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Yesterday afternoon, a rescue trailer arrived at the store, carrying a Volkswagen Passat. Upon inquiry with the driver, it was found that the vehicle had been towed back from the highway and suddenly encountered a problem while driving. The owner reported that there was a strange noise in the gearbox and dared not continue driving. After being towed to the store, the Passat was still on the trailer. The driver found that even when in neutral, the car would not slide down after releasing the brake. He tried to press the clutch pedal to start the engine, and when he slowly released the clutch, he could hear a clicking sound from inside the gearbox. Fortunately, the car could still move slowly, so he drove it to the workstation. The instrument display shows that the total mileage has exceeded 300000 kilometers and has been in use for at least 15 years. At first, the master thought it was a problem with the ball cage inside the half shaft, but after inspection, it was confirmed that it was not, and it was likely a problem with the gearbox itself. Then, the master lifted the Passat up and let's first see what the chassis looks like. As shown in the figure below, the front suspension is mostly made of aluminum alloy components, which were similar to Audi's chassis back then. The subframe is dedicated to the engine longitudinal platform and is now protected by a large iron guard plate, which was later installed by the owner and has two obvious oil stains. The oil stains on the protective plate come from the gearbox, as shown in the figure below. There is a lot of sludge at the bottom of the gearbox, which is leaking out from the oil seal at the half shaft position. The rear suspension is a torsion beam non independent suspension, and the fuel tank is designed at the rear of the suspension. Nowadays, few cars design the fuel tank at the rear of the rear suspension. If there is a rear end collision, the fuel tank is easily squeezed. There is a problem with the rear suspension now, as indicated by the arrow in the figure below, which has undergone deformation. It can be seen that it has been significantly impacted and cracks have appeared, making it unsafe. After inspecting the chassis, the technician continued to check for the issue of abnormal gearbox noise, as shown in the following picture. The lower guard has been removed, and it can be seen that the gearbox is basically wrapped in oil sludge. The master asked another master to start the engine and shift the gear inside the car, and confirmed that the problem was inside the gearbox, as if a damaged part had stuck in the gear. How should this be repaired? Do we need to disassemble the gearbox for maintenance? The master said that disassembling the gearbox for maintenance is particularly uneconomical. Many of this old Passat are scrapped, so it is possible to directly find a disassembled gearbox from the dismantling factory. The price is cheap and the quality is guaranteed. With the consent of the car o...

A Honda car came for maintenance, the model is the 2013 1.8L Automatic Comfort Edition Jade. The owner purchased it in early 2014 and it has been 11 years since then. It can be considered an old car. What is the condition of a car that has been in use for so long? First, let's take a look at the engine compartment, where the two main cores of the car are hidden, namely the engine and gearbox. As shown in the figure below, the engine compartment has almost no signs of oil or water leakage except for some dust. The engine model is R18Z6, a 1.8-liter naturally aspirated type. So far, except for replacing spark plugs and batteries, there have been no other problems. The gearbox is a 5-speed automatic type. Before draining the old engine oil, the technician pulled out the oil dipstick to check. If the oil level is normal, it indicates that the engine is not burning oil. Its instrument design is quite unique, located very close to the windshield. As shown in the instrument panel below, the total mileage exceeds 240000 kilometers, nearly 250000 kilometers, which is quite a lot, averaging over 20000 kilometers per year, indicating that the owner uses the car frequently. Raise the car to look at the chassis, as shown in the following picture. The bottom of the engine and gearbox are equipped with aluminum alloy lower protective plates, and the reserved holes are oil drain holes and oil change filter holes. There are no signs of oil leakage at the bottom of the engine and gearbox. The middle part of the chassis is protected by a plastic protective plate, and there are no obvious scratches. Looking at the left front suspension, the lower arm is welded from double-layer stamped steel plates. Upon inspection of the ball joint and rubber sleeve of the lower arm, there are no issues except for the damaged rubber sleeve of the steering outer rod ball joint. However, the internal ball joint is not loose and can continue to be used, while the other components are fine. Check the right front suspension, just like the left suspension, only the rubber sleeve of the steering outer rod ball joint is damaged, and there is still no problem inside. Looking at the rear suspension, the double wishbone independent suspension type, the condition of each component is quite good. The front of the rear subframe is a 50 liter fuel tank, and there are no scratches on the bottom. When we look at the structure of the rear suspension, it is basically the same as the rear suspension structure of Honda models such as CR-V at the same time, but since 2017, it has become an E-type multi link independent suspension. After the chassis inspection, the master checked the condition of the four tires and found that only the outer side of the right rear wheel had some problems, as shown in the figure below, with obvious scratches. Fortunately, the wound was not very deep and did not have a significant impact on safety. As shown in the figure below, there is a scratch at this location, and the n...

A 2020 Nissan Tuda was brought into the dealership, produced in June 2022 and has been in operation for over 3 years now. The total mileage has just reached 40000 kilometers, and this visit was for engine maintenance. Taking this opportunity, let's take a look at its condition. First, let's take a look at the overall structure of the car. It adopts a non load bearing body structure with independent beams, which has stronger overall rigidity and torsional resistance. True off-road vehicles generally have this body structure, while the common body structure we see is a load bearing body structure. As shown in the figure below, the front suspension is a double wishbone independent suspension, the lower wishbone looks relatively thick, the stabilizer bar is also very thick, and there are protective plates at the bottom of the engine and gearbox. Looking at the middle part of the chassis, you can see a thick crossbeam, and the exhaust pipe from front to back has made a bend at the fuel tank position. As shown in the figure below, you can see the fuel tank and the sturdy transmission shaft. The fuel tank has a capacity of 73 liters, and the support of the lift is located at the bottom of the crossbeam. Looking at the rear suspension, it adopts a five link integral bridge non independent suspension, with a differential inside the rear axle. This structure makes its off-road performance and driving comfort relatively good. After inspection, all components of the chassis are in good condition and there are no abnormal situations. After draining the old engine oil and replacing the oil filter, the master put down the car and added new oil. The engine has a 2.5-liter displacement, and maintenance requires adding nearly 5 liters of new oil. The transmission is a 7-speed automatic type. Check the brake oil, there is a Bosch mark on the oil tank, the oil level is still at the specified level, and the water content is normal during testing. There is no need to replace it temporarily Check the battery, as shown in the figure below. This is a start stop dedicated battery with normal starting voltage and current. The power steering system uses hydraulic assistance, and the oil level of the power steering oil is checked to be normal. The entire power steering system is functioning properly. Looking at the instrument panel, this is a picture taken when the key was just turned on. Currently, only the tire pressure of the left front and right rear wheels is displayed, both of which are 2.5 bar. About five seconds later, the tire pressure of the other two wheels is also displayed, which is 2.5 bar. Looking at the fuel consumption displayed on the dashboard, the average is 10.6 liters per 100 kilometers, and the average speed is also 32 kilometers per hour. This fuel consumption is still acceptable, after all, the curb weight of the car is over 1900 kilograms. Overall, this Nissan Tuda performs very well in terms of both the engine compartment and chassis.

A Volkswagen Sagitar was brought in for maintenance and inspection. The car was manufactured in August 2018 and had traveled only over 40,000 kilometers in more than seven years. The owner mentioned that he rarely drives this car, covering just 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers annually, and typically gets it serviced once every December. During the whole car inspection, the master encountered a rare situation where the air conditioning filter of the car was severely damaged. Taking the opportunity of maintenance, let's take a look at the condition of this Sagitar. As shown in the figure below, the air filter assembly on the upper part of the engine has been removed. The engine is a 1.4T type with a low failure rate, and the matching gearbox is a 7-speed dry dual clutch type, which has not encountered any problems. Raise the car to look at the chassis, as shown in the following picture. There is a large plastic protective plate at the bottom of the engine and gearbox, and there are two holes in the gearbox position. The technician said it is for cooling the gearbox. The front part is a MacPherson independent suspension, the lower support arm is made of single-layer steel plate stamping, with a perforated design in the middle, and the steering knuckle is made of cast iron material with a layer of rust on the surface that does not affect safety. The steering rod ball head, lower support arm ball head, small connecting rod, shock absorber and other components were inspected and found to be in normal condition. Check the middle part of the chassis. There are two obvious scratches on the bottom of the plastic fuel tank, but it does not affect safety. There is no problem with the rest of the parts. Look at the rear, multi link independent suspension type. Check the rear suspension components, mainly checking that the rubber sleeves and shock absorbers at the connection positions are in normal condition. When checking the tires, the master found that the condition of the two rear tires was very poor, as shown in the picture below. There were very obvious large cracks on the edges of the tires, and the master said that such tires have significant safety hazards. Looking at the production date on the side of the tire, 2318 indicates whether the tire was produced in the 23rd week of 2018 or the original configuration of the car, and indeed needs to be replaced. At the same time as the old engine oil was released, the technician replaced the oil filter and then put down the car. When inspecting the air conditioning filter, it was found to be particularly dirty, as shown in the picture below. This is the side of the air conditioning filter that filters the air, with a lot of dust and impurities. Looking at the back of the filter element again, it is already damaged and detached, as shown in the picture below. How did this filter element become like this? Looking at the side of the air conditioning filter again, the master was momentarily speechless and didn't know w...

A Chevrolet Cruze has entered the store, which is the 2021 320 Automatic Enjoyment Sunroof Edition. It was produced in October 2020 and has traveled over 60000 kilometers in just over five years. The purpose of this visit is to install an engine underbody guard. Why has the car been used for so long, and now I remember to install a protective panel? The car owner said that they didn't pay attention to the chassis before. In the past two years, the chassis has been constantly scratched. Last year, the scratches hit the gearbox, almost damaging it. Recently, they also scratched the subframe, flattening it. They feel that it would be better to install a protective plate. Let's first look at the chassis, as shown in the following picture. The bottom of the original car's engine and gearbox did not have protective plates, and there were signs of damage to the soft connection of the exhaust pipe, which was caused by scratches on the ground. The car owner pointed to the bottom of the subframe and said that this is the consequence of colliding with the ground. It has flattened and the damaged paint surface has rusted. If it collides with the gearbox again, the aluminum alloy gearbox must be damaged. Let's take a look at the alloy protective plate that we are planning to install First, fix one end of the screw onto the subframe, as shown in the figure below. Two thin screws are fixed to the front of the subframe, and two thick screws are fixed to the rear, which require washers and screw caps. Then install the protective plate at the position of the screws, and each screw requires two washers. After tightening, as shown in the figure below, a separate detachable small protective plate is reserved at the lower part of the oil drain screw position. Then install the protective plate at the position of the screws, and each screw requires two washers. After tightening, as shown in the figure below, a separate detachable small protective plate is reserved at the lower part of the oil drain screw position. After installing the protective plate, the car owner asked the mechanic to check the condition of the chassis to see if there were any problems. Let's first take a look at the right front suspension shown in the picture. The lower arm rubber sleeve, ball joint, steering rod ball joint, shock absorber and other components are in normal condition. Checking the left front suspension is also in the same condition. Looking at the middle part of the chassis, it still has a metal surface without chassis armor, which is one of the characteristics of most American cars. It has good rust prevention ability and no traces of rust can be found. Looking at the rear of the chassis, the rear suspension is a multi link independent suspension, and there are no major issues upon inspection. Finally, the master told the car owner not to think that adding a lower protective plate can be reckless. They still need to be very careful and control the speed. The protective plate can on...

A Buick Excelle came into the store for engine maintenance. The paint looks very new, but the overall design of the car is quite old. When I checked the frame number, it turned out to be a 2017 model Excelle with a production date of July 2017. Although the production time of this Envision is early, the total mileage is very small, only 23000 kilometers, as shown in the following figure. The car owner said that she doesn't have many opportunities to drive and usually travels by tram. First, check the tires. All four tires are original factory tires, as shown in the following picture. The number 1717 on the side of the tire indicates that the tire was produced in the 17th week of 2017, more than 8 years ago. Tires belong to rubber products, and although they have a short driving range, they have been used for a long time, resulting in significant rubber aging. Looking at the front tire shown in the picture, there are many aging cracks on the tread and rubber blocks have fallen off. The driver said this is because the front wheel belongs to the driving wheel, and the friction between the front wheel and the ground is greater, resulting in greater tire wear. Compared to the front tires, the tread also has cracks, but the wear is noticeably lighter than the front wheels, and the tread pattern is still very deep. After fully raising the car, it can be seen that there is no large protective plate at the bottom of the engine and gearbox, only a small protective plate on one side of the engine. The front part is a full frame subframe, which is relatively sturdy, and the lower support arm is made of single-layer stamped steel plate. After checking these components, there are no problems. After checking the front chassis without any problems, the technician unscrewed the drain screw and drained the old engine oil. Looking at the middle part of the chassis, there are no protective plates or armor, but there are no signs of rust, indicating that the Envision body has done a good job of rust prevention. There are scratches on the bottom of the middle exhaust pipe, and a missing piece of insulation tile on the upper part. The technician said this was caused by scratching with the ground, but fortunately other parts are normal. Looking at the rear suspension, it is a multi link independent suspension type, with a 44 liter fuel tank at the front of the suspension and insulation tiles near the exhaust pipe. Check the rear suspension on one side separately, mainly focusing on the condition of the rubber sleeve, and there is no problem. Overall, this Buick Excelle is in very good condition, possibly due to its short driving range. The engine is a classic naturally aspirated L2B model, and the gearbox is a 6-speed automatic transmission. There are basically no problems, except for one issue that needs to be noted, which is that the two front tires need to be replaced!

A Mercedes Benz S350 came into the store to repair its chassis. The owner said that the main repair was the air shock absorber, which has now been fixed. While it is still on the lift, let's take a brief look at its chassis condition. First, look at the left side of the rear of the car, with the model identification S350L. The number and letter on the right side of the rear of the car are 4MATIC, indicating four-wheel drive. All four tires are Michelin tires. As shown on the side of the tire in the picture, the model is 255/45 R18, which is larger in size than typical car tires and more expensive than most other brands of tires. Looking at the front chassis, the engine and gearbox are tightly wrapped with iron protective plates at the bottom. The exhaust pipe is divided into left and right parts, and the middle protective plate is used to protect the gearbox. The steering knuckle is connected to a fork arm from top to bottom, and these components are all made of aluminum alloy. The stabilizer bar connecting rod has just been replaced, and the old connecting rod has abnormal noise. Looking at the middle part of the chassis, there are scratches on the felt protective plates on both sides of the exhaust pipe, but it does not affect its use. There is a heat shield on the upper part of the exhaust pipe, and the upper part of the heat shield is the drive shaft. Looking at the rear, the muffler of the exhaust pipe is quite large. Look at the rear suspension, multi link independent suspension type, with a total of five links.

When an Audi Q5 enters the store, the owner describes a problem where the chassis makes a very noticeable clicking sound when turning while driving, but it rarely occurs when driving in a straight line, only during noticeable acceleration and deceleration. For such a problem, the master must conduct a test drive to determine. First, let's take a look at the dashboard. The total mileage has exceeded 140000 kilometers, and the car was produced in 2016 with four-wheel drive. After the test drive, the master can basically determine that the problem is with the right front half shaft, which is likely to be the problem with the outer ball cage of the right front half shaft, but further inspection is needed. Then the master lifted the car up and we took a look at the condition of this Audi Q5 after 9 years and 140000 kilometers of driving. Let's look from the back to the front, as shown in the figure below. The rear suspension is a trapezoidal linkage independent suspension. The sturdy rear suspension is made of steel material, while the rest of the components are mostly made of aluminum alloy material. After inspection by the technician, it was confirmed that there are no problems with the rear suspension components, and they are mostly original car parts. Looking at the rear differential shown in the picture, there is a separate iron block at the rear that buffers resonance and is fixed to the rear subframe. There is a plastic small protective plate at the bottom of the subframe to prevent the sound of stones splashing. Let's take a look at the front suspension, which belongs to the five link independent suspension. The lower two connecting rods are made of aluminum alloy material, and the steering knuckle and upper fork arm are both made of aluminum alloy material. We noticed a problem with the right front suspension, where the aluminum alloy steering knuckle was covered in a layer of black grease. The outer ball cage cover was loose and loose, and the technician inquired and learned that the ball cage cover was replaced later. The old ball cage cover has been leaking oil. Compared to the suspension on the left, there is no oil pollution at all. The outer ball cage cover of the half axle here is normal and still the original car ball cage cover. Subsequently, the master checked the outer ball cage of the left half axle and asked another master to get on the car and start the vehicle, causing the wheels to turn. He checked the outer ball cage of the right half axle again and confirmed that the abnormal noise was coming from the position of the outer ball cage. The problem was confirmed. The master said that the repair method is to replace the damaged half shaft outer ball cage, usually by replacing this half shaft.