Auction Car SABOTAGE? (Equinox No-Crank) 

My opinion is that the auction didn't want to give the customer back his money, so they made the vehicle "non-returnable" to try to get out of it.

Another trick the auction scumbags use is they cut off one leg of a fuse. Then they will reinstall the fuse with the good leg in the B+ terminal. That way when you check the fuse with a test light it appears to be good. I've learned to always remove the fuse and check for this.

Not all cars sold at auction are junk but most cars that are junk come from auctions, wise words from Eric O. 2007 and Equinox in the same sentence, a recipe for disaster.

I drove cars at an auction for 15 years. The takeaway I got All the cars are there for a reason. The dealer couldn't make money on his lot so it time to move it on to somebody else.

Very efficient, Ivan. Nailed it quickly. Obviously there was some nefarious activity afoot by the employees of auction house. There's no way the customer could have driven it away and back to them with the relay jammed in there sideways. The customer needs to bring a witness with him and video record when he returns the vehicle next time.

Yep that's an auction classic. The fuel pump relay or the starter relay. Had it happen to me more than I'd like to admit. Last one was an 06 Accord they pulled the starter relay on. And while in the auction yard someone stole the cat. Good times.

This is why I quit going to auctions, get tired of spending all your time trying to find out if a car is actually good or not and undo all the sabotage to get the chance to actually check it out.

See it all of the time with the auction houses. The latest one was a Silverado we sent over to them that was running perfect. They call us and tell us it’s missing real bad so we went and got it so we could see what was going on. Turns out someone had removed the fuse for the coils on bank 1. Those places are shady as hell.

I have always called the process of diagnosis the term of becoming a detective, a forensic detective to be more exact.

A friend I have was working for a dealer and auction house in Waverly NY where we always had plenty of trouble shooting to do, wed often see cars with no problems when the rolled in suddenly need work an hour or so befor the sale,how ever we found the cars closer to the sale house never had issues as they were under guard continually and the rest were a ways away out of direct view of the guards that since has been modified with video surveillance and roveing patrols.

James Plotkin is 100% correct. Auction people flipped the relay to get out of refunding the customers $$. Ivan, good job. PLEASE keep these coming. I am new with a scan tool, and you have been so helpful!

Hi Ivan, Great you were able to get it running. It does look very suspicious problems started after it was returned to the auction site. Stay safe.

"Learn by experience. Get your ass kicked." LOVE IT. So true.

Great going! I'll bet the auction cars are like the tests the trade schools use to teach - they put problems in there and let the students work thru them. Of course, going behind another technician can also be a test - inadvertent problems created while troubleshooting. Been there!

would like to see follow-up from the auction to see if they took it back and how happy they were to get the car back

Ivan, I like that your always up for a challenge, share your knowledge, and enjoy the effort. Your words of encouragement are extremely helpful in difficult situations. Thanks for Sharing!

Quick and dirty. Good job Ivan.

you are so calm debugging these problem cars. incredible patience and detective work!

I just subscribed to your RU-vid channel and i must say you are extremely talented when it comes to vehicle issues. I just found an excellent channel to view whenever new video. 👍👍👍👍👍

Love the happy smile on start up. Been there fixing something and it actually works. Like a sign of relief.

Well, the auction house sure seems honest.

Ivan man love your videos. Learn something new almost every time I watch them. I am a truck driver who enjoy working on my own cars at home on my free time and watch videos of knowledgeable technicians like you. Don’t know if you know Dan from Diagnose Dan RU-vid channel, the reason I mention him is because he is also a auto technician but in Europe and he did a short impression of you! Found it funny but nothing like you. Alright man keep doing your videos love them!!

I do work for an auction and see that kind of stuff all the time. It's not always the people that work for the auction. Customers do it all the time to try and get the cars cheaper. I've seen many different things in me days of doing them.

Randy from auto auction rebuild said that it is common for some people to do that at the auction so you will not know if the car runs or doesn't so they can get it at a cheaper price he also said that they Rob the keys.

Great job Ivan. Your skills and confidence are amazing! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I always enjoy your videos. Well made. God bless you!

How did he not notice that bomb underneath when he bought it... It seems like it's been run on salted roads then sat on grass... FYI, great vid, i've been getting serious about learning mechanic work last year, people are starting to give me props, I just dont' feal confident, there's SO much I don't know and it just over whelms me... keep it simple, be humble and learn seems what I come up with. I just want that moment where I feal like I know what I'm doing, lol.. great vid and thanks for the boost

Love your hard work Ivan, keep putting out this great content please!

You are my hero!!!!! The best advice you just repeated, " Just do the work and get your ass kicked and learn how to think logically and you will learn diagnostics. " You have saved me $1000.s . Thank you so much.

Your amazing Ivan ! just like Eric "O" ,scanner Paul danner and many other greats within automotive & diagnostics . Your talents and advice to others is top shelf ! . Not a video of yours that isn't step by step and many times it's outside the box to solve the problems .I agree if your not hands on and learning by investigating each component and system along the way to get resolve your just not involved enough to fix the problem(s). 👍👍👍👍👍

Smart diagnostic, Ivan! Clearly looks like sabotage! Auction car - make your bets 🙂

Auction cars are a roll of the dice no matter how they look, having said that while auction companies are legit they certainly are shady

I bought a motorcycle at an auction once. I showed up the day before to check out the motorcycle. I asked can I start it up and the worker said sure. Well it cranked and wouldn't start. The worker said hmmm. It started the day before. Well anyways I came back the next day and bought the motorcycle and brought it home. I was trying to figure out why it wouldn't start and I found out why. Someone pulled two of the inner hard to see plug wires off of the plugs. I plugged them back in and problem resolved. So definitely someone tried to cut down the competition and get the price down.

Let me tell you what I've been playing around with this 08 equinox throughout the entire internet you had the most helpful video thank you

It is amazing all the different issues and problems you run across and solve. You are the man, Ivan!

Great video love these type of videos. Very satisfying for sure

A relay doesn’t get disconnected and reinsert itself another way. It’s sabotage.

Fun video, Ivan! And good advice that you gave us. Don't watch vids all day. Go and do a hands-on diag on your own. God bless! And keep your vids coming!

This seems so short and quick. It's like it was beneath your technical abilities Ivan. I'm glad you share even these simple fixes but wow you're right, it's a "rot box" with so little use and already crumbling.

As always you are the best ❤ my friend I love watching your work 👍

Can't believe I'm watching this when I do it for a living. I like that scan tool, seems nicer than my Solus Pro.

I could have stood there for a fortnight and not found that relay was round the wrong way - Good job

Ivan you need a hat you sell that says Ivan’s Brain. Maybe some will rub off on us🤣🤣🙀

Love the words of wisdom. 16 years into this industry.

Very good advice, Thanks for your time. great videos Bill N LI NY

Your smiling face tell at end is priceless

I worked as a temp as a driver for an auction years ago and busted a couple of guys who worked for a dealership who were tampering with cars at the auction. They tossed a gadget into some bushes. After they left, I took the gadget to an official to show it to them and told them who had it. They ended up banning those guys.

I've been missing most of your videos because youtube stopped recommending them so I had to straight up search for your channel.

love it, I used to comission machines and the first question is has it ever worked ? in this case no, so you are looking at a whole new vista of possible issues, in this case sabotage but usually just assembly issues, missing parts,missing components or wiring the list goes on and on , real first principals stuff is it wired up? is it plugged in ? why is that there .. superb video that issue would have foxed most " techs" and those familiar with the vehicle type would be the worst at actually diagnosing it,. bravo

That was one heck of a bonus! Perhaps it was more sabotage?

A man an his tool and pen & paper, new and old world.

Great video. You are 100% right that you have to do it yourself. Have a great day!

You do really nice work. Thanks.

Great content Ivan! Appreciate you sharing!

I smell something and it’s not just leaking gas lol nice job as always

Great advice at the end. Nice one.

that would be an 8 hour diagnostic for me, lol! gotta admit, you must be good, to go out on your own and diagnos everything from electric lifts, to different makes of cars etc...

Hey Ivan I had a weird auction car the other day, 2016 mustang, everything worked on the car except the battery charge light was on the dash, but the alternator was charging, and randomly the car wouldn’t crank, battery was good and even with a jump box it would sound like you have a dead battery, several starter clicks and then that’s it. Was chasing my tail all over the place looking for bad grounds and whatnot. Finally got to a point of checking powers and grounds to the pcm, I was missing 2 powers at the pcm. Come to find out inside the fuse box it had pcm batt 1 and pcm batt 2 and one of those fuses was just missing from the fuse box. Very weird problem that it was missing 2 pcm power circuits and the only thing not working was the 2 problems I described, it was definitely a head scratcher for sure. With the symptoms it was having I can guarantee some other shops out there would have thrown an alternator and starter at it lol

Well done Ivan! Something is definitely fishy with that relay.

My wife’s 2006 Pontiac Torrent just had the fuel lines replaced because of leaking. Exactly the same spot the plastic clamp at the centre post of the vehicle. She has just over a hundred and ten thousand miles on hers.👍🇨🇦

A great job I wonder if somebody did screw around with that vehicle cuz if the other customer stated they drove it today was able to drive it with that much fuel being leaked out wouldn't it run lean very interesting thank you

Brilliant. Well done!

Since I am a Genius and you are a decent amateur ;) I do have one suggestion, request or plea, when you have bonus coverage, please mention it early in your video. I was watching your Volvo vid ( simply because I used to love Volvo prior to the Ford goal of trashing the vehicles to make cash off the name) and almost missed the bonus coverage and it made me realize I may have missed bonus coverage in the past. As much as I love your vids, the bonus coverage is like getting a surprise present I was not expecting.

I bet the auction is not gona be happy that you got it running! Also sounds like they purposely sabotage it!

holy cow the bottom of that thing is no joke rotted... LMAO... when you showed the leak at the end... it does not surprise me its leaking when it looks like that under there...

Thakns pine you are the best l like it your s videos thanks for your time

I like that high amp test light idea, to avoid blowing more fuses.

As a person who works at an auction yard. We do not guarantee running cars. we can say it ran when we received a vehicle or started but it could just mean it ran when it got to us on top of that sitting from days to months to maybe even a year. Components break, that includes sensors, alternators, battery draining, or have no fluids since some of these are wrecked and it could’ve leaked the way to the yard.

Great Video Ivan.

'Nefarious' activity - When someone uses a 4 syllable word like 'nefarious' in the comments then you know it's serious [serious being a 3 syllable word]. Great video.

From my experience when doing Prescans of reman transmission before programing them they pull the old VIN from the reman transmission before they are programmed. I'm assuming they are auto ID by VIN in transmission. GM Techline Connect pulled the VIN to the vehicle from the ECM Odd but happens on everyone with a reman

Absolutely right on the practice!!...👍👍😎

Dang. That was interesting. Sometimes, my mom's car, which is a 2005 Chevy Equinox, does the long crank/no start, and has to cycle through a few times before it will finally start.

Nice find and fix.

It's 15 years old, sat outside, probably worse was not moved as snow piled up. The snow drifts over years starts it, maybe sat in moist shady area and it becomes a year-round issue.

Sounds like the auction house needs the old hammer tune-up special on each nail, all 20 of them. Depending on who all is involved, might need several tune-ups.

I think Eric O said it.... Not all the cars at the auction are bad, but all the bad cars are at the auction.

Wow!! That fuel leak at the end was a surprise! Sucks it's such low mileage and rotted as bad as it is

Thanks for the good advice.

Looks like Auction company doesn't want to honor arbitration, was it listed as FRONT LINE READY! haha, seen this many times, other issues are lot porters hooking up jumpers backwards too .

Great words of advice.....get out there and start practicing

Would like to know how the conversation went between the guy who took it back and the auction house.

I think someone may have intentionally blown that fuse and replaced both small relays 90 degrees off.

Another Ivan Awesome.... A bad fuse and a relay 90 degrees out of orientation.... Now they will take it back for an auction refund....

This the 1st video of urs that was reccomended to me vy the algorithm and tbh love it, i like to see diag videos pretty dope

Another good learning video,IVAN. NOW what you need to add to your skills is HOW TO DO FINGERPRINT ANALISE. haha Get yourself a 1 quart canning jar a tube if super glue and a lighter,and a black light. The 64,000 dollar ? WHO'S finger print is on that RELAY??? the person selling _or buying?haha good vids ivan love it.

Cleetus Mcfarland got burned by Copart recently. He bought a newer wrecked Porsche 911 Turbo S from them, and the site stated that it ran and drove. They didn't find out until after they had picked it up that the engine had split in half.

Nice job Ivan!

My father spent 3 years building a ground up custom car. After many years of enjoyment, he decided to take it to the wholesale auction. Misteriously, once there, it began having electrical issues, then when it was running through the lane caught fire and burned to the ground. Luckily a pusher truck got it out of the building but all Dad's work was destroyed.

Yay, a victory for the good guys.

Wouldn't a test rig set up with circuit breakers be more efficient? You could just use two wires out of a box and use a selector knob to dial in the breaker that you want to use and see if it trips.

I agree with a purposeful act, but get Ivan on it and bam here's your answer! Nice job!!

I can’t even tell you how many cars I’ve bought from Manheim that turned into full blown projects that sometimes takes a couple months to finish because I do the work myself & it’s multiple cars……it’s a headache but luckily I’m very mechanically inclined.

Good thing the pins weren't making good contact because I speculate that would have fried the ECM if the transistor got backfed power from the load side if the driver activates inside the ECM.

Ivan, you ROCK!

I have accounts with 3 used car dealers. One that only buys salvage cars under 50k. Lots of wierd problems. Including a back of one car welded to another. 2017 chevey traverse. Took a bit to find.

I had the exact same thing happen to me 06 equinox, it was a wreck. I bought it from copart for the engine.

"Learn from experience; get your ass kicked." Truer words have never been spoken.

Would never ever buy a car from an auction, a lot of cars there have hidden histories. The mileage alone on this car is very questionable. Also why didn't the buyer peek under the vehicle, the rot was pretty obvious especially to someone already in the trade. My motto in life, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is, I apply this to cars, houses, vaccines, lol. Served me well.

My favorite car I bought was parked with all the wheels standing up and pointing straight. It took shifting into Drive for the front wheels to turn into different directions and the front of the car to dip. It was so cartoonish.

Always go with the customer's speculative diagnosis based solely on what the guy on the bar stool next to him said it could be and don't perform any further troubleshooting procedures. The customer is always right.