How to kill a car
The Cash for Clunkers program requires that vehicles that auto dealers receive be sent to the scrap yard. But before the clunkers are squeezed, slammed and sliced, the engine should be destroyed — preferably with sodium silicate.
Here is the wording from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Final Rule document:
The agency has determined that a quick, inexpensive, and environmentally safe process exists to disable the engine of the trade-in vehicle while in the dealer’s possession. Removing the engine oil from the crankcase, replacing it with a 40 percent solution of sodium silicate (a substance used in similar concentrations in many common vehicle applications, including patching mufflers and radiators), and running the engine for a short period of time at low speeds renders the engine inoperable.
Generally, this will require just two quarts of the sodium silicate solution. The retail price for two quarts of this solution (enough to disable the largest engine under the program) is under $7, and the time involved should not substantially exceed that of a typical oil change.
If the dealer removes vital parts, such as the heads, this procedure isn’t necessary.
The agency also testing drilling a hole in the engine block and running the engine without any oil as methods of destruction. That must have been a fun week to work at the NHTSA.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
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[...] the post a couple of days ago that detailed how auto dealers can commit vehicular homicide by pouring a solution into the engines [...]