Never, never, never, never buy a used car without a prepurchase inspection done by a mechanic, a shop or an inspection service that you trust. Don’t trust the car owner to tell you that it’s a good car. Don’t trust a car lot or dealership to tell you that they’ve had it inspected. Don’t trust a car lot when they tell you the car’s fine and it comes with a warranty. Don’t trust just road testing the car yourself. There are simply too many items on a vehicle that can escape detection without a thorough lookover.

In my 30 plus years of servicing cars I’ve seen so many heartbreaks, disappointments and flat-out wastes of money. I recently had a conversation with a man looking for a price quote on a list of items for a 2003 Subaru Forester. The vehicle had about 250,000 kilometers on it and had a list of serious concerns found from a recent dealer inspection. The list included: replace cylinder head gaskets, front differential noisy (requiring a transmission rebuild or replacement), front end clunks, rear sway bar bushings worn, a front CV boot cracked and a steering rack boot cracked. I quickly guestimated the work to be at least $6000, but most likely more. This amount of work certainly exceeded the value of the car.

Damaged CV Joint Boot

Metal filings found inside transmission from a severely worn bearing

What was most upsetting to me was that upon further questioning I found that he had bought this vehicle 5000 kilometers ago for $5800 dollars. It was now essentially a piece of junk! What a shame! Undoubtedly a good prepurchase inspection would have caught many of these concerns. Then a proper price could have been negotiated for this vehicle or perhaps better yet, he could have just walked away and found a better one.

So the lesson here is: don’t go it alone, get a prepurchase inspection from a trusted shop or mechanic. It will give you piece of mind and save you money, possibly big money.

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“My car runs great”
“It’s got more power”
“My gas mileage has improved!”

These are some of the comments that I receive on a regular basis while following up with our clients to see how their car has been working after we serviced it.

These positive comments remind me of how valuable our service is to you. The value of a service is obvious if your vehicle was running poorly and then left the shop purring like a kitten. Sometimes however, the need for service is not so obvious and the value is only revealed after you drive the car.

Here’s a tale of two Hondas: we serviced a Honda Civic that had failed AirCare with some horrifically high readings. One look at the report told me this vehicle was using excessive fuel and running too rich. However it ran reasonably well and without the “nudging” of the AirCare failure the owner would likely have not fixed the car.

Upon my follow up call the owner was most pleased to report a 30% increase in gas mileage. That is a huge savings in fuel and money in his pocket. The engine also ran much better and the added, unseen benefit of the repair was that his engine will last longer! An engine that runs too rich will live a short life. Our air is also cleaner thanks to the repair.

Our second Honda Civic was a low mileage car that we’ve serviced for years. It had developed an oil leak and while inspecting we noted that it was overdue for a number of major maintenance services. We also found the front struts were leaking and control arm bushings were worn. The owner requested that all the work be done. The final bill was quite substantial and it returned the car to flawless mechanical condition. Upon following up she commented on how good the car felt to drive: more powerful, with much better handling.“I guess it needed to be done because I hadn’t noticed how it had deteriorated.”

Many people feel that spending money on car service is a negative purchase, however it rarely is.

A well serviced car lasts longer, drives better and uses less fuel. This saves you a lot of money over buying a new car which is a very expensive purchase.

The highly reliable 1.7 liter Honda engine

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Recently we repaired a Ford escort with a broken alternator mounting bracket. The bracket had broken due to an improperly installed alternator that had been replaced by the vehicle owner a month ago. Attempting to save money and doing it himself he ended up spending more money than if he had brought it to a shop for the alternator repair in the first place.

Lets look at the math. Replacing the broken bracket cost $610.00. His cost on the alternator was $200.00. Adding the two together, he spent $810.00. Had we done the alternator replacement he would have spent only $420.00.

The alternator bracket with the broken off section shown. Note the numerous bolt mounting holes. Replacing this part was very time consuming and costly

Let’s add in a few other points: several hours was spent picking up the part, returning the core and doing the installation. By contrast the vehicle could have been dropped off at our shop, repairs completed the same day and a one year warrantee would have been in force so any further concerns would have been fixed at no charge.

Had the alternator job gone well he undoubtedly would have saved money, but probably not time. While do it yourself work is fine when done right (often, unfortunately we see that it is not…), ask yourself before you embark on the project:

Can I do this job properly? Do I have the proper tools? Will I really save myself money in the end? What is my time worth? Could my time be used best for other things?

Depending on how you answer these questions you may find that it is best to take it to a good shop for the repair. Yes the cost is higher than just a part but with a professional shop doing the repair there comes peace of mind of a job done right – and a warranty.

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CTV’s W5 program did a recent story  on poorly rebuilt written off vehicles sold into the Vancouver used car market. Through my years of servicing cars I’ve seen several used vehicles that were truly bad. One was particularly memorable and worthy of a news program in and of itself.

Our story starts with a phone call from a gentleman who bought a 1 year old 2007 Chevy Cavalier. When I spoke with him he explained that he had just purchased this car and the check engine lamp was on and the transmission had a leak. Finding it unusual that a 1 year old vehicle with only 12,000 kilometers had these concerns, I told him that these would likely be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. He explained that he had called them and the vehicle was “flagged” and there was no warranty.

He brought the car in and here’s how things unfolded: the car was a rebuilt write off (clearly indicated on his insurance papers) and so the manufacturer’s warranty was no longer valid. He paid $8,000.00 for the car which was a substantial bargain for this vehicle as most were selling for $12,000.00. We found that the vehicle had been in a front end collision. From the outside, repairs looked good but under the hood the body work was substandard. The check engine light was on due to the oxygen sensors being plugged together and not into the vehicle wiring harness.

Only someone with no knowledge of how cars work would do such a thing!

Fortunately this issue was easily rectified. The transmission leak proved to be more involved and required replacing the transmission with a good used unit. This was due to the transmission case being cracked from the collision. The sellers had tried in vain to do a quick and cheap fix with sealer.

The car ran well for a couple of months and then developed a rough idle. This was fixed by replacing the intake manifold: a plastic part that sits at the front of the engine. It had obviously been weakened by the accident and failed prematurely.

Written off vehicle. Is this the sort of previously damaged vehicle that you’d like to buy?

When the final repair bills were tallied up it came to about $4000.00 which now priced the car equivalent to what he would have paid for a very low mileage, non-rebuilt 1 year old Cavalier. And the one year old car would still have had a warranty.

So how can you prevent this from happening to you?

1. If the price is below other comparable vehicles ask the seller why. Then look deeply into the real reason for the low price.
2. Check with ICBC and/or get a Carfax report to get an accident history of the vehicle.
3. Have the vehicle inspected by a trusted auto service shop or inspection company (BCAA for example).
4. Have a lien check performed to be sure that there is no money owing on the vehicle. If there is, be sure that it is paid and the lien cleared before you assume ownership.
5. Get a feel for the person you are buying the vehicle from. What is his or her story about the vehicle. The character of the seller often reflects in the car that is being sold.

The best used cars are usually:

1. Locally driven.
2. Have all repair and maintenance receipts.
3. Sold by the original or second owner.
4. Sold by a reputable dealership or used car dealer.

Are all rebuilt write offs bad? Certainly not. I have seen many that are fixed properly but there are a few things to note. They will always be worth less than a non-rebuilt vehicle. Many times the repaired body work or repaired components may fail early. I have one client with a Toyota Corolla that was a rebuilt write-off. While this vehicle has proven to be very reliable in the 12 years that he’s owned it, the left rear quarter panel that was repaired has paint that is cracking in an odd manor and looks bad. Clearly the paint work was very poorly done, though it looked great when he bought it.

The most important take away here is that buying a used car is very risky but the risk can be eliminated by doing your homework and consulting with professionals who know cars well. After all, you just want a good reliable well priced car and not to be a part of a news story.

Call us at (604) 327-7112 to schedule an inspection. We’ve done hundreds of them and we will tell you exactly what we find.

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Tie rod ends, ball joints, idler arms, pitman arms. What do these parts all have in common?

• They are all part of your car or truck’s steering and suspension.
• Their proper functionality is critical to the control of your vehicle and your safety.
• These parts are ball and socket joints that eventually wear out.

With routine inspections it is easy to spot worn out steering and suspension parts. Finding them before they are badly worn is critical because if one breaks you will lose control of your vehicle.

Steering linkage designs come in two ways: most common is rack and pinion steering. The other is the recirculating ball steering box. These two systems use different linkage configurations. Rack and pinion is the simplest and most common. It features two outer and two inner tie rod ends.

While once used in every vehicle, the steering box is less common these days and found exclusively on trucks. In addition to inner and outer tie rod ends this system uses additional wearable parts like the pitman arm, drag link & idler arm(s).

Suspension systems also differ widely among vehicles, the simplest being the Macpherson strut. This system has only one ball joint to wear out. Other systems use upper and lower control arms, some with multiple arms. These have two or more ball joints per side that can and will wear out.

While there are many designs of steering and suspension the commonalities are: they use ball and socket joints; they wear out; when they do, it creates a dangerous situation. To ensure your safety the most important thing for you to do is replace them at the first sign of wear.

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A recent offering for suspension repairs is the “Quick Strut.” These are complete Macpherson strut assemblies that contain not only the shock absorber portion but also a new coil spring, mounting plate, bump stopper and all related hardware. While they cost more to purchase, they reduce replacement labour cost and give you the benefit of having everything new.

In the past when struts wore out 95% of the time just the shock absorber portion was replaced. Sometimes the upper bearing plate was worn and replaced and occasionally the springs. While springs slowly deteriorate over time they seldom get replaced unless a noticeable concern occurs like a break or lowered ride height.

Until the advent of the Quick Strut replacing all the parts of the Macpherson strut was complicated, involving ordering many parts and taking extra time. Often a judgment call was made that, based on price or part availability, that some parts wouldn’t be replaced. While the “partial” repair was satisfactory it was never 100% perfect without replacing all of the parts.

With Quick Struts you get it all. When all 4 are replaced it is like having a car with brand new suspension. That makes driving safer and more enjoyable.

Newly installed Quick Strut assembly on rear of Honda Civic

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Good morning, I’m Bernie Pawlik. My business is Pawlik Automotive an auto service shop located in South Vancouver. We’ve been in business for 22 years. We service most makes of cars and light trucks. Previous to this I had a mobile auto repair business for 7 years. My experience in working on cars is now over 30 years.

In that time I’ve seen a lot of changes in how cars run and how they are serviced and I want to talk about that today.

These days you can hop into your car, and that’s any car from the most economical to the highest priced luxury car and it will run perfectly well whether cold or hot.  It wasn’t too long ago when a car engine had to be warmed up. Many cars from the past would run poorly when cold, they would stall when idled or lack power until warmed up.

Servicing on older cars was different: they required annual tune ups. Unlike today when you can just drive and drive and drive, past vehicles would over time run poorly and require parts to be replaced on an annual basis in order to take you from point A to point B. There were many shops that did nothing but tune ups – Those shops are all gone now.

Top view of ignition distributor showing points (yellow arrow) and condensor (red arrow). These parts would require regular replacement to keep your car running properly. This dual point distributor was found on high performance engines.

The biggest single creator of this change is electronic fuel injection and engine management. Everything from the airflow into your engine, the delivery of the fuel and the timing of the spark is electronically controlled. Whatever the temperature and conditions, everything is timed precisely and changes can be made in microseconds.

Another big area of change is the materials that cars are made from. The biggest area that I see this change is around rust: cars don’t rust like they used to. In the past so many perfectly functioning cars would die an early death from rust, but no more, at least not in this climate. Many older cars were truly rust buckets. I was reminded of this a few months back when a client brought in a 1979 Datsun 280ZX that had been sitting in his garage for 10 years. We performed an inspection to see if the car was worth restoring. After sitting for 10 years we were able to start the car easily, it ran like new and mechanically was very sound. The exterior looked nice and the interior was mint. Unfortunately the floor and frame was rusted out and the car was essentially junk: this is something that doesn’t occur in cars built in the last 15 or so years.

Auto body rust is less common these days but in the past sent many cars to the scrap pile after just a few short years

Exhaust systems are another area of great improvement much to the chagrin of Midas and Speedy muffler. At one time mufflers would last 2 to 3 years on new cars but many cars made in the past 20 years still have perfectly intact original exhaust systems even at 20 years old.

Now this isn’t to say that nothing goes wrong and that today’s cars don’t need maintenance because they still do. As cars have changed so too have their maintenance schedules. As cars have changed so too have the tools of the trade. One of our most useful tools these days is the computer.  In the past when cars required tune ups there were specification for things like engine idle speed, ignition timing and point dwell. It got so that a good mechanic could remember these numbers and work from memory or at least consult a small book with specs. Not now. Cars are so complex that we receive all of our repair info by computer. At our shop we have 4 specific repair information programs plus we also find additional repair information on the internet. Most shops don’t have this extensive array of information. We have it because it allows us to quickly and accurately diagnose any car that we work on.

An electronic throttle body assembly found on all newer cars. This part can cost a couple thousand dollars on some cars. We want to be very certain that it is defective before we replace it,

How we repair cars is different. While in the past, if your engine was running poorly we would do a tune up which involved replacing several inexpensive parts and things would be fixed, your modern car’s repairs may require one very expensive part. So we want to be certain that we are doing a correct diagnosis and replacing the right part the first time.

I’d like to speak about “Why Pawlik Automotive?” Yes we do good work, Yes we offer a good warrantee on the work that we do, Yes our prices are competitive.  So are many other shops.  I think that there is one area where we are outstanding that is in our communication: For each of our clients we want to know how you want your car serviced, how do you use it, where do you drive, how long will you keep it.

What’s your “risk tolerance.” This may seem like a funny word for car repair but where I find it applicable is: if something is marginally worn do you want it fixed or leave it?  Knowing that we can repair and maintain your vehicle to suit – you.

We explain what we are doing on your car and why we are doing it in an understandable fashion. We also prebook your next maintenance appointment and advise you of what services are upcoming so that you can budget your car maintenance expenses. Perhaps most importantly we will always inform you of the costs up front so that you don’t walk into a surprise bill that you weren’t expecting.

Thanks for your time. I’m Bernie from Pawlik Automotive: Vancouver’s Best Auto Service Experience.

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Auto Repairs and Service

We’re very happy and humbled to be chosen by our customers again for the 5th year in a row as the Gold winner in the WE Vancouver reader’s choice poll – for Auto Repairs & Service in Vancouver, BC.

Having been at this location for 22 years it is gratifying that our clients feel that we do such a good job.

We work hard at it – providing expert vehicle maintenance and repairs, educating our customers, providing warranted work and peace of mind.

It’s wonderful that we have customers that regularly drive all the way from North Vancouver, Langley, even Coquitlam to have their vehicles services and cared for. Of course many nearby areas like Kerrisdale, Kitsilano, Point Grey, Oak Ridge, Shaughnessy and Bridgeport, Richmond have regulars too.

Thank You! Happy customers make this rewarding enough – to be recognized publicly is a very nice bonus and we appreciate it!

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In a world when most car manufacturers are touting minimal maintenance, Subaru has published a 500,000 kilometer maintenance schedule. What’s so great about that? It addresses what needs to be done to keep your car operating reliably for a long time. It also represents the forward thinking of a company that builds cars to last a long time.  Will many Subaru owners keep their cars for that long? Highly unlikely, but those who follow this maintenance schedule will undoubtedly have very reliable cars for the duration of their ownership. When it comes time to sell their car they will get top dollar because it will be in great condition.

There are no outlandish recommendations in this maintenance schedule. It’s what we (and other maintenance minded shops) recommend to our clients for every car that we service.

Here are some of the outstanding features:

• 6,000 kilometer oil change interval
• Brake fluid flushes
• Transmission flushes
• Regular comprehensive inspections

There are several excellent recommendations that are unseen on any other maintenance schedule:

• Fuel injection cleaning
• Throttle plate cleaning
• Mass Air flow sensor cleaning.

These are a valuable part of a good maintenance program.

What seems a little strange is the recommendation to replace the fuel injectors at 320,000 kilometers. While this is many kilometers down the road and the injectors will be old it strikes me that many other components will likely require service before this and the injectors may still be in very good condition.

Still in the spirit of vehicle longevity this maintenance schedule stands as the best that I’ve seen. It is about time that car companies thought this far ahead. Your car is a very expensive purchase and keeping it running a long time saves you a lot of money.

The Subaru 500,000km maintenance schedule: unprecedented and highly welcomed

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Once upon a time clutch replacement was fairly inexpensive. But no more thanks in part to two factors: first is the advent of front wheel drive and all wheel drive; second is the change to dual mass flywheel clutch systems.

For much of the automobile’s history rear wheel drive was common. This made clutch replacement quite easy: remove the driveshaft, shift lever, clutch linkage, pull out the transmission and there was the clutch. On many cars and trucks the whole procedure could be done within three hours.

These days most cars are front wheel drive and this adds to the complexity of removing the transmission to access the clutch. In addition there are now many all wheel drive vehicles which require removing additional driveshafts and perhaps even the transfer case. Clutch jobs now require five to nine plus hours labour.

The other expense factor in modern clutch replacement is the advent of the dual mass flywheel. Once found only on diesel light trucks and exotic imports like Audi, Porsche and Mini they have become common place in many a vehicle. Even economy models like the Nissan Versa have this very expensive clutch system.

So just what is this system and why the expense? Unlike ordinary flywheels which are essentially a large precision machined heavy steel disc which lasts through many clutch replacements, the dual mass flywheel is two flywheels put together with dampening springs in between. Dual mass flywheels provide the advantages of: minimizing engine vibrations, easier shifts, smoother clutch engagement and overall smoothness in the vehicle. The dual mass’ disadvantage is that it wears out and requires replacement along with your clutch.

New Dual mass flywheel, The springs and hardware in the center are part of the dual mass system.

When it comes to replacing your dual mass flywheeled clutch expect a large bill. In addition to the normally priced clutch the new flywheel typically costs $500 to over $1000.

There is good news however because there is, in many cases an alternative to buying an expensive dual mass flywheel and that is a replacement clutch kit which eliminates the dual mass flywheel. Inside the kit is a conventional clutch with new solid metal flywheel. How well do they work? In all the replacements that we’ve done they work perfectly: you’ll never miss the dual mass setup.

As you can see, adding a dual mass flywheel clutch to an all wheel drive vehicle can result in an expensive clutch replacement, often exceeding two thousand dollar. So be prepared and use your clutch gently because now, more than even, you’ll want your clutch to last a long time.

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