u/hpshaft

1994 VT in for suspension, brake and headlight diagnostic, plus a service. Clio V6 back in our shop to refill the AC system and check fluids/alignment after it had the engine out and coilovers installed. Red car is waiting on parts, by the way. Cooler weather is back and cars are coming out of storage.

Dealership recommended a thermostat for this D3 S8 Plus. Temp sensor 1 seemed to be a bit erratic warming up from cold, but the max/min MVB for coolant temps showed -233F and +476F.

This was taken just above warm up with engine off and a maintainer on the 12V system. All other temps were rock solid at 90-92F.

Instead of replacing the entire oil pump/water pump module we decide to reseal the front housing and replace the impeller. Had a bit of a heart attack moment after getting it running, as the housing traps spilled oil from the pump drive (when you take it apart) between the pump and housing. Significant amount of brake clean and some compressed air later and it's bone dry. This is the same car that we swapped the exhaust on and fixed the rear spoiler.

Shout out to my Mac tools T30 ball end long 1/4 socket for the upper pump brace bolts. (IYKYK).

Independent shop tech here.
2016 JLR Disco Sport 4 cyl 2.0.

Inherited a car from a local lube shop that suffered the common blown apart vibration damper.
We replaced the dampener with a Corteco part and timed/locked the motor with the factory cam lock and pully alignment jig. OEM JLR bolt, torqued to spec.

When setting base timing, we noticed the motor hits mechanical tdc before the cam lock goes into place. Not by much, but it's noticeable.

We got it back together and car cranks, has good compression, but won't run. Intake and exhaust cam position values are out of the range shown by our autel, but only 5-6 degrees. Has anyone seen debris inside the cover make it jump time, or the crank hub spin? Timing chain has tension and both upper cams are in time to each other.

I have zero experience with ecoboosts but trying to learn here. Non- keyed crank pulley is dumb as f.

2014 JLR Discovery Sport. Crank pulley came apart. Nuked the belt tensioner too.

Also, can we talk about how INSANE it is to install a non-keyed crank pulley on an engine and then put the crank sensor ring on said pulley?

Now I gotta take the valve cover off to lock the engine in time to swap pulleys.

New customer just bought this r8 from a used exotic lot. Wanted to swap the Soul Performance muffler delete to the stock muffler and remove the AliExpress wing bolted to the stock spoiler.
Besides the rear of the car being hacked to shit, I found that the people who installed the wing literally cut the mechanism for the motorized wing, rather than code it out or pull the fuse for it. Now we're having to source a used mechanism and another wing panel. Bonus pic of the Chinese filter on a $180k car.

Been a long time since I've had to be inside the valley of a 3.0TDI. This car had 158k on it. Nearly 2" of coolant pooled in the center of the engine. Did the fixed coolant flange, shut off valve and tried to upsell an oil cooler but no dice. Replaced a leaking valve cover while I was at it.

I don't miss these things.

Slammed with work at the moment. Finally wrapped up the rear timing cover reseal/clutch/etc on a 2014 Gallardo. Took a lot of unfucking of previous shops and lots of general purpose cleaner. Fitment of the Velocity AP clutch was good, but a little tight.
Bentley recommends you remove the front fenders to remove the cooling package (conveniently trapped between the lock carrier and the body). And in typical Bentley fashion, the fender bolts require the doors to be partially removed. Ain't nobody got time for that. If you ship-in-a-bottle the condenser, and air guides, you can remove the carrier down and out, with fenders intact. Not a fun job by any stretch.

This Gallardo had an existing oil leak after another shop resealed the oil pump drive. We did some cleaning and digging and found the bank 2 timing cover (previously removed) and rear lower cover were leaking - badly. So far we have removed it all, readied it for reassembly and are awaiting a new clutch and flywheel from Velocity AP. New rear slave cylinder, new lower cover, all OEM parts minus the clutch and flywheel.

I forgot how absolutely insane the rear tail light buckets and rear upper cross member are to remove on Gallardos.

Also, plz send more bread racks

In for AC recharge (of course) and diagnosis of cooling fans, and exhaust leak. Found a gnarly impact on the right side sway bar mounting. I've never sat in one of these, let alone wrenched on one. It's weird as hell.
Motor is in incredible shape, needs some minor tweaks but it runs and drives smoothly and sounds incredible with a psuedo-straight piped exhaust. Reminds me of a fox body.
Took a shockingly large amount of R134a, as this one was converted. But it blows 34F out of the vents with (dry) 105F ambient air.
Bonus shot of our crowded shop, with a few projects waiting and some completed.

Friday shenanigans before the fourth. Car was converted and we dug into AC not working. Customer wanted us to look into an oil leak on the PRV V6 (in progress) and we're gonna look into flushing the coolant system as it's accumulated a lot of corrosion (likely from tap water mixed into the coolant).

Weird stuff makes us really excited, as we are starting to do more and more exotics. The owner is one of the coolest enthusiasts we locally know, and also owns a Renault Clio V6 and an Alfa GTV.

Wildly different from our normal portfolio of cars, this customer brought in a survivor 1983 Rabbit Cabrio 5-spd. AZ car, 144k miles but needed some love. Was taken out of storage and they wanted it to be a driver again. R12 AC car and miraculously it still works.

This person approved more than the average R8 owner spends each visit, but they love the car and we intend of taking really good care of it and making a cool little bitch basket. Full servicing, gearbox reseal, shifter rebuild, full suspension, arms, mounts, bushings. Hoses, battery connections, we're gonna reattach some trim and spruce up the interior/exterior trims.

Working with the owner of my new (ish) Indy shop to improve the air conditioning in our shop. He's been really good about investing in tooling, comfort and productivity but he's a bit out of his depth with hvac and he's getting mixed answers.

Anyone here have a shop (or even a personal shop) using mini split AC systems for main or supplemental cooling?

Our shop occupies two units in an industrial strip mall type setting. 30ft ceilings. Insulated and mostly sheet rocked in. We have two 5 ton units that do OK, but as the highs get above 100, and our doors open/ close they are not able to keep up with hot cars, etc. size is around 4000-4500sq ft.

Would you invest in additional full scale units, or use 3/4 mini splits in work areas to help mitigate the temps. We have rolling evap coolers that help when it's dry, but 1/3 of our summers get a bit humid and we can't use them.

Thanks for any input and I appreciate the help!

PFA:

These cars are so damn cool. Local Audi collector brought this to us as the dealer don't touch it. Getting PCV upgrades, new coolant fittings, all new fluids and filters. We have 034 engine mounts and trans mounts on order and stainless lines yet to ordered.

Customer complained that the car was blowing gear oil out of the vent tube (near the RR wheel on 2013+ GTs) and went to the local dealer a year or so ago. Guy paid 6 hours of diag and the tech opened a DISS case. Was told the diff oil was overfilled and was then reset released.

Came to us with the same concern. Car only has ~4k miles on it. Car looks new. Perfect condition. I did my own checks and couldn't find anything obvious. But I did notice the enormous aftermarket wheels. Tires were rubbing during the road test so I decided to look into getting him correct tires for the wheels.

Then I noticed it. Tires are 22s. But the fronts are 265/35, rears were 295/30.
Nearly 20mm (measured) difference in rolling diameter front to back on a mechanical AWD Quattro system. Asked around and the guys I talked with said that it certainly overheat the center diff and cause the fluid to burp out the vent line.

Swapped his original 21's on it and drove it 45 miles. Zero fluid ejection and vent hose was bone dry. We're gonna have him drive it another 250 or so miles and recheck.

Featuring $1200 worth of spark plugs. Turns out the NGKs for the Speed and Super Sports are proprietary and bespoke to Bentley. As far as we can tell there is no crossover part in NGKs catalog. Local dealer charges us nearly $98/each OUR COST. Retail at the dealer (if you bring your car there) is nearly $120/each.

Also known as "even though I wear gloves and wiped down all my tools, there's fucking dirt appearing on this white trim."

Fun fact, the flap motors are the same as TT Gen 2 flap motors. Still got them from Bentley, because warranty on parts.

I forgot how much shit has to come apart to remove the side trims, and how nerve wracking the wood panel is to remove.