So you qualified for the $4,500 or $3,500 rebate and you traded your clunker in for that brand new car that gets amazing MPG, well what happened to your clunker? Many of the vehicles traded in during the “Cash for Clunkers” program, were in good condition, great looking, and overall very reliable vehicles. Traditionally when trading in your vehicle for a new one, your used car becomes someone’s new car. With the cash for clunkers program, your vehicle will unfortunately never see the road again.

The dealer that took your trade and sold you that new car is required to destroy your car’s engine and drive train. This is to ensure that your gas guzzling machine is taken off the road for good. Below you can read the dealer protocol that was followed to destroy the engine.

THIS PROCEDURE IS NOT TO BE USED BY THE VEHICLE OWNER
Perform the following procedure to disable the vehicle engine.

Since the vehicle will not be drivable after this procedure is performed, consider where the procedure will be performed and how the vehicle will be moved after the procedure is complete.

1. 1. Obtain solution of 40% sodium silicate/60% water. (The Sodium Silicate (SiO2/Na2O) used in the solution must have a weight ratio of 3.0 or greater.)
   2. Drain engine oil for environmentally appropriate disposal.
   3. Install the oil drain plug.
   4. Pour enough solution in the engine through the oil fill for the oil pump to circulate the solution throughout the engine. Start by adding 2 quarts of the solution, which should be sufficient in most cases. CAUTION: Wear goggles and gloves. Appropriate protective clothing should be worn to prevent silicate solution from coming into contact with the skin.
   5. Replace the oil fill cap.
   6. Start the engine.
   7. Run engine at approximately 2000 rpm (for safety reasons do not operate at high rpm) until the engine stops. (Typically the engine will operate for 3 to 7 minutes. As the solution starts to affect engine operation, the operator will have to apply more throttle to keep the engine at 2000 rpm.)
   8. Allow the engine to cool for at least 1 hour.
   9. With the battery at full charge or with auxiliary power to provide the power of a fully charged battery, attempt to start the engine.
   10. If the engine will not operate at idle, the procedure is complete.
   11. If the engine will operate at idle, repeat steps 6 through 10 until the engine will no longer idle.
   12. Attach a label to the engine that legibly states the following: This engine is from a vehicle that is part of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). It has significant internal damage caused by operating the engine with a sodium silicate solution (liquid glass) instead of oil.

After this process the dealer labels the car’s title “junk vehicle, cars.gov”. After the engine and drive train have been destroyed the dealer can submit the paperwork to receive reimbursement for the $3,500 or $4,500 discount. While some dealers received their reimbursements within 6 days, others are still awaiting owed money.

Once reimbursement funds are received the dealer had 7 days to get the vehicle to a certified disposal facility. Often the dealers were able to make additional money by selling the clunkers to these facilities. From there the cars are stripped down and sold to scrap processors, auto recyclers, salvage yards, etc.

While, you’re cruising through town in your brand new shiny car, that gets great MPG, do not expect to see your old vehicle on the roadway. By now it is almost certain that it is totally dismembered or destroyed.