key in the ON position and taking your time to carefully see which lights are actually on and which are off will confirm, positively, the presence or absence of any form of fraud.
The good thing? It’s free.
2. Checking the OBD II Readiness Monitors
However, if the scammer you’re dealing with used an OBD II code reader to clear the codes or simply removed the battery terminals to erase the lights, observation won’t fly since all the bulbs are intact and will illuminate at again, at some point in time after the vehicle has completed the drive cycle for that check engine light, assuming the issue still persists.
This is where using an OBD II code reader and observing the readiness monitors comes into play. Most OBD II code readers and scanners will have this function, even the very cheap ones, so there’s no fear of your unit not having it.
Plugged into the vehicle you’re interested in checking, you’ll be looking at the ‘INCOMPLETE’ or ‘NOT READY’ tag against the numerous monitors. Ideally, all the monitors (that the vehicle supports) should be ready (or indicated in green).
Monitors here not being ready or generally in an incomplete state indicate that codes were recently cleared, and there have been attempts to hide some flaws.
Before testing the vehicle in this manner, be sure to make certain that you’ve driven the vehicle and warmed it up to operating temperature, since some monitors, like the catalytic converter and O2 sensors, only work when heated up (and that only happens after the vehicle reaches operating temperature).
3. Distance Since DTCs Were Last Cleared
If you have an advanced OBD II scanner (or are lucky to have a truly revolutionary code reader), you’ll have the feature that determines, rightly, the distance the vehicle has covered since the last diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) were cleared.
Since a traditional cycle usaully involves hundred of miles (driving in varying conditions and speeds) – and most DTC require more than one cycle to confirm, it goes without saying that if you have such a code reader, you’ll be seeing a few hundred to a some thousand miles since the DTCs were last cleared.
This is how it should look.
On the contrary, a vehicle that has only covered about 5-20 miles, for example, is suspect. More often than not, someone, actively, is trying to fool you into buying a vehicle that won’t serve you both in the short and long while.
Be wary.
4. Taking a Long Test Drive
The process of having DTC come off and on is controlled by the ECU and drive cycles. Once trouble codes are cleared, all that it takes for the ECU to power on the command for the check engine light (and associated codes) to come back on is whether or not, after the drive cycles, the code(s) still present themselves.
A smart way of catching a fraudulent dealer or seller and stopping them right in their tracks is to take the vehicle for a long test drive, ensuring that the vehicle is driven at sustained freeway and slow traffic speeds, through at least, 100 miles (or more).
Naturally, most dealers and sellers of vehicles with issues will protest this. I’ve found out that not letting them know my express intentions before the ride and topping up my own gas usually quietens them in their tracks.
The results in an hour or two will tell you all that you need to know.
Codes Recently Cleared on a Used Car: Summary
Car dealers and sellers who are interested in selling their used cars aren’t honest. This is why it’s important to check out a used vehicle you intend buying and make sure that it’s fit for purpose, is exactly what the seller says it is and will serve you in the months and years to come.
This is where an OBD II scanner (or good code reader) comes in. Unfortunately, most of the criminal elements simply go out of their ways to clear the codes, taking things the extra mile to bait you into buying a car that isn’t fit for purpose.
If you follow the suggested tips shared here, you’ll be able to nip this con in the bud. Importantly, with a dose of common sense, you won’t only be able to get a great used car, you might also just be able to spin the con right on the head of the con star, getting a better deal in the process.
Love the Above? Subscribe for More
Throttle Lan
DIY Mechanic and Freelance Auto Writer