Ben's Refurbished Mitsubishi Miev
 

Oh my, what have I done now?

Two days ago, I got a "hot-lead" on a Mitsubishi Miev Electric Car up on an on-line auction. There were a few odd little things about the auction that seemed to indicate that the car was actually BRAND-NEW off the dealer's lot!

The preliminary bidding was also extremely low, indicating that few people were interested in the vehicle. Not only that, but there were actually TWO 2012 Mitsubishi Mievs for sale!

So, I decided to bid on one.

Do I have money for one? Um, er, no, not really. I have a little money, but I can't go blowing it on electric car auctions! I have to do things like pay the mortgage and buy food. Hmm. Guess I'll have to start shopping at Aldi more.

Long story short, I was the winning bid, but the seller also set a really high "minimum" (Which was $30,000 - the full retail price of a brand new car!!!!) And on that auction site, the seller can simply not accept your "winning bid" or they can counter offer. As in "Hey Ben, how would you like to pay DOUBLE for the car what you just bid for it in the auction?" And I'm all "Hell NO, man!"

Ok - the only conversation that went like that was in my mind, but that's the way it felt. In reality, it was a computer generated e-mail that said "Would you like to accept the seller's new minimum offer?" And there wasn't any "Hell No!" checkbox to respond with, just a "Retain original bid" option.

This went back and forth like this at least SIX times over two days! Finally, today, I got the official word that I was the winning bidder, and at my actual winning bid price no less!

The car is in North Carolina, and I'm in Wisconsin, so I either need to talk to a trucker, or I possibly feel a road trip in my near future.

So, Ben, how DID you get such a good deal on a 2012 Miev? I'm glad you asked! Do the words PRIMARY DAMAGE: WATER/FLOOD mean anything to you?

That could mean anything from "This vehicle was at the bottom of a lake." to "It rained really hard, and we'd rather have the insurance company deal with it.

There was also a recent event you might recall - SuperStorm Sandy. There was literally a "flood" of flooded vehicles on the market after that. This vehicle is in NC, NOT New York or New Jersey, so it may have some water damage, but not what those poor vehicles in NY took.

SO :o The vehicle appears to be in perfect cosmetic condition (other than missing the two front hub caps), but WHO KNOWS the condition of the motor controller, charger, computers, battery pack, etc, etc.

Please don't ask how much I'm paying for it. If it is possible to fix the car and get it to run, I paid WAY TOO LITTLE. If it's not worth anything but selling parts off of, I paid WAY TOO MUCH! :p

I guess as long as (worst case scenario) I can strip it for parts to sell and make my money back on it, it's just one new adventure!

The title will allow for repair and legal use of the vehicle after an inspection (assuming it's repairable.)

The car is "Raspberry" color and has ten miles on it, the keys are in it.

I still have to figure out payment, transporation, and my time-frame for removing the vehicle. Here's a pair of photos to tease you with.

http://300mpg.org/wp-content/uploads...atermarked.jpg
http://300mpg.org/wp-content/uploads...atermarked.jpg

Also, my wife hasn't killed me... yet. But I think she likes the color! :thumbup:

PS: It is the base model in case you were wondering. Although there was little difference between the two trim levels. These cars are the Geo Metro of the EV world - they are not known for luxury. However, the listed value on the vehicle was slightly higher than a complete stock car, so it may have the upgraded radio, cold-weather package, or some such similar upgraded option.

I'm also NOT counting on the 120V AC adapter cord being included.

Well i hope you have good luck with the car, but SC, NC, VA all got him too with the storm, some areas just as bad as NY so i hope this car wasn't floating in a parking lot

I live about 50 miles from the NC line Ben. Where is the car located?
Clayton?

regards
Mech

Yeah, I know this whole thing is just kinda a big gamble. It would be really cool to actually get the car running!

A friend of mine is a car dealer who can at least get access to all that technical data. Who knows, maybe with that we have a shot! :thumbup:

The car is in Dunn, NC (south of Raleigh)

I'll probably spend a good hunk of tomorrow figuring out payment and looking at shippers vs. a tow dolly, etc, etc.

-Ben

Sub. Scribed.

Ben,

My brother owns a raspberry i MiEV, and my father owns a black one. It is rear wheel drive, so you may need a reliable way to lock the steering wheel. The wheel track is fairly narrow - a tow truck with the pivoting knuckles that cradle the wheels are too wide to fit without likely damaging the car. There are cradles that work, I'm sure.

If you are missing the charger, the newest one they are shipping with the car is switchable between 8A and 12A (or maybe 14A?), which is a very good thing. The 2013 car my Dad has has the 8A only model.

If you have not already, you will want to sign up on the i MiEV forum:

http://myimiev.com/forum/index.php

I'm a member there; standing in for both my brother and my father. :)

Ben: was thinking about this a bit last night. What to do when electronic devices get wet...

Common wisdom says:

1) don't try to turn it on yet...

2) instead, put it in a big bag of uncooked rice for several days :D

Hoping this all goes well!

Seriously though: I'd be thinking about finding an enclosed place to put it where you could run dehumidifiers for a good while. But what do I know - I'm sure there are experts out there on how to deal with flooded cars.

Get a few cans of deox-it and several damp rid kits... As others have said don't try to power anything up yet...

OK, I'm thinking that if there is any water left inside, you don't want it freezing. So I think the prudent thing would be to have it shipped to me, I'm in Los Angeles were it is warm and dry. I'd just, you know, look at it, here in the garage. Until you think it's warm enough to work on in your driveway. Yeah, just look...
Good find and have fun.
-mort

I like the rice idea.

I was thinking about parking it and running a fan and heater in it continuously for some amount of time.

The guy who tipped me off to the sale is a MiEV forum member. He told me about it. I hadn't signed up yet, but planned to.

Do you own a dehumidifier?
From what I can tell, the battery box should be sealed and is air cooled, at least on the Nissan Leaf that means it has a fan inside to move air around, but I would think it would be water tight.
I'd get a service manual for it to start with, test fuses, test pack voltage, see if it has an OBDII port... I think it does and see if there are any codes.

First, determine the water level. Every component that was under water needs to be disassembled and cleaned thoroughly before being energized. I have fixed water damaged cars over my career and have developed processes that have proven to be successful for over a decade after the damage occured.

Separate the battery from the rest of the vehicle and see if it can be charged and will hold a charge, but only after a thorough check out for corrosion damage. If possible determine where the car was located when it was damaged. It will help greatly if it was NOT salt water.

The cars sit for a while in the salvage yards before sale, sometime months up to close to a year depending on the salvage process.

Sadly Raleigh is 3.5 hours from me (definitely not near any salt water). I could tow it with my Ranger and a tow dolly. I guess it would have to be towed with the rear wheels off the gorund but the forum specific to that car would be your best source of information.

regards
Mech

If you have ever disassembled a car that had been submerged, you would know immediately that any attempt at "drying it out" is a waste of time. Printed circuit boards will show corrosion very quickly and no amount of drying will repair the effects of corrosion.

Every electrical connection needs to be thoroughly cleaned before anything is energized. The systems you are dealing with were never designed to be submerged and running power through them when they have any significant corrosion damage could cause serious problems, like an air bag blowing up in your face!

Not trying to be a bubble burster Ben, you have one chance to do it right. Figure out exactly where the water level was. It may have not even been into the passenger compartment. If not it could be a fairly easy fix. I considered it when I was bidding on a Prius C and the tech at the Toyota dealer told me all the air bag contols and modules were under the front seats. Not sure if he was right or not, but the thought of having to replace all of them kept my bid lower.

if you decide to come to Raleigh to look at the car, I would be glad to meet you somewhere and go with you to look at it.

regards
Mech

Another technique for removing water from flooded electronics is to flush it with plenty of isopropanol followed by several hours of a slow flow of dry nitrogen gas through the case. Any water on the boards is absorbed into the isopropanol and is flushed out with it, then the nitrogen gas evaporates any isopropanol left on the boards.

I have seen salt water corrode a relay to the point where it actually pushed the metal cover off the relay. It was a 1982 Mercedes that rolled into the Atlantic Ocean. The relay was what controlled the power seats. It was behind the drivers kick panel about ankle high. It was the only reason for the owner to bring the vehicle back after an $8300 repair bill. The relay failed a month after we gave the car to the customer at the Benz dealership I woked for in the Florida Keys. The owner decided she wanted the car repaired and she had enough money to own a house in Florida right on the Ocean.

regards
Mech

So... much... envy!

Subscribed, just so that in the future if something is "too good to be true", I hope to have something to counteract that argument.

Yesterday, I went to the credit union and paid the mortgage and paid the wire transfer for the car.

And that's about all the money I have...

Still have to figure out how to get the car home. I've been getting bids from shipping companies. They have ranged from $600 at the absolute lowest price up to about $1200.

Shipping is from Dunn, NC to Oconomowoc, WI (53066)

What would a rental towing cradle cost, plus the gas for the 4 days of driving?

I did some price searching and digging.

The Mitsubishi iMiEV is a weird little car. It's rear-wheel drive with single gear reduction (same as a Tesla Roadster!) so that seems to rule out a tow-dolly, which is really only designed for front-wheel drive cars.

It's also just big enough that you need a real car trailer, instead of a more affordable plain flatbed cargo trailer.

After running the math on rental, distance, average gas price, etc. I really am better hiring somebody else. As much as I wanted a wacky road-trip adventure, it's just not worth it, and I can't afford to waste money right now. :(

I did find some pretty decent bids on shipping. The car being "Non-Op" is a disadvantage, but it being at a giant car auction place is a plus. They have the big loading dock and forklifts and ton's of truck drivers going there every day.

Some of the cost on shipping a car also depends on when you want it done. If you can give a BIG window of when it can leave, that makes it cheaper. The auction house needs the car gone one week after the sale, or they start charging $20 a day "storage fee".

I've got one company ready to go get the car for me, (no deposit needed until they find the driver) and another company that lets drivers bid directly. That has the potential to cut $100 to $150 off the bill, but only if there happens to be a truck in the right time and right place with an empty space on it.

Ah, the joys of shipping cars! :rolleyes:

Tell them to be especially careful with a forklift, especially if the battery is under the car! :eek:

regards
Mech

I've used isopropanol to clean electronics a few times, but never messed with nitrogen to evaporate it.

I take everything apart and give it a nice scrub with soap and water to get off any residues, wash it with water, bathe it in isopropanol alcohol, and then let it dry. I was able to resurrect an ipod that got filled with soda this way.

Any water in components has dried out already. Depending on the water itself the corrosion can vary greatly. Any water but pure water is conductive to a degree. It's not really a matter of drying it out, the car has already sat for some months before it gets auctioned. The issue now is the corrosion left by the water as it evaporated over a period of time.

Definitely disassemble it until you can determine the water level without question. Every connection in the wiring harness that was submerged must be cleaned thoroughly. Every component that was submerged needs to be inspected carefully if it was outside the passengers compartment. If it was submerged inside the passengers compartment then that is you worst case scenario, depending on how high the water got inside the car.

Hopefully it did not get inside the car. If it did then just a couple of inches in the floors, which might still be wet, but a lot of the salvage companies have them cleaned and dehumidified before they sell the vehicle.

The origin of the loss is also important. The car could have been hauled from New Jersey or it could have been flooded in the Raleigh area, possibly at a dealership. Knowing the situation where the loss occured could help with the repair. Was it sitting or being operated?

regards
Mech

A VIN and title search revealed that the car had 10 miles on it, and it was dealer owned. Nearly positive that it was just sitting brand-new in a dealers lot.

I wouldn't imagine the car being shipped. The auction house that sold it has lots all over the country, including a dozen closer to New Jersey.

I believe that the car was flooded while sitting at a dealership.

Still lots of information unknown until I actually get it.

Awesome find.

Interesting project.

Subscribed!

Drying it out isn't the point, the point of my treatment is to wash out any conductive stuff and non conductive stuff, ex the iPod I gave this treatment to had sat wet inside for a month, a good scrubbing managed to clean the connections (it wouldn't turn on before) and got it to turn on, the click wheel is super sensitive now and it looks like new.

Mind if I ask what place, site whatever oversaw the auction?

Too bad there weren't other auctions now like that :) A lot of the copart auction associate sites are run a like a scam with a $500 deposite before you can bid and 30-100% fees on top of the sale price depending on who/where/what/how much it sells for.

I closely watched a leaf (not flood) and a volt (also not flood) but chickened out when I started looking at the fees.

I would love to perform heart surgury on a leaf or volt drivetrain :) if it was REALLY cheap. A flood car in my mind is even better, but I haven't seen one for sale, only conclusions.

Ah well, I will keep up the search, I haven't ever noticed MIEV at any of the copart auctions,

Nice find, hope it still runs. Me jealous (if it works ;) )

The auction was directly through Copart.

:thumbup:

If I'd ever get a Nissan Leaf I'd try to convert it to RWD. With a Volt I'd consider to replace its 1.4L gasser for some 3cyl Diesel. Actually I've already considered to make a replica of the Volt with an all-fiberglass body over a space-frame, but would get a conventional non-hybrid Diesel driveline just for trolling the tree-huggers :D

Why would a rear wheel drive EV be better? You'd lose some regen capacity, because the rear wheels only have about 30% of the braking power vs the ~70% that the front wheel have.

Just get a Tesla! ;)

Nah the reason would be to convert a FWD car into a hybrid. Rear wheels would be driven EV, front would be whatever motivated the car originally.

In my mind the volt frontend (if you do it you take the whole kablamo) if I could narrow the halfshafts would look rather wierd but would be a great form of motivation in the zx40 or a another very lightweight vehicle like an insight or even a subaru 360 with a VERY long rearend..

Your range would increase and FE should also increase due to less weight and improved CDa.

Ah well, pipe dreams are free.

Rear wheel regen: I wonder how that behaves in a curve on ice/snow...

It's got to be no worse than an ICE engine-braking, or else by now we'd surely have read another "EV's Equal Death!" news report about all these iMiev's spinning into the ditches trying to recover energy.

I engine brake all the time in my rear-wheel drive pickup. No problem with that at all.

It is a little different driving a rear-wheel drive car than a front wheel drive one. I do think about it a little more in winter.

Only things that are ever rear-wheel drive now-a-days; sports cars and pickups! Guess which I've driven!? Suppose that qualifies the MiEV as a sports car! :thumbup:

I've got a friend coming from Wisco the end of this month making a round trip through SC before he goes back to Wisco.. I can give you his email if you like, I'm sure he won't charge too much to help you out if you need it. He's doing a 'working vacation' type of thing.

His email is xxxxxxxxxxxx (e-mail altered by moderator for privacy)

Hopefully no one at the auction location has hit the key and tried to drive it. You might want to tell whatever transporter you use not to even try to start it, they will turn the key to unlock the steering but hopefully no one has actually tried to power it up.

Ben, you have a PM

Thank you for offers to help move the car!

I was able to find a professional auto transporter out of Chicago who has a two-spot trailer and was making a run close to the one I was requesting.

So, I was able to book moving the car at a fairly reasonable price.

It should be interesting unloading it by pushing it down a ramp into my driveway... Last time I did something similar, it was with a Citicar, which weighed 1/4th as much and was summer weather!!!! :rolleyes:

I noticed that too. The key is ZIP-tied into the "ignition"(?). I seriously doubt that no one has moved this under it's own power or atleast tried. Think of the geniouses employed at dealerships and auctions to move cars. In fact I'd be worried about a dead traction pack because it was left on for a month.

Sorry Ben, for adding to your worries.

Hello to all, I was also watching those two mievs at copart LOT:

LOT 30532052 and
LOT 30531882
(I can't post links yet but easy to find with these numbers)

I wonder if these can be run again? :) I think traction pack should be OK :)