Garage 5SIX3

If you got gas at the Steamboat Casey’s yesterday and your vehicle stopped running, here’s what you got. A tank full of water!

2019 Chrysler Pacifica 3.6 came to use with a check engine light on, and a rough idle concern.

Retrieved fault codes related to bank 1 intake timing slow response. Watched the data stream and found some interesting readings coming from bank 1 intake camshaft and also noticed this one had a pretty substantial tapping sounds coming from the rear bank.

Removed the VVT solenoid and the cam phaser Oil Control Valve pintle came flying out and bounced around in the engine bay.

Great found the issue! NOPE! That was only part of our problem on this one.

After removing the valve cover for VVT and Oil Control Valve replacement, we happened to notice the camshaft lobe ground down pretty significantly. This vehicle never set any misfire codes either!

New camshaft, Phaser, OCV, Seals and gaskets got this one back to running the way it was supposed to.

This is what electrical diagnostics actually looks like.

This 2015 Dodge Dart came in with an ABS related issue and we found wheel speed sensor fault codes present. What sounds like a simple “bad sensor” turned into tracing wiring diagrams, identifying circuits, testing the system and physically following the harness from under the hood, through the entire cabin and back to the passenger rear wheel area until the actual problem was found.

Damaged wiring buried inside the harness.

Finding a wire like this can take hours. The repair itself may only take a few minutes.

This is why proper diagnostics matter. Replacing parts based on a trouble code is easy. Finding the reason the code is there is the hard part.

We take the time to diagnose the problem and fix the cause, not just throw parts at it.

Please, STOP using strut spacers (pucks) to level out your truck! It doesn’t cost much more to do it CORRECTLY. If you want that leveled look, call us and we’ll get you set up the RIGHT way.

2012 Audi S4 3.0 SC found a failed lower intake gasket while going in to replace the oil separator. Could have easily been overlooked during this complex job. 👌🏻

Aftermarket parts strike again!

This customer came to us for a second opinion after a dealership told them that their all wheel drive Ford Fusion was going to need a complete rear differential assembly, to the tune of a few thousand dollars, to repair their ABS related issue.

Initial inspection revealed some of the worst wiring repair/overlay that I’ve personally ever seen. A strand of wire duct taped to the bottom of the car and tied in with butt connectors that were never heat shrinked. The wire that was replaced still tested ok so I’m not sure what they were trying to accomplish.

I restored both ends of the wiring back to the factory harness and properly installed a new connector. Once we resolved that issue, we were then able to identify an erratic signal from the left rear wheel speed sensor which also set fault codes for the rear differential.

Once the wheel bearing was removed for inspection we found this dent in the tone ring which is where the wheel speed sensor picks up its reading for the ABS module. The dent, interfered with that signal causing the fault codes.

A differential would have never resolved this issue.

One new wheel bearing installed and another happy customer!!

Working on vehicles in the Midwest is great… 😃

Here’s another great example of why factory electronics are simply better and should really be the only consideration when performing extensive repairs to sensitive equipment.

The transmission in this truck had been giving this customer issues for an extended period of time before the computer was finally able to set DTC’s that we could work with. We had a pretty good idea as to what was happening due to the customers feedback but could never really prove it.

During disassembly, there were some obvious indications that this particular repair may have been done before. Turns out, after getting it fully apart, BAM! Found the main electrical control for the entire transmission had been previously replaced with an aftermarket component.

These have been proven to be problematic in years past but there are still shops out there installing these and as sensitive as some transmissions are, we really fail to see a reason why. The cost is not much different and I’d rather spend a bit more to put a quality part in, rather than risk an entire transmission. That’s what we did here and that is what we do here at Garage 5SIX3.

2017 Volkswagen Passat came in with several warning messages on the dash. Airbag light, check engine, abs, traction control, adaptive cruise inoperative, no horn or steering wheel switches either. Diagnosed as a failed airbag clockspring due to several open circuits between the steering column and the steering wheel. We were able to install a factory VW part AND program it to the vin in house which allowed us to repair this vehicle correctly the first time. After some other calibrations we were able to restore all vehicle functions.