BD Mechanical

07/10/2026

Chocolate fish for whoeever can tell me what car this is. Internet points if you can pick the exact model!

29/09/2026

17/09/2026

This is a great example of the mess EGR systems make!
This Ranger is relatively low milage, but as you can see, the intake manifold is pretty heavily coked up.
Obviously any restriction for airflow is a bad time - it literally chokes the motor, effecting fuel efficiency and power.

Your diesel vehicle not feeling as sharp as it once was? We can help!

02/09/2026

This is a bit of a scary sight - the engine oil sump on this vehicle is massively corroded, usually a consequence of living near the sea.
If you are looking to buy a new vehicle, a prepurchase check can help spot things like this and potentially save you a super expensive repair!

18/08/2026

Here's something you don't want to see - usually this fluid is a deep blue colour, but combustion gas makes it change to either a light green or a yellow.
This is a pretty quick way to test for a headgasket failure, and this little Barina is now up for some pretty expensive repairs. Another really good reason to get your vehicle checked over regularly!

13/08/2026

Auto electrical issues can be a real nightmare! This BMW came in with a misfire, and swapping ignition components around showed the fault was isolated to a particular cylinder.
With the help of my newly purchased oscilloscope, I determined that the coil pack on that cylinder was not getting a signal to fire.
Chasing the harness back showed that the harness was intact and had continuity, so it would appear the ECU has failed. Not uncommon on this particular model!

06/08/2026

If you've bought tyres in the past couple of years, you might have noticed a $6.65+gst tyre stewardship fee on the invoice.
This was a government scheme that came into full effect on the 1st of September 2024 to deal with the large volume of waste tyres that gets generated across the country.
Here's what that fee covers - organised collection for recycling! Pretty big job

02/08/2026

Here's another great example of poorly thought out design by manufacturers. I see this issue on quite a lot of mid 2000s small Japanese cars, where the front suspension top hat is exposed to the atmosphere, and the design of the top hat allows water to stay trapped.
This is fine until you need to replace said top hat - due to the corrosion damage, you sometimes need to replace the entire shock assembly too!

09/07/2026

Here's a fun little trick you can play on your mechanic...when you cross thread the sump plug, don't worry about fixing it up, just bury it in a layer of silicon - she'll be right!

01/07/2026

How the heck is it July already???

Here's some tyre damage you occasionally get some a cheeky little curb slap. While initially it appeared ok, the flap of rubber that remained was covering this damage here. This is the cord on the inside of the tyre, and is now a weak point, all it'd take would be to hit a hole at the wrong point and it'd blow out.
Might pay to have a wheel alignment after an impact like this too!