Telling Customers It's Time To STOP Fixing Their Vehicle Is Just As Important As A Quality Repair! 

When I was visiting family up North, my Nephew brought his old (late 80s/early 90s) Firebird to his Dad's house to look at since he had a fuel smell and the brakes were needing to be pumped up sitting at lights. A quick look underneath answered the question. The fuel line and the brake lines rusted through and were spraying a fine mist of fuel and brake fluid through the hole in the floorboard and soaking the carpet padding. The car still ran good so he wanted to just replace the lines, but I told him the car is a unibody and relies on the floor, roof, everything for much of it's strength. If he got hit on the side the other vehicle would be in the car with him. All that fuel and brake fluid (also flammable) soaked into the carpet would be ready to burn if anything sparked as well. He took the car to the junkyard and said goodbye. Here in Florida we junk cars that look good aside from sun faded paint, but are mechanically worn out to the point of non-repair. Up there, they junk yards are full of low mile engines that came out of cars that rusted to death. It seems like we should all meet in Tennessee and make one good car out of every two!

Sad for the owner. The car is gone. Some fluid film and regular cleaning and maintenance might have helped 100k miles ago. Too late.

That oil leak is part of the anti-corrosion system, lol.😅

Car dealers and manufactures are like "If only every state used salt on every road... and all year".

Are you kidding? Up here in the north that’s considered showroom fresh. We consider it ok to see the road between your feet as long your shoes aren’t dragging on the road.😮

I'm one to keep an old car going. It's much cheaper than a new car payment.. To a point. I have also sent my cars off to the bone yard BEFORE they get that bad.

My independent mechanic explained why he did'nt want to fix my old Subaru anymore because there were so many things needing repair. He could have charged me thousands but he suggested I get rid of it instead. I took his advice, and from then on I knew I could trust him.

Kenny you are a brave guy, I would not be standing under that thing with it up in the air and all that rot 😂

I kept my dad's 1987 300 turbo diesel going because Everytime I looked at it I saw him.. it was emotional my mechanic would tell me why are you fixing this the frame is rotting out " the car is not worth it, everyone has a reason even if it's not worth it to you.. it's worth it to me just to see it in the driveway & the nostalgia, there's more then just is it worth it to fix it really depends on the customer, give your opinion as a mechanic but I got upset when the dude said "'this car needs to be junked" felt like he was trashing my pops, people do get emotional ties to cars & may keep them for many reasons

Looks like my old truck! Twenty years old, 246K still runs like a champ. Sold it to a friend, he's still driving it!

I personally try to keep my vehicles as long as I possibly can, usually ten to twenty years, until the cost to repair us no longer feasible but I do live in west Texas! Thanks Kenny!!

I am so glad we don't have to deal with crap like that in NC. We have 25 and 30 year old cars running around with zero rust everywhere.

I’ve never understood how anyone can afford vehicles in the north..it’s as if you’re always making a payment..they don’t survive long enough to get any real use out of them

Pinch welds at the rockers are not good lift points unless new and even the changing a tire with a jack can bend them. Always use the main frame or unibidy. This is why i wont let anyone work on my stuff.

"This car is from up North" I feel attacked...... Just kidding; I'm in upper Ohio and even I can tell you if you don't keep an eye on your underside, it'll look like this. Rust even here in Ohio is an uphill battle. Anything over 5 years old usually has enough on it that by the time something needs repair, swearing, cursing openly and even a little screaming are involved. To be a mechanic up here, even a shade tree like me; you gotta like causing your own pain.

I cant be the only wisconsin guy thinking "its not that bad, you cant see the bottom of the carpet from underneath it yet"

Here in NY, that would just be considered surface rust! New cars here come right off the lot with that much rust! Southern mechanics don't realize how good they've got it!

Park outside in a northern winter if you can. Keep it cold. Parking in a heated garage in winter means every night it thaws out and rusts with all the salt. Vehicles last much longer when always kept outside in winter.

An underbody wash after every snowstorm helps alot ! Most car washes offer this service !

As a proud former owner of an 08 impala myself, I had almost everything we saw here. My car lived its whole life in New York and funny enough I had the matching rot holes in the bottom of the wheel wells around the place where the subframe and unibody meet. Also had the classic 3.5 oil pan+filter housing leak as well. Hell even the secondary air codes is what got me into fixing my own car as a now 23 year old I would have never gotten into the automotive RU-vid world had my car never thrown reduced engine power at me because I ignored the secondary air code for so long. I “knew a guy” for NYS inspection and had my e brake cable zip tied up to the lower control arm in the rear because it rotted in half like the one here. What did my car in for me was the rotted fuel lines, and for this customer it’s pretty obvious the days left on those lines are numbered. I knew about the rot holes I had in the unibody but by the time my fuel lines were rotted out I had managed just north of 180,000 miles and I knew I had to send it to the crusher. It was a 3LT and had almost everything the LTZ had short of a 3.9 Bose stereo, the bigger wheels, FE3 suspension and chrome door handles but it was the best first car I could’ve ever asked for. Those impalas came a dime a dozen and all the parts I needed I could find either at the junkyard or pretty cheap elsewhere.

Stupid stinking Salt and other garbage thrown on the roads. Hypocrisy, so meny politicians on a rant for the environment. Imagine what this crap does when it washes off into streams, the ground, etc. The rusty cars are an example of how bad these chemical soups are.

Just bought a 2011 impala $1500...150k Put it on the lift very little rust but I will be using it as a beater car so it will be fluid filmed every year here in southern new jersey they use magenisum chloride as the road salt...it should be made illegal to be used on the roads it will rust a car even when the car is dry...if not wash off.... I have seen many cars rust away in less than 6yrs.

A true professional. 👍👍👍👍 You should take photos for the customer. Without the photos, they will never believe you when you tell them how bad things are.

In the Chicago area this is totally normal and just getting broken in. Probably 3-4 more years at least.

This car is every single one of em in Illinois lol. If it’s 4 years or older

This poor car did all it could to keep people going point A to B and never leaked a drop of anything. It should leaked a ton of oil on the subframe and unibody to keep it from rotting out so bad. I am truly heartfelt for the owners because I've been here having no money and told my car is done for. I had to borrow money from my best friend and family to buy another POS car to get me by so I could get back and forth to work and not be fired.

I'm struggling with several...too many customers that don't want to give up on their vehicles due to rust. Even though I speak with their best interest at heart, they don't want to accept the reality. It also gets depressing working on these rust buckets. Other than flat out refusing to work on them anymore, not sure what else can be done.

Being from California i find this interesting we still have people driving 70s and 80s cars the paint might be horrible but close to zero rust

Back in my mechanic days, I told several people that I would not work on their vehicle because it is too rotted out and unsafe to drive. I'd show them the hoist legs embedding themselves in the thin, corroded frame members and let their car down. I won't even trust it up in the air. Bye Bye!

Quebec here ! We see this everyday, salt roads from december to april , even with undercoating and washing doesn't stop salt after couple years

I'm glad my 99-00 F-250 has a regular frame. Hardly ever washed, used on a farm, bumper and body panels are starting to get holes, but the frame is solid. Noticed the rear leaf spring top plates are about gone, but that's cheap enough.

I have a 2000 Saturn SL1 with a decent subframe. I bought a similar car from a guy as a parts car because he found out the trailing arms were no longer attached to the car due to the rear subframe rotting out. He had some nearly new front calipers on the car before he found that out and I wanted to swap them to my car. I put the jack under it, but not on the pinch welds because I knew they wouldn't hold. I put the jack on the frame of the car and as I lifted it, all I could hear was the sound of Rice Krispies the higher the car went. Thankfully, there's nothing under the car I need for parts :D

Good day brother Kenny. Sadly, I am all too familiar with the 'Up North' car syndrome, also known as severe rust and corrosion. I only have 1 car like this and it happens to be a 2008 Ford and it is a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. Now some good news. It is on a full frame chassis like an F150. I am told that it served it's first 10 years In Massachusetts where the use of road salt is what causes this. I mention full frame because I have also learned that technically it doesn't even need rocker panels other than for appearance. Since I have owned it I have cleaned away as much rust as possible and treated the underside of the car with Fluid Film to begin rust control with the car. I've also used Por 15 on the sides of the frame to make the car look decent and some Silver Rust Bullet where the paint near the bottom sides of the car are to match as closely as possible the silver gray metallic factory paint color. I had to replace the entire parking brake system including every cable on the car. It is in far better shape and condition than when I purchased it and yet it still need some attention to a brake line on the car. It need a mechanic who knows what to do like you brother Kenny. If anyone can fix the minor issue (at least for Kenny it would be minor) it is brother Kenny!!

Reminds me of my Grandma’s Trailblazer. Brand new from the top, horror movie from the bottom. After I repaired the infamous shifter linkage, found both rear control arms broken in half. 19 years old, only 41k miles, but lived it’s life in salt country.

Brakes squealing and grinding? Turn up the radio. Problem solved.

To be honest, as long as the sub frame & sub frame mounts are solid & nothing connecting any of the suspension parts are at high risk of breaking off. I'd replace the brakes & fuel lines, they might be able to get a couple more years out of it. I have an old Saturn that is badly rotten underneath, it's hard to find a place to even lift it from anymore, but I haven't junked it because the engine still runs great, it drives good, everything works, the brake lines & fuel tank straps I replaced a few years ago... As long as the suspension isn't at risk of breaking off & the brakes are safe, I think it's worth keeping a while longer, I'm actually thinking about cutting the whole bottom out of it & welding in a replacement from a junkyard car or making my own, because mechanically that car has been so good I almost feel it deserves to be saved xD

Put that hammer down. You're ruining my car. Lol 😆

The amount of salt they put on the roads seems excessive....Looks like they hosed it down with battery acid....The unplated bolt heads under the hood told their own story. Spray from the vehicle in front...🤔🤔😮😳🇬🇧

Fluid Film as an annual treatment in the rust belt. Salt will kill these cars faster than mechanical issues.

Im 23, swapped a 3600 before and it sucked, this j body is beyond done it's mind blowing, thank you for teaching us and making these videos

I had that kind of rust on my Mustang GT and decided to tackle the issue... II changed the whole floor pan... Cut and welded new metal everywhere that I could... Its a never ending job...

Southern California here. I have my parents 1958 cadillac they bought in 1960. I was 1 year old. I'll be 65 in 3 days. Lifelong Southern California car mom gave it to me in 1982. No rust issues ever. Super attached to it, not just because I personally have 65 years of memories of it, but because mom and Dad drove it for decades. When I open the door, I know that's the same handle they touched thousands of times, same for the steering wheel. She's in good shape, still on the road. Same for the 68 Mustang I bought in 1977 while in High school. Great shape, still on the road also. Car lovers like me that live in areas where rust destroys them, I really feel for ya. Why don't manufacturers zinc coat undercarriages and paint them really heavy to try and prevent this!

Why do people put up with that. I am from Eastern Washington State. We average 4 to 5 feet of snow in winter. We plow and sand and use a little deicer, no salt. We have 20 year old daily drivers here. My 96 T-100 has minimal rust. The cars today are expensive and depreciate quickly enough under normal circumstances. Let’s salt our roads, and really throw our money away.

I’m out in Costa Rica and the humidity just eats the cars away. I thought the rust on my car was bad, but it wasn’t even scaling or soft anywhere thankfully. Been spending a lot of time with a wire brush and rust converter on the whole underside. Some parts almost look brand new now.

It's not a car but years ago, when I bought my house, it came with a well used MTD lawn tractor. I needed that mower to keep the weeds down around the place but this thing was rusted out. I kept fixing is and taking it up to the local welder to have it patched together. Finally he told me that he had noting left to welt to. The mower deck is just rusty crust but I got the goody out of it!

I have a 2000 Nissan Xterra 5 speed it's only got 109,000 on the odometer runs great . Yet, the Undercarriage is Swiss cheese. I thought to pull the drivetrain and save it until I found another hull. Thank you for your video!

Wow Mr Kenny sir, I'm amazed you could even lift the vehicle 😮. I actually set a lift up on one and the lift point just disappeared,lol instant floor ventilation 😅😊

Love your videos I was a lead dionistic technician at AAA dionistic clinic we would check out people's vehicles 40 a day usually I would have to talk to the people and tell them what we found wrong about 5 vehicles a day had be sent home they would call me Doctor Kevorkian you hated to give people the bad news but it was for their own good especially if they were thinking of buying it keep up the good work making videos and have a blessed day today 🙏

in Canada this car is still worth $3000 here all 10-15 year old cars are in worse condition

I recently sent my 08 saturn Vue to the scrap yard. The guy looked at my funny when I drove it in because the car looked great and drove great. I could also stick my hand through the subframe...

Had "The Talk" with my Mechanic about my 2003 Saturn ION (over 191K miles) this last Month. I kinda "knew" its days were numbered for the last few years... Considering when I had changed the Fuel Filter (2020/2021 170K?) and there was nothing holding the Filter in place anymore and basically any "metal" I touched while working in the area was like it was made of "Sandstone". Since that time I'd get various things repaired or regular maintenance... Occasionally I'd make/hear comments about how its rusted... But hadn't yet been given "The Talk". For example I have Free Tire Rotations for my Goodyear WeatherReady tires and basically all its Tires for like 15-18 years so it gets on a lift/inspected at least once a year there... The tires are "due" for replacement this Year (or they were)... Last year the Shop had "skipped" the Rotation saying I didn't "need" the rotation, while also saying it was also a Challenge/Hazzard just getting it up on the lift. (Figured they were just being a bit dramatic) For this year's Rotation? No "complaints"/drama or comments about Rust/Lift hazzard, just rotated and a quote for a fresh set of tires... Afterwards I decided to change its Oil at home, and investigate intermittent Starter and ABS Problems... Well I probably could have pulled the Starter and taken in for Testing but there was a decent amount of rust/Corrosion (not "Sandstone" levels but a "I don't want to break anything and have to get this towed in..." level) so Better to just have it in a shop for "easy" repair I figured, while they check the ABS too... In the past that kind of thing was just a bad Wheel Hub Assembly with Sensor... So figured it'd just be a simple Remove/Replace... But turns out it was on the Back (Drum Brakes) and was going to be a big can of worms, if I wanted to open it. So... Thankfully my Parents had upgraded my Mom's vehicle last year and had offered to sell me their "trade in"... Since I knew the Maintenance History and (again) "knowing" the Saturn's days were numbered, I bought it as my "Winter Vehicle"/Backup... meaning I wasn't so "shocked", in denial, or desperate to fix my 21+ year old car when I got "the call". Wish I'd gotten "The Talk" sooner (had just gotten it Registered for another Year, so while I could "drive" in for another 10 months, and if I want to throw another $85 Renewal @ the DMV... It "could" even be on the road til Summer 2026 assuming nothing else goes wrong or falls off the car... Suppose its a learning experience... as Wingman8447 mentioned some Fluid Film to protect the frame (along with "cleaning" like say unlimited/regular car washes, which I actually started doing last year... It is amazing this kind of service is only just now becoming popular in my area... ) Anyway, Highly recommend having an Honest "Talk" with your Mechanic(s) about one's vehicle(s) Regularly... Suppose it is easy for an Owner/Shop to sometimes "forget" exactly how "bad" things might be getting and not realize exactly where/what the owner/vehicle's true awareness/condition is...

my 98 cherokee here in detroit has floor vents so to me that looks great. Just needs some cutting out the dead and frame stiffeners. Maybe some angle iron here and there.

ive got an 04 caravan, father bought it new. it has a lot of sentimental value for different reasons, its rusty near the rockers very bad although not as bad is this impala. 250K miles on it and running strong everyone tells me to get rid of it including my mechanic due to the rust but like i said im attached to it. eventually ill have no choice but im still holding on

I live up north, Once it gets cold my car goes in the garage until chaos hass passes lol.

Normal for a newer GM product

I used to have a 1996 Oldsmobile (88) LSS with the 3.8 V6 engine and that car saw 10 straight years in mid-west salted road winters yet not an ounce of any significant rust anywhere to be found! I feel like those cars in that era were built better back then with more anti-corrosive paints and materials. Now I own an 2005 LeSabre with the same engine and the thing rusts like a son of a gun in the Midwest winters. Those GM 3.8's can go forever! The car they're attached to though it varies!

I'm in Texas so i don't have to deal with this, but I have a buddy up north that tells me about how he can still get LS engines at a good price because running trucks will just rust apart, but the drivetrain in still good...

Here in Australia they would fall off their chair laughing if we tried to get a car like that through inspection. You are absolutely right not to work on it. Time to sell it or a wreckers as parts and scrap (oxidised) metal. Sill enjoyed watching event though you didn’t need a spanner.

Hello, My fuel lines in both my 1979 van and my 1984 Oldsmobile are soft copper and yes, i bought a $300.00 hydraulic double flaring tool in order to double flare stainless steel tubing. And yes, i have tubing benders so that i may properly shape into place ss or copper tubing neatly like i,m running electrical tubing/conduits for electrica installations wheather it be building premise wiring or wiring on an industrial automation machine, my work in ths electrical trade can be in place for even longer than 100 years while the automotive trade most vehicles especially in rust belt states can go to the crusher as litttle as 10 years or less. miss Paula Walach- former industrial electrician, licensed since 1972 and still workkng full time- union member of IBEW

Well Kenny, I think we all know how it passes inspection. What we don't know is the customer's situation, but it got to be hard to take on liability for fixing a car like that. For example, " my car wasn't leaking gas until you worked on my brakes". What can you do?

Yikes! My brother had a hand-me-down truck from a relative in Wisconsin (yeah). He pulled into his FIL’s driveway one day and it just kind of imploded: Noises, belching exhaust, etc. there wasn’t anything left underneath to repair.

Junk yard time. I wouldn't fix it. Wouldn't want the liability.

You are braver than I. I wouldn’t get under that car with those jack points.

It’s rotten and they aren’t even trying to keep up with the maintenance. I live up North in Jersey City. I have a rusty old truck with 375,000 miles cab corners are rotted wheel well on bed are rotted and rusty. I’m thinking about buying a new bed maybe painting the frame when it is removed. Frame is still solid Diesel engine is still running good, could probably get a replacement turbocharger and clean the inter cooler and pipes inside. I don’t think I’m ready for a new truck they want too much money $80,000 or more for a stripper model I can buy a lot of diesel fuel with $80,000

So glad I live in Florida. Just replaced the trans in my 14 Silverado and didn’t see any rust, anywhere.

Living up here in the northeast. Former Vehicle Condition Inspector. If your don’t properly rust proof you car, if buying new, kiss you investment goodbye. Sad honestly. Had to scrap had to find vehicle after 9 months due to rust. Was only able to savage rare parts from it.

common sight uphere in upstate NY

I just picked up an 05 Toyota Echo looked like that, welded in a new floor and fixed the unibody in a few places, next up is the rockers then some paint be good as new!

Car owners living in the north have it rough. Down here where is snows less often (if at all), we have rust-free cars from the 80s and 90s still running around _everywhere._

Sad I had same issues with my Ford Ranger. Had it for 9 years ran great and body looked good, but the underbody rust finally did it in.

I live in the winter road salt rust belt myself. The only thing I've seen prevent that effectively is keeping the underside and insides of autobody cavities sprayed down with used oil, and still, it's a much more slowly losing, but still an eventually losing battle.

In sweden we have yearly car inspections, so if you fix things yourself it gotta be done properly. So the cars rolling on the road is usually somewhat good shape mechanicly. I used to hate inspections even the minor things that doesnt matter, but seeing the shape of cars in america and the makeshift repairs I come to actually appreciate the inspections because there's so much people out there that have no buisness working on cars that risk my life and others.

This one hits home. I had a 2008 Grand Prix with only 100,000 miles on it that I ended up sending to the crusher because the rust had gotten so bad. I don't mind some rust, but when the unibody starts collapsing from the force of a floor jack, you have to realize that the money you save fixing an old car is not worth potentially losing your life working under it.

Up here in Ohio that’s not even a car we would turn away yet lol. I’ve seen a lot worse than that still driving unfortunately

As I once heard a friend tell one of his customers: "You don't need a mechanic, you need a dealership".

Everyone and car manufacturers blame rust on the environment . More Chromium and Nickel in truck frames would help frame quality . Box tubing truck frames are trash . Even a large under the chassis weather shield would help .

there shouldnt be an inspection, God I love freedom, no emission testing no inspection.

I told a lady once that her car was falling apart and she really needed to replace it. She came un-fucking glued on me about it. Screaming about how she didn't have the money to do so (which I understood) and everything else. I was explaining how she was only a few good bumps away from not only losing her car, but quite possibly her own life given the circumstances. That didn't change anything and she went on about wishing she was dead and basically broke down. But yea, that's my story 😬

It was a sad day when my dad's 1991 ranger had to scrap because the frame went. I now do a lanolin coat on my frames.

yearly old sprays would have made a difference. I'm curious what decision was made regarding to fix or scrap?

I've done rust repair for years. That car is junk, for sure. That would not fail in NY. Fails in PA though.

Please explain how the rust and brake caliper are causing those emission codes as you are intimating the codes will clear up with the brake fix?

I remember when the repair shop told me my car isn't worth the trouble anymore, maybe it's time to let it go and get something new. It was a huge relief. Most car owners don't know when that time has come. They need someone to tell them.

I wouldn't touch that vehicle either. I'm rather amazed at the amount of corrosion on that vehicle. Starting in the 1980s GM went to a lot of lengths to reduce corrosion as much as possible. You're correct that vehicle is from the Northeast. Probably spent all of its time outdoors. No one ever cleaned off the bottom of it. It definitely needs to go to pasture.

I wouldn’t 100% blame the owner I think they need to stop using so many chemicals on the roads. All it dose is wreck the underside of vehicles and wreck the roads themselves. I live in Canada way up north and they don’t use chemicals they will plow the roads and throw down rocks for traction. Everyone here knows to drive in the tracks of other cars and winter tires help with that. All salt and other chemicals do is destroy the roads and the vehicles.

You're objectively right. Fixing one part will break the parts next to it until you're restoring the whole thing. My 05 mercury is about this bad. No rockers at all. That car got me to work from my first apartment to my first house that I'm writing this in. Took my girlfriend for rides in that car. Took my dog for rides in that car. They're gone but that car gets me to work still. When the frame rots completely, if I can't afford a new frame, the car will sit in my driveway until I die. Not a chance in hell I get rid of it.

The 1970's cars were the worst for rust. My 1975 Dodge Dart Sport, slant 6 was a rust bucket in 5 years. By 1980 it had holes big enough to throw a bird through. The trunk tub rusted out so bad a leaf spring popped through the floor.

Had a 14 year old (rust belt) car which had been spraying bottom of car with lanolin oil spray for the last few years. Underneath still rusted, but was greatly delayed. Had waxed the car once every October since it was 5 years old. Even so, the rocker panels developed rust holes around age 10. Applied bondo a few times to get a few more years out of the car without it looking holy. Upon kicking the snow + ice off the lower fenders wells, the bondo would crack. There would be less metal to work with each time I applied new bondo. Sold it to a buyer who is ok with the rust holes, which will reappear as the bondo breaks off and the metal around it continues rusting away.

A very nice example of when to throw in the towel. Rust In Peace, Impala.

I can hear the customer now, "Did I stutter? Oil. Change."

If the were an older Subaru, that would be considered decent body condition lol

Is there any way to stop this happening? a thick coat of urethane paint prehaps?

Seen a 1974 Plymouth scamp that would walk all over the road, even after a fresh alignment. Front frame rails were gone. that Chevy looks worse underneath than that old plymouth did.

Do you not have inspections in america? There's no way this car deteriorated this much in a year.

Thats as bad as we get the same in 🇬🇧 its salt on road in winter acts as a catalyst to corrosion. 😊

People up north should setup car frame water sprinklers on their alleys to rinse up the salts from under their cars, or just drive more frequently when it's raining.

right there is why i rustproof my cars annually.. ones 11yr and ones 9, and both a nearly mint. drive in salt 4-5 months a year and park in a warm garage

Thats an absolute shame. These cars hold a special place in my heart. Half a million miles all day. I dare say thier just one slimy little knotch below a crown vic. I use to work on cars for a living and left a year ago. There is a white one in my area that had 465k miles all original except maintenance and I still see that girl today here and there. Amazing impalas for sure.

Malarkey! Come on, man!! It's got at least 20 years left

Looks like the cars I see up here in MN. In fact, that one is pretty rust free compared to most up here