Mark: Hi, it's Mark. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. And we're talking cars. How you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: Today's guest is a 2023 Subaru, WRX. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So this vehicle came to our shop for a maintenance service, about 40 something thousand kilometres, 46,000 kilometres due for a B service. So that's what we did. So we'll talk about what we found on the car.
Mark: So the B services, you check a lot of stuff basically, and we're gonna have a look at a portion of the items that you check. And it's like, what, 140 points, 50 points, thousand points. There's a lot of points each.
Bernie: Yeah, there's a lot of points. And it's not like an inspection sheet from the olden days where there's 150 items on the sheet. There's a lot of things we can inspect and it depends on the car. So the inspection's variable, if a car is a diesel, for instance, there are things we look at that, you know, are not applicable to a gas engine or if it's an EV, there are things that are not applicable to obviously, you know to inspect. So it's a lot. It's a front to back inspection wheels off brakes, we rotate tires if necessary. There's an oil and filter change unless it's an EV, although there is oil in some of them, you know, and coolant. But those services are not required very often. Yeah, so it's a very thorough inspection. We can go through and have a look.
Mark: All right, let's go right to the pictures here. This is our WRX right here.
Bernie: So this vehicle is fairly new. I mean, it's 2023. We're doing this podcast in November, 2025. So the vehicle's basically two years old, 42,000 kilometres, which is not a lot. Basically 20,000 a year, I guess is what the cars got on it. So some of the items in orange, they're red items are marked. There's nothing red on this vehicle. Nothing of needs any urgent repairs. The other items are basically just suggestions and ideas that need to be done, but not with any urgency.
So we do scan the vehicle computer, see if there's any codes, and there's a note there says no faults found. The oil was replaced, the brake fluid and clutch fluid we replaced. It was due basically being two years old, and so we actually noted that it was recommended and we did actually replace that. Plus the air filter was dirty and we replaced that also.
You can see on the inspection, there's a green section down there, 107 items are okay. So I guess if we do 107 plus 2, 4, 5, that's 112 point inspection. It's a lot more thorough than just that.
Mark: So a clutch fluid, did I hear that right?
Bernie: Yeah.
Mark: That need to be changed. So, on A WRX, it's a pretty high performance vehicle with a standard transmission. How important is it to change the clutch fluid?
Bernie: Well, the clutch fluid is like brake fluid. It basically absorbs water like brake fluid. It's a good idea to do it at the same time as the brake fluid because it's absorbing the same moisture out of the air as brake fluid is. So if you left it a little longer, I mean, there's only two components really. There's a clutch master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder. There's no ABS system and really expensive bits and pieces. So it's not a lot of money to do a clutch fluid flush. There's not a lot of fluid and it's less labour intensive than a brake flush. So it's worth doing if you care about your car. But if you go, Hey, I want to just go on the real cheap side, you could always leave it if you wanted to.
Mark: And these are some of the things, the details that you explain to customers when they're making the decision as to what is it that they need to actually maintain or change or repair on the vehicle?
Bernie: Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah.
Mark: So this has 42,000 kilometres.
Bernie: Yeah. So there's a photo of the dirty air filter. And then just looking at good items, I mean things like, just some notes there. We inspect the parking brake. Wheel alignment, we note from driving it we don't actually do a full wheel alignment inspection, but just noting how the car drives. If it's not pulling, the steering wheel straight, we assume the alignment is in good shape.
Mark: And the tire wear, I guess too?
Bernie: Tire wear too, which is further down the inspection. And we measure the tires and we rotate the tires during a B service if it's necessary and doable. Some cars have different sized tires front to rear and you can't rotate them, but most cars you can.
Mark: So air filters, I'm gonna make a wild supposition here. Is this a fairly often forgotten thing for customers?
Bernie: Sometimes, you know, you know what's interesting is we find that a lot of people who've had their car serviced exclusively at the dealer. And then they bring it to us. Oftentimes when we pull the air filter out, it is disgustingly dirty, and I think the reason is that the technicians are paid flat rate. So if someone comes in for an A service or an oil change, if it isn't listed as an item to be done and they're not paid to do it, they won't even look at the air filter. If it says, you know, replace the air filter at 50,000 kilometres and it's on the work order, they'll just go ahead and do it. But they won't inspect it and look and go, is it actually dirty? Does it need to be replaced? Now, in all fairness, there are some cars we work on where it takes a lot of extra time to look at an air filter, so we don't look at them, but most cars probably 80 to 90%, we can easily inspect the air filter and we do.
Mark: It has a pretty severe effect on the vehicle. If it gets quite like dirtier than this one, although this one looks pretty dirty.
Bernie: This one is dirty. I mean, it can get a lot worse and you know, if it gets really bad, yeah. It affects the breathing of the vehicle for sure. It's important to change it and it's not an expensive item.
So we go down the inspection again, lots of good stuff. I mean, things like lights are noted. Battery is tested. There's numbers of what we actually get on the battery inspection. Brakes are measured. Brakes are in good shape on this vehicle. Pads, rotor, you know, everything's in good shape.
Last sort of page again, steering suspension components, exhaust system, fuel tank and fuel lines, and then tire tread measurements. And we adjust the tire pressures to factory specs, which is noted on there. So, pretty simple. This car, again, pretty low mileage. Just a basic B service inspection. Gives you a peace of mind to know your car's in good shape and nothing's worn out.
Mark: So let me ask you a hard question. So how important is it to check, literally check your car every year or every two years? You know, not going to the extreme of, okay, there's a check engine light, and I put a piece of tape over it so I can ignore the damn thing. But how much of a difference does it actually make to making sure that car starts every day and is reliable?
Bernie: Oh, it's huge. Absolutely huge. I mean, there are things that, you know, an inspection won't pick up. I mean, sometimes we can test a battery and look at it and go, it doesn't look that old, and it's fine. And then. Two days later, the car won't start because the battery fails. These are things that can happen, but not very often. Usually if we see festered battery terminals or the battery looks old or the test shows it not being so good, again, we can recommend replacing it even if the car's starting. But yeah, just for safety, I mean, things wear out now.
A 2-year-old car, had this person not done this inspection, well, it probably would keep on going. You probably got a few, you know, two, three, four years where you can maybe neglect it. But once you get beyond that point, an annual inspection is really important. Because things start to wear. And what's good now in a year can wear out because it's got one more year of use on it.
Mark: And can I make a supposition that vehicles, there's really no perfect vehicle been ever built. No matter how good they are, even if it's a Toyota. They have issues. There are manufacturing faults and stuff that you will pick up. You check the service bulletins and the repair bulletins for each vehicle when they come in for an inspection?
Bernie: Yes, exactly. There are things that wear out on every car, and some of them just seem to last a little longer in some departments and not so long in other areas. Yeah, there's some cars that are built better than others, but you know, like a Toyota, if you don't change the oil and do the maintenance on it, it doesn't last very long.
Mark: So there. If you want your vehicle to be reliable and last a long time, get it serviced at Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. You can book your appointment right there, or you can call to book at (604) 327-7112. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching and thank you for listening.
