Car Repair Video Podcasts 2019

So Ford trucks. Last week, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, which they do every year, announced the most stolen car list. So kind of stuck out. Out of the top ten, eight of them were Ford trucks. Why are Ford trucks being stolen so much?

Dec 19, 2019

Hyundai and Kia  have recalled over 300,000 vehicles in Canada after a CBC Go Public investigation revealed fires and catastrophic engine failures and over a half a million vehicles have been recalled in the United States.

Dec 14, 2019

So the vehicle came to our shop. The owner moved to Vancouver and needed an out of province inspection on the vehicle. So we proceeded to do that. And one of the items that we found is that the steering rack and pinion, not only had a torn boot but also had a leak as well. So that was a required replacement item to pass the inspection.

Dec 6, 2019

What kind of services do Toyota Prius need?  Yeah, well, there's a variety of services they do need. I mean, let's talk just generally about the reliability of the vehicle overall first. My first. thought when the Prius came out, a couple of decades ago now is, "Oh my God, this is way too complicated".

Nov 29, 2019

So this vehicle was brought to our shop. The owner had been servicing it at the BMW dealer his local dealership and there was an issue with it. It was running kind of funny, like lacking power, shaking, misfiring was what it felt like. And it's a diesel. And they basically said they didn't know what else to do with it and recommended they take it to a diesel specialist.

Nov 21, 2019

A 2008 Subaru Forester that was in for a maintenance service. What was happening with this all wheel drive vehicle?

Nov 18, 2019

So winter is coming in Vancouver. Believe it or not, it's getting cold. We know the snow will come. What kind of tire options should I be looking at for my vehicle?

Nov 14, 2019

This car got towed to our shop. The owner was driving it and suddenly just stopped moving forward. There was some hideous noises and the car just would not move forward. Figured maybe the transmission had blown up or something like that. So the car was brought in the shop and we had a look at it.

Nov 9, 2019

The vehicle came to our shop and was not sitting properly. One corner of the vehicle was leaning down too low. The suspension system just wasn't levelling itself out properly.

Oct 31, 2019

So this has been a regular client of ours for many years. We've serviced this car since new. It came in for a maintenance service, a B service, it had, some of the complaints were some clunks in the steering and suspension area of the vehicle or when you're going over bumps and it was due for a B service.

Oct 28, 2019

So the vehicle came to us for an A maintenance service, which is the most basic service that's required on the vehicle. It's essentially an oil change with a basic vehicle inspection. So what we do during that service is look at the lights, adjust the tire pressures, inspect the fluids. We use a two post hoist, so we get the vehicle up in the air, we can wiggle the wheels, make sure there's nothing obviously wrong with them, anything obviously loose. This vehicle's pretty low kilometre, so wouldn't expect to find anything, but you never know. The A service is pretty thorough for what we do. We also found the cabin air filter was dirty and that needed to be replaced. That was really the only other thing that was due at this point in time.

Oct 25, 2019

So this vehicle came to our shop, the owner had a couple of concerns. There was a suspension clunk, but her primary concern was the vehicle is hard to start sometimes. The weather's been getting a little colder in Vancouver and there's been a couple of times where she had to crank the engine over, it wouldn't start and then back a little later and it started up. So that was the primary concern of the vehicle.

Oct 23, 2019

So one question that we've encountered quite a bit is basically people buying diesels when it's the wrong vehicle for the use case. So when does it make sense to have a diesel?

Oct 18, 2019

This vehicle came to the shop with a few concerns. One was the check engine light was on. Second, it felt like it lacked power at certain times, almost stalled, and the steering was doing something. On my service advisor note, it said funky. So, I had to call the owner and said, "What exactly happens?" He goes, "Something just feels wrong with the steering." So, and when I finally experienced the issue, yeah, funky was actually a good description for it. So, this is an electric power steering vehicle, electric power steering. I'd turn the vehicle at certain times, the steering wheel would, like, kick. It would lose it's power, and it would just kick in my hand. It was like almost, you know, almost the arm breaking kind of kick. So, it was kind of a strange issue. And then, there's a warning light on the dash for the steering. This was an intermittent issue.

Oct 10, 2019

We're talking about a Range Rover 2006 variant with a coolant pipe replacement problem. This vehicle came to our shop with and it was overheating and had a coolant leak.

Oct 7, 2019

2011 BMW 335iS - Electric Coolant Pump And Thermostat Replacement

The owner was driving the vehicle and an amber warning light for the coolant system came on the dash. Then, shortly after, a red warning light came on and the vehicle went into a limp mode. I'm not sure whether he had it towed in or whether it was driven in but, anyways, the vehicle was not running well. The other thing that was happening at the same time as the electric coolant, there was a loud noise coming from under the engine, which was actually the fan running at high speed. That's basically how the vehicle came in with cooling system problems.

Sept 30, 2019

Pawlik Automotive 21 Time Winners Best Auto Repair In Vancouver

So, it's 21 times now. Twenty one times voted as Best Auto Repair in Vancouver and this is the 10th time winning Best Auto Repair in Vancouver from the Georgia Straight newspaper.

Sept 26, 2019

2013 Subaru WRX, Oil Leak Repair

A 2013 Subaru WRX came into our shop for a maintenance service and inspection and one of the things that we found was there's some oil leaking from the front of the engine timing belt area, a variable valve timing solenoid, somewhere around that area, and it needed further exploration and repairs.

Sept 23, 2019

2003 Ford F350 A/C Hose Replacement

The air conditioning wasn't functioning properly and it wasn't blowing cold air. The owner had thought, well I can just get the system recharged, take it into another shop. They told them this AC compressor was cracked. They couldn't do the service and he called us to replace this compressor.

Sept 19, 2019

2007 Nissan Sentra Heater Blower Motor Replacement

When the owner brought this vehicle in, it had a very noisy heater blower fan. It was making quite a hideous racket and needed to be repaired and replaced. Unfortunately, on this vehicle it actually involved removing the whole dash to get at the heater blower motor. It was an extremely involved job.

Sept 12, 2019

2005 Mazda 3 Extensive Repairs

The owner brought the vehicle to us who was heading on a long trip and wanted to make sure the vehicle was road worthy and had a few concerns. And we certainly noted a few when we road tested the vehicle. When you put the brake on, the brakes didn't work too well. There was some severe shifting in the front end of the vehicle when you hit bumps or applied the brakes. We knew there was something pretty serious in the front end.

August 22, 2019

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Engine Noise Repair

The owner was complaining of a fairly loud clicking sound in the engine. So we had to look at that and did some diagnostic. It definitely wasn't normal. We isolated the problem to the right cylinder bank. After some research into these engines and from some personal experience, we figured that it was possibly a worn out lifter or a cam shaft problem of some sort.

August 20, 2019

How Reliable Are Jeeps?

We often wonder why so many people own Jeeps. But people love their Jeeps. The Wrangler, which is kind of your classic Jeep style which goes back to when Jeep was founded in 1943 as an army vehicle. The Wrangler is just a modernized off shoot of that. People love that vehicle and Jeep's been really successful with their SUVs, with the Grand Cherokee of course, which is a very nice luxurious, they have really nice luxurious platforms in a lot of them. They've been making that since the, the Grand Cherokee goes well into the 90s anyways.

August 16, 2019

How Reliable Are Mini's?

So Mini is an iconic brand of vehicle and BMW seized it around the time the British car industry was basically kaput so to speak. The Mini was started in 1959 and as you and I chatted earlier, it never really changed from 1959 til 2000 when they stopped making them.

August 12, 2019

2016 Jaguar XF, Maintenance Service B

So this car came to our shop and was basically just due for a maintenance service. No concerns. A very nice car, a 2016 Jaguar XF.

How Reliable are Land Rovers and Range Rovers?

So we're going to talk about the reliability of a storied franchise in the automotive world, Land Rover and Range Rovers. Listen in.

August 6, 2019

2006 GMC Sierra 3500, 6.6L Duramax Fuel Injector Replacement

So this vehicle came to our shop with the diesel engine running extremely rough. A lot of knocking noises coming from the engine and a lot of smoke coming out. I mean we're talking like a hideous amount of smoke pouring out the tailpipe when the engine was running.

August 2, 2019

2014 Audi R8 Maintenance Service

This vehicle just came to us for some routine maintenance service. It had about 24,000 kilometres, and we did an inspection. It needed an oil change and some air filters, and that was kind of all the car needed at the moment.

July 29, 2019

2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Maintenance Service

A 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid was brought into our shop for a maintenance service. We preformed a B maintenance service for this vehicle which is an oil and filter change and a full comprehensive inspection.

July 25, 2019

2007 Honda Civic Front Brake Repair

This vehicle came in for service and one of the complaints was that when you apply the brake, there's a shuddering, like a vibration in the steering wheel when braking.

July 22, 2019

Mercedes Benz Reliability

Mercedes Benz reliability overall is pretty good, but one thing I'll say at the outset is it's a fancy car, it's a luxury car, they are all complicated vehicles so if you're wanting simplicity and cheap to operate, this is not the vehicle to buy.

July 18, 2019

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!

There's that saying that's been out there for a long time, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," which is true in a large part. But the one thing with a car is, we want to count on it and it is a machine that has a lot of moving parts, a lot of functional pieces that do wear out and do break. The idea behind doing maintenance the way we like to do it at a Pawlik Automotive, is to look at your whole car, and just determine what condition components are in, so we can fix them before they break.

July 16, 2019

2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG Front Brake Pads and Rotor Replacement

This vehicle came to our shop for an inspection and all we found was that the front brake pads and rotors were worn out.

July 2, 2019

2001 Dodge Ram 3500 Front Axle U-Joint Replacement

The owner brought this Dodge Ram into the shop. There was some clunking noises coming from the front of the vehicle. That was his primary concern with the vehicle. Our first step is a road test to verify the owner's concern, and we could definitely hear some noises coming from the front end. So the next part of the diagnosis is to do a visual inspection, and we hoisted the vehicle, had a look, and found the front left axle U-joint was worn out.

June 27, 2019

2009 Volvo XC70 Engine Mount Replacement

This vehicle was brought to our shop with an amazing drive noise while the engine was running and driving. The noise would happen when you put it in drive, you accelerate, it would make this horrible scraping, vibrating, rattling sound and, it would just disappear once you hit a certain speed. And, it was perplexing, to say the least. It sounded like the sky was falling in, it was pretty horrific.

June 18, 2019

2000 BMW 323i Engine Misfire Repair

So this BMW was brought to our shop. The engine was shaking, running rough, clearly a misfire condition was happening the check engine light was also on. So we proceeded to do some testing and diagnosis.

June 14, 2019

How Reliable Are BMW Vehicles?

So, we're going to talk about BMW, the ultimate driving machine, the reliability thereof. Are BMW's reliable?

June 12, 2019

2014 Range Rover Sport – Gear Shift Head Repair

We're talking about a 2014 Range Rover Sport that had a gear shift head repair. Sounds like a pretty simple process, but I bet it isn't.
The vehicle, the owner went to shift the gear. There's this little button you press with your index finger and move your gear shift around to park and it wouldn't work. The vehicle is towed in and we had to look at it, and what we found is that the actual knob, the little button was broken.

June 6, 2019

How Reliable Are Audi Vehicles?

We're talking about the Audi, how a reliable are Audi vehicles?

June 5, 2019

2014 Electric Smart Car Maintenance Service and Brake Repair

So this 2014 Electric Smart Car came into our shop, it was due for maintenance service. As you might expect, there isn't a lot to do for a regular service. It does have a cooling system, but that requires very little service. And there's a cabin air filter, brake fluid to flush once in a while. But the key part of a service once a car gets on a little bit in years, it's important to look over the vehicle on an annual basis. You never really know what's going on underneath the car unless there's a puddle of fluid of some sort or something's creaking for grinding. We found some issues with the brakes. The front brake pads were basically seized where the pads slide in the caliper bracket. The rear wheel cylinders were leaking some fluid. So there was some service and repairs required.

June 3, 2019

2014 Mercedes Benz C350 4Matic Front Brake Pads and Rotors

The owner of the vehicle is a customer of ours with another vehicle and he had just had a dealer service done on this vehicle. They told him his brakes were nearly worn out, although they told him the front brakes had about 40% remaining in the rear brakes were getting less. So he brought it to us for a thorough inspection and to see what was going on with it.

May 21, 2019

2007 Mazda MX5 Miata A/C Condenser Replacement

The AC system wouldn't blow cold air, just warm, which of course needed to be repaired. When the air conditioning's not working, there's a number of reasons why it could not be working. So, we have some set test procedures we do in our shop to properly diagnose and repair the right issue.

May 16, 2019

2009 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG – A Service

So the car just came in for us a basic service. An A service is the what I like to call, the lower level of services. It's the simplest service that a car needs. That's why the car came in. No complaints, just basic maintenance.

May 13, 2019

2004 Mazda 3 Windshield Wiper Repair

So, the owner brought this vehicle to our shop with a wiper problem. Basically when the owner turned the wiper switch on, they wouldn't work which is absolutely a problem.

May 10, 2019

2008 Porsche Cayenne Driveshaft Center Bearing

The owner brought the vehicle to us for some maintenance service and probably his largest concern was a vibration when accelerating. It was pretty apparent from a road test it seemed like something that was probably a drive shaft or axle shaft related issue.

May 6, 2019

2009 VW Tiguan Engine Oil Separator

So when this vehicle came to our shop, it was running very roughly. The check engine light was blinking, which is a serious issue. It'll create a catalyst damaging misfire, which basically means it'll cost you a lot more money if you don't fix it really, really quickly. One of the problems we found was with the ignition coils, they were worn out and there were misfires in three of the four cylinders. And also, there was a code for a lean air-fuel ratio condition. We did some further tests on that, and we found the engine oil separator was worn out and causing a major vacuum leak in the engine.

May 2, 2019

2011 Lincoln Navigator-Heater Hose Replacement

So this vehicle came to our shop with steam coming out from under the hood. It was pretty apparent that there was a coolant smell when the vehicle came into the shop. So we did a visual inspection and basically found some coolant leakage on the right hand cylinder bank.

April 29, 2019

2004 Mercedes Benz SL500 - SRS Module Replacement

So this vehicle came to our shop, the SRS warning light on the dash was on and that needed to be serviced and replaced, other than that, the car was in great shape and running well but the owner wanted that item fixed. The SRS stands for Supplemental Restraint System and is just a fancy word for the air bag system.

April 25, 2019

2006 Honda Ridgeline, Timing Belt Replacement

The vehicle came to our shop for a routine timing belt replacement and it had about I believe a 180,000 kilometres, what's the mileage conversion on that? I don't know, maybe 120,000 miles or 110,000 miles, something like that and the vehicle was due for its timing belt replacement, never been done before. It's a 2006, so actually 12-13 year old vehicle, so it definitely had good use on the timing belt and we replaced it.

April 24, 2019

2010 Volvo XC70 Drive Belt Pulley Replacement

This vehicle actually, it was the second visit to our shop. In the previous week, there were some concerns with the vehicle, some vibrations and clunks when shifting from drive to reverse, and into park, and accelerating. And we'd determined that a couple of the engine mounts were worn out.

April 18, 2019

2012 VW Tiguan-Water Pump Replacement

What we found was a coolant leak coming from the front of the engine, kind of buried under the intake manifold. But there was a leak coming from around the area of the water pump, so we proceeded to do some diagnosis and testing to figure out what was going on.

April 15, 2019

2008 Lexus IS250 Water Pump Replacement

This vehicle came to our shop. The engine had an overheating concern and a couple of other issues, but the overheating issue was kind of the main issue, which is important. You don't want to overheat your engine, especially in a car like this, that's for sure.

April 12, 2019

AC System Repairs-1989 Cadillac Deville

This Cadillac came to the shop, the owner really liked their air conditioner working properly. It's one of the nice features of the Cadillac, in fact every car has air conditioning now so, they used to be kind of a unique Caddy feature. The owner of the car had had it repaired several times in the past and it still wasn't working properly. So we took a look at it, did some diagnostic and testing and found some interesting issues.

April 4, 2019

2006 Chevrolet Uplander Front Strut Replacement

This van had a really bouncy ride to the vehicle. We’ve been servicing the vehicle for many years and I do a service where I pick up the vehicle at the persons or business so I tend to drive it a little more often. I noticed right away that the ride of the front of the vehicle was very bouncy, and didn’t feel quite right. The front struts were worn out.

April 1, 2019

2004 Mercedes SLK32 AMG Pre-Inspection and Service

So this really rare vehicle came to our shop for a pre-purchase inspection, which we did. The purchaser ended up buying the car, so we did some service work on the car as well.

March 22, 2019

2008 Range Rover Sport Engine Smoking

What was happening was there was an awful lot of smoke coming out of the tailpipe. And how much smoke, you might ask? There was like a ton. You start the engine, it was just clouds of a white-ish colour smoke just billowing everywhere. It was pretty serious. And my first thought was, "Okay, this engine is done." You know, like it's got a severe ... just my first look at it, the head gasket must be blown somehow, it's just pumping coolant through this thing. Because of the colour of the smoke, so that was kind of the initial, that was my initial thought on it.

2010 Mercedes ML350 3L Diesel Engine Oil Leaks

The owner of this vehicle brought it in for some oil leaks. She was noticing some drips in her driveway and was concerned about it. Fortunately for the owner, the oil leaks were coming from the front of the engine and these are usually less expensive oil leaks to repair than if the leaks were coming from the rear of the engine.

March 11, 2019

2007 Jeep Wrangler Brake Line Replacement

We'd actually just had this vehicle in for service recently and the owner called back and said, after I picked my vehicle up, I noticed this chemical smell coming out of under the hood, and the brake warning light came on.

March 7, 2019

This vehicle came to our shop for a B service, and part of the B service includes a comprehensive inspection.

March 5, 2019

2004 Toyota Sienna Rear Wiper Motor Repair

The rear wiper on this vehicle had quit working. We'd done some diagnosis and found the motor was dead. Actually, this client brought this vehicle to us quite a while ago and so he'd been living with a dead motor for a while. This was the day to repair it.

March 1, 2019

2011 BMW X3, Electric Water Pump Replacement

The owner's complaint of this BMW X3 was that an overheat warning light would come on, on the dash and along with that, the vehicle went into reduced power mode, so you couldn't accelerate the vehicle properly. That was what was basically going on with the vehicle.

February 26, 2019

2009 Toyota Highlander Brake Backing Plates

After a brake inspection on this Highlander, we found when we took everything apart, was a lot of rust on the brake backing plate, in fact, the right rear backing plate was so badly rusted, it was starting to disintegrate. And when that happens, the rotors, parking brake shoes, things start to rub in ways that they're not meant to rub, so that was causing the squeaking sounds.

February 25, 2019

Winter Driving Tips, Don’t Burn Out Your Wiper Motor!

Here is a little preventative tip to prevent serious damage to your windshield wiper motor, your wiper arms and linkage and the wiper blades. We tend to drive home and leave the windshield wipers on because it’ll probably be raining the next day or we just forget and don’t really think that perhaps it’s going to freeze overnight or there’s going to be 3 inches of snow on the window. And when you go to start your car the wipers already switched on and your windshield wipers could be frozen to your windshield or trying to move 3 or 4 inches of wet snow which is hard on them. So my tip is, make sure you shut your wipers off and that includes front and rear when you shut your car off.

February 19, 2019

2013 Range Rover Sport Supercharged Severe Timing Chain Noise

This vehicle arrived at our shop late one evening with a voice message from the owner. The owner had said the vehicle had lost power, severe noises in the engine and a number of warning lights on the dash. We listened to the engine and we could hear pretty severe rattling in the engine and didn’t want to run it for very long.

February 15, 2019

2013 Mercedes Benz ML550 Rear Shock Absorber Repair

Shock absorbers will just leak when they get old. They have seals and to be honest, it's a six-year-old vehicle. I think it's got about a 140K, so I guess it's getting up there in mileage, but things just wear out. Shock absorbers are filled with fluid. These ones are not a hydraulic shock like you do find on some Mercedes products where they actually have pumped oil into them, this is just the fluid is just contained within the shock absorber, but it's a critical part of any shock absorber action is fluid, pistons, valving and things like that, that reduce the shock when you hit bumps.

February 12, 2019

February 11, 2019

Why We Don't Give Over The Phone Estimates

As a consumer, you are looking for the best deal for car repair in Vancouver, BC. This is why it's important to get an accurate price quote for a repair job. An in-person assessment is required to get an accurate, honest service quote.

February 11, 2019

2017 Chevrolet 3500HD Pickup, Pre Purchase Inspection

Yeah, so the potential buyer brought this vehicle to us for a pre-purchase inspection, wanted to check out the condition of the vehicle before he bought it. So we proceeded to do our usually awesome pre-purchase inspection.

February 4, 2019

2009 Toyota Venza Interior Mold

Well, yeah, this vehicle was brought to us by a client who, they'd moved from Alberta, they'd left the vehicle sitting for a few months, and wanted to now insure it in British Columbia, so if you're unfamiliar with the laws around these parts, when you bring a vehicle into British Columbia, it has to have a provincial safety inspection on the vehicle. So we got into the vehicle, or opened the door, and found this severe mold, like really dangerous level of mold inside the vehicle. And so what prompted me to want to do this podcast is, I want to educate folks who are moving, perhaps from other places, of the dangers of mold and how it can happen in vehicles. Or if you're planning on storing your car, that this is a real issue that can happen.

January 28, 2019

2013 Land Rover LR2 PCM Reflash

We figured at that point where we'd done every repair and verified everything we'd done that it was time to look and see if the vehicle could be reflashed, the computer program could be reflashed. That can be a likely cause of things like persistent check engine lights. When everything else is done and fixed to spec and it still won't perform properly, often a reflash is required. That's what we did.

January 28, 2019

2018 Subaru Crosstrek A-Level Service

So at our shop an A-level service, basically the heart of it is an oil change, and then a basic maintenance inspection around that. What else is included of course is inspecting lights, inspecting all the fluid levels and qualities, under hood and under car visual inspection, adjusting tire pressures. That's basically that kind of bulk of it.

January 21, 2019

2008 Ford Escape Transfer Case Repair

So the owner brought the vehicle to us. His complaint was there was a very loud noise while driving and some vibration under the vehicle. So that was the issue. And very noticeable when he drove it. Yeah, the kind of thing you don't want to drive very far.

January 14, 2019

2001 Chevy Suburban, Intermittent No-Start

Vehicle developed an interesting no start issue about a month and a half, two months ago, I’d pull into a store, get something, walk out crack the engine over, crank over fine but wouldn’t start, it’s never done that before. After trying it for a couple minutes, it would start, ran great. But after a couple months, it slowly got worse. Time to bring it into the shop for repairs. It was a bad fuel pump.

January 10, 2019