Why'd it Take A Year? 

I would check the oil level before I tried to start it.

"Cars run best just before they blow up." True that!! My buddy's GTO was pulling wheelies at the drags when, kablooey.

I blame the oil intervals that have been getting longer every year. I have never seen so many used cars that "need engine"

mechanics like jobs that take 30 minutes but for which they can charge the customer 4 hours of book time. it's how they make their money

Keep running that 0w20 oil in your GM vehicles. The engine builders association approves it 100%.

There was an article in an aviation magazine I used to read about some guy who took off in a small Cessna ( I think it was) that had sat for a long time. Everything was fine until just after takeoff he opened the air vents and a swarm of hornets came out. Needless to say it was an exciting run around the pattern to get back on the ground.

Do an oil change, step up from the 0-20W to a 5-30W, install a new battery, give it a triple detail and cleaning, trade it in for something newer and fewer miles, call it a day.

I have noticed that you work on a lot of the same makes of cars and truck . This helps me know what not to buy.thanks, you do a very good service to your customers .

Kenny, I've just read Benjamin Cresswell the adventurers comment. Man has high opinions of himself. Also accuses you of creaming off easy jobs. You're a mechanic who's sole purpose is to diagnose & advise a customer to achieve the best possible outcome in their favour. Then to carry out a quality repair or not based on your advice and not go pulling 💩 apart just cause you can. You're a decent top bloke Kenny with proper morals. Keep on wrenchin'😉

Hi Kenny good video for the untrained eye , one point I found to check mileage is check out the pedal rubbers if a vehicle has higher miles the pedal rubbers are worn a lot more a vehicle with low mileage has a lot less wear on the pedal rubbers keep up the great work on your videos regards peta

My Regal will never die. It's got a 3800. Ha! Timing chain issue almost unheard of with cam in block.

price of used cars these days. i would be rebuilding that motor. its cheaper. at least up here in northeast. why psend 4 to 5 grand on someone elses headache. at least you know what you got with your own car

Kenny…..I love your channel and I appreciate your integrity and not throwing parts at a car that can’t be fixed at a price compatible with its total value. I have a Mercedes and many other cars……some collectible and some drivers. I had an engine light come on several years ago on the Mercedes. It ran great at the time (still does). It has the 550 engine and runs quiet but accelerates like a scalded dog. Anyway, the dealership told me that I had a minor compression loss in two cylinders. Yet it didn’t miss. It didn’t bog down. Ran perfect. So I asked the price to repair and they wanted $16,800. I decided to drive it until the wheels fall off it. It is now two years later and the check engine light still comes on sometimes but goes off a week or so after only to return in another week or two. My only point is that I agree that it makes no sense to dump money into a car that can not justify the investment. Now, with that said…..I would be really pissed at Mercedes if they kept my car for a year (I think that was the time frame you mentioned for your customer’s car) only to tell me it wasn’t worth fixing, I would be more angry over the time period that they kept me waiting than the outrageous cost of repair. As I mentioned early in the post, I have a number of cars. There is not a car I own that I would need back quickly if I sent it to a shop. But how do you justify keeping a car that long with no diagnosis or work done? Just curious.

Wow! I'm glad I waved bye to the 2011 Malibu I had with 75,000 miles on it in 2015.

Just drive it till it blows!!!! Might be able to get a couple years out of it with regular oil changes. Right now you're only into it for a battery.

😂 "He tried The Brakleen Challenge and he didn't like it." 👍👍👍

You should have checked the oil and make sure it was good and full before you started it. Imo

Water pump chain on those. I found a hidden recall on same car from dealer. Air filter gets a little dirty and no pcv valve it drinks oil.

Great video's , but this one you barely scratched the surface , detected timing chain issue , and suggested rod noise ??? check the oil pressure of the engine will tell all , seems many like you find it easier for an engine transplant than to fix ?

No shame in walking away. If it was your own or a family member's vehicle it might pay to dig in deeper. My concern is the sitting for a year part. The fuel pump sitting in varnish or stuck solenoids in the transmission will be the next headaches. Let it be someone else's problem.

OK Kenny. Where's your sense of adventure? A decent 2011 Regal runs about $8,000, so if the vehicle is in good shape otherwise, pulling the oil pan and looking at the rod bearings is not far fetched. It isn't even hard to do. A few years ago I pulled a head and oil pan off, to pull the pistons out to have them knurled to stop piston noise on an 03 Ford Escort. Befor that I pulled the oil pan off a 3800 to replace the oil pump. Befor that I pulled the rod caps off a 2.4L Mitsubishi Mighty Max (later the Dodge Ram 50) and cleaned up the rod journals with emery cloth and a leather thong. Then mismatched various sizes of undersized bearing halves to get the least amount of clatter on cold start up. That guy drove his little pickup another 100,000 miles that I know of. To me doing endless brake jobs, suspension, steering, exhaust and motor mounts is like cleaning toilets to a janitor. I did enough of them to last me a life time, so I always looked for an adventure. If the person is of sound mind and they want to "see" what can be done, just charge a flat rate to make the diagnosis. You can always go back to cleaning toilets. Where I come from doing the easy stuff, like a janitor doing toilets, is skimming the cream off the top of the car repair market. Like I tell the gold dealers, "you may get rich pedaling your stuff, but not on me, I want a fair deal." Get the money up front if you're really worried about getting paid. Otherwise you must look at cars as we did the "no deposit no return" beer bottles of the 70's & 80's; just throw them away when you're done with'm. ben/ michigan

It’s identifying as a diesel Kenny, empty and refill with diesel and drive it until it rejects your advances lol😉

Slide in a set of rod bearings,timing chains and a can of restore. The rest will buff out.

Brake clean for the win

Rislone and MMO treatments every oil change even for low mile engines works wonders for longevity of those engines.

We just changed a motor in one of those this week. Same car.

It looks like someone got angry and stabbed the steering wheel with a knife.

How were the oil levels?

"Cars seem to run their best, just before they blow up" is always true with a completely worn out engine.... The horrible knocking noise suddenly hoes away..... Tic toc tic toc...

Inside looks just the same like my Opel here in Germany . GM product.

i allways believed the first 50k miles you put on a drivetrain.determines WHEN the last 50k of that drivetrain will be.ive seen them serviced & driven normally for 250k+ miles.& seen them neglected and shot at 125k.its why it pays to look deeply at used vehicles.your kind of at the mercy of the original owners driving habits & maintenence schedule, if any.

Reasons why gm shouldn't abandon the 3.8L

Good afternoon Mr Kenny hope y'all had a wonderful day

Timing chain could be a hydraulic timing chair adjuster failure but the bottom end sound like toast

I had a 2.2 ecotec that had 360k before it lost compression in one cylinder.

Had a friend that had a car very similar to this. Think it was mechanically sound but it would drain the battery if it sat over night. May have been abused so can’t say was bad manufacturing. Makes no sense to put money down a rat hole. That is if your worried about money I guess. Thanks

2:50 I usually don't shut the car off to clear codes... 2:52 I think that engine has Rod Knock.. Time for a new motor...

Throw a quart of marvel mystery oil in it, that will fix it. ROTFL Don't we wish. Let uncle Jack take a look at it, he can fix anything. They should design cars where you can change the motors out real easy.

Timing chain issues are very common on those 2.4L Ecotecs although I've yet to hear of one getting rod knock, which is surprising given how fast they seem to go through oil. They can also make some strange noises if the oil starts to get low so topping it off can make some of the noise go away. Also, why not do the classic rodknock test? Unhook coil packs one at a time and see if you can hear the suspected rod knock sound go away. If it does, then you have rod knock. If it doesn't, then it's something else. You can also examine the oil and filter for excessive metal. If that checks out then I would give the customer the choice, if they want to try doing the chains and guides with the knowledge that something else may be wrong with the motor, then have at it. Also, how in the world do you come up with $2K to do the chains? Any mechanic worth their weight can have this done in under a day so you would have to be charging $200+ an hour to get $2K.

People do not realize how much knowledge it takes to quickly diagnose a vehicle noise. It is nice to be able to cherry pick your jobs. Cars cost so much now. Better to tell the customer it is a no go and will be up to them to tow it or drive it out. That is how you end up with a lot of broken cars sitting around your shop. Customer might try and give it to you for the diagnostic fees and avoid a new tow bill.

a lot of shops turn a way work that worth more then the car .

Must be lack of maintenance,? Used cars are fine when you buy them, but it all depends on what and how the previous owner took care of the vehicle? Oil changes are not expensive, but that is the first thing people seem to neglect, when funds are low? Oil is cheap, engine's are not? Being a mechanic is frustrating, watching all the stupid things people do and don't do to their vehicles? Good job, Kenny.

Drive it till it blows up or trade it in?

I would take it for a drive myself and see whats really up.

I was done at the hornets nest, and It’s a GM product. IM DONE. Thanks for another great video. That car is an onion, peel away or throw it out. I vote for scrap metal.

CAN'T BELIEVE IT STARTED. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR GASOLINE TO TURN BAD?

Clean, add treacle, part exchange for better car.

Is there any oil in it?

I dont blame you at all

What about vvvt phacers ?

Well start it and hold the gas pedal to the floor for one minute and retest!

It's because of mechanics like you that I do my own repairs.

I would include the bug spray on the invoice.

As my son might say , " bro - kan , throw it away "

Wish we could hear about the fate of some of these cars instead of being left in suspense ! Still great content!

107k already bad motor... Modern gm quality

So just what exactly are you going to do with the car???

1:42 was it timing chain rattle.. or was it Rod Knock?

No oil.

People who buy cars and then DON'T do the simple upkeep are the type of people that you don't want any kind of relationship with.

Happens all the time.

I have put more money in a car than it's worth many times if I really like the car and it's otherwise reliable. Cars are not investments, you lose money continuously on every one. Used engines are a gamble, as are rebuilt engines. Guaranties are routinely not offered or not honered. How long did it take you to diagnose this? I would never have waited a year. Too old to fix my own stuff anymore. The older cars you could just drop the pan and mic the journels etc. Now you have to scrap the whole car because you hear a sound from the engine. Now I buy a new Honda every two years.

I would not work on a pigpen like that......

It's never fun when you hear the words, "you need a new motor".

By the outside of it it's crusher time LMAO.

Oil not too bad?! That looked black as tar and was water-thin! Yikes!

Do y’all advertise 15,000 mile oil change intervals to get all these bad engines?

I loved THE BRAKE KLEEN CHALLENGE and didn't like it🤣🤣

It sounds like a rod knock…. Engine is toast!

Low mileage to have that kind of issue.

Eco techs are thrash motors probably is a rod

Are Buicks made in China?

I've got duct tape so I can fix anything!! Lol!!!!

Probably ran it out of oil

If the car needed a timing chain it wouldn't even have started

Typical, average American cheap car can barely get 100 thousand miles. They should have gotten a Toyota or a Honda.

😎👍😎

Jack up the horn and put a new car under it.

MOTORS are electric. Engines are ICE

Typical EcoTec. One of the worst engines ever.

I would think if it sat for a year it belongs in a junkyard

let a customer wait a year for something that took 10 mins.

Ecotecs are junk.