Shop Shots Vol 10 Insider Pictures of Automotive Service
I can’t believe that this is the 10th volume of Shop Shots! It seemed like just yesterday that you guys were helping me name this series! As always, you will see pictures of the random things that I see around the shop. AND…..GO
This is a close up of some bearing damage inside a manual transmission. This actually belonged to a great friend of mine Daniel. His concern was a noise, and trouble getting into gear. We decided to replace the transmission, but I really wanted to see what went wrong. There was metal in the fluid, so I knew that it was bad new. I did a really early post when I first started this car blog. In that post you can see the metal chunks on the drain plug. This is one of the few manual transmissions I have had an issue with.
While we are on the subject of transmissions, here is the guts of an automatic transmission. This comes from when I was at training for Routan transmissions. This is about 1/4 of the parts that make up the rings, clutches, gears, seals and so on. Automatic transmissions are really an engineering marvel. Actually, all transmissions are pretty awesome.
This is leaves, pine needles, and dirt built up on the cowl of a Jetta. On the surface it just looks bad, but it is actually a big deal. I have seen countless cars get water leaks due to leaves building up on the cowl and around the windshield. The get stuck in the water drains and that water will go somewhere. The crappy part is that somewhere is inside the car. I actually totaled 2 cars due to water leaks caused by this exact thing! One was a Touareg that was had mold everywhere. The estimate I wrote was for about $42,000 in repairs. Take a minute and make sure you don’t this happening.
Last but not least, this is a quick video of a crazy noise. This car was whistling when it was sitting at idle. When I revved it up, it would stop, but as soon as I let off the gas, it would make this noise. I remember the first time I heard this I thought, “What the hell, this is not gonna be fun to fix”. It turns out it is a really easy fix. There is a check valve that only lets air flow one way. Well it gets stuck and causes this noise. WARNING– this noise is loud, I recommend turning down the volume!
Well, that wraps up another volume of Shop Shots. I am always looking for new post topics, if you have a suggestion, just contact me, or post up in the comments. Also, don’t forget to swing by Humble Mechanic on Facebook and say hi!
Where can I get one of those “whistling” check valves? I want to show those guys running Blow Off Valves who’s boss. 😀
HA, If you have a 2.0t FSI, just wait long enough. LOL!
As for the 42,000 in water damage! WOW! I cant even ponder how thats possible?! Were they bathing in their car? Please do elaborate!
And as for that check valve, did the owner drive it in? Thats a pretty scary noise that i would stop in my tracks til i figured it out..thats would of been an easy “scam” if it werent for an honest mechanic!
@Garrett,
HAHA, of course the guy or girl(I forget) with the check valve drove it in. 😉
As for the Touareg, imagine every single piece of the interior needing to be replaced. All the seat leather, door panels, dash board, headliner, carpet, ect. PLUS the labor, which would have been about 2 weeks worth of work. I am so glad they totaled that.
Thats nuts about the toureg. Ive never heard of anything like that before. It makes me wonder what the owner was thinking..and if this was an overnight thing or on going and they just let it go.
That attitude today may well be ‘pound wise and penny foolish’ as wasted fuel can quickly exceed the cost savings
gained from delayed or avoided maintenance.
XFT contains a polymerization retardant and dispersants to help
prevent and reverse sludge buildup in your fuel which can and
does clog filters. Synthetic blend is not as good as full synthetic, and it is marketed to people that can not decide which type of oil to choose.