Vehicle Maintenance

Vehicle Maintenance covers the parts and tools that keep a car on the road. Tires, brakes, suspension, batteries, mufflers, gas tanks, doors, windows and trunks can all be swapped. A Jack, a Lug Wrench, a Tire Pump and a Car Battery Charger handle most of the work. With spare parts and the Mechanics skill, one good car can be built from several wrecks. The Mechanic is the best occupation for vehicle maintenance. It starts with the most Mechanics skill.

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Best Vehicle Maintenance

The top pick for each role, by the game's own figures.

For	Name	Image	Stats	Spawn ID
Lightest	Lug Wrench		1 weight	/additem Base.LugWrench
Heaviest	Trunk - Big		50 weight	/additem Base.BigTrunk1

Mechanics Menu

The game's guide explains that the mechanics menu opens by the vehicle's hood or through the vehicle menu. It shows the condition of every part. A part in poor condition may need repair or replacement. The guide adds that the Mechanics skill makes this easier.

Each part shows its own install and uninstall steps. The tooltip lists the tools and the skill needed. Many parts also need the right repair knowledge for the vehicle type. Basic Mechanics covers Standard cars, Intermediate Mechanics covers Heavy-Duty vehicles and Advanced Mechanics covers Sports cars. The Laines auto manual magazines teach these, and the Mechanic occupation knows them all.

The tooltip also shows the chance of success and the chance of failure. A failed install damages the part a little. Higher Mechanics raises the chance of success. Every attempt, failed or not, trains the skill.

Wheels, Brakes and Suspension

Tires come in Tire - Old, Tire - Regular and Tire - Performance. Each weighs 15.0. A tire needs a Jack and a Lug Wrench to swap. The Jack weighs 1.5 and the Lug Wrench weighs 1.0. A tire also needs its brake and suspension in place first. The Tire Pump weighs 2.0 and fills a flat tire with the Inflate Tire option.

Brakes come in Brake - Old, Brake - Regular and Brake - Performance. Each weighs 3.0. Suspension comes in Suspension - Regular at 2.0 and Suspension - Performance at 3.0. Brakes and suspension both need a Jack and a wrench, plus Basic Mechanics.

Old tires have other uses. A whole tire burns as fuel. Cut Up Tire turns one into 4 Tire Piece and 1 Scrap Metal, and tire pieces become tire armour.

Engine and Battery

The Car Battery weighs 5.0 and starts the engine. A Screwdriver removes and fits it. The Car Battery Charger weighs 2.0. Its tooltip says to place it on the ground and attach a battery through the context menu, and that it needs power to work.

Spare Engine Parts weigh 1.0. They repair a damaged engine. The Take Engine Parts option strips parts out of a wreck's engine. Its warning reads "This will set engine condition to 0." Strip a dead car to keep a good one running.

Mufflers come in Muffler - Old, Muffler - Regular and Muffler - Performance. Each weighs 10.0. A muffler needs a wrench and Basic Mechanics. A missing or broken muffler makes the engine far louder, and engine noise draws zombies.

Body, Glass and Storage

Body panels are heavy. A Front Door and a Rear Door each weigh 10.0. A Double Rear Door weighs 20.0. A Hood and a Trunk Lid each weigh 15.0. Doors need a wrench and Basic Mechanics. Glass parts include the Windshield and Rear Windshield at 8.0, and the Front Window and Rear Window at 3.0. A Screwdriver fits them.

Gas tanks come as Gas Tank - Small at 11.0, Gas Tank - Regular at 13.0 and Gas Tank - Big at 15.0. A gas tank needs a Screwdriver, a wrench and Basic Mechanics. Trunks come as Trunk - Small at 30.0, Trunk - Regular at 35.0 and Trunk - Big at 40.0. A bigger trunk holds more loot. The Trailer Trunk weighs 30.0. A Car Seat weighs 15.0, and a Glove Box weighs 3.0.

Lightbars fit police and emergency vehicles. They come as Lightbar - Blue, Lightbar - Red, Lightbar - Red and Blue and Lightbar - Yellow. Each weighs 10.0. Hood ornaments such as the Hood Ornament - Spiffo, the Hood Ornament - Badger and the Hood Ornament - Beaver add a bit of style.

Fuel

The Gas Can weighs 1.6 and the Jerrycan of Gas weighs 4.0. Both hold gasoline for a car, a Generator or a fire. The vehicle menu pours gas into the tank from a can in the inventory. A powered gas pump fills any liquid container. The Siphon Gasoline option drains gas out of a parked car's tank into a container. Siphoning abandoned cars keeps a survivor driving long after the pumps lose power.

Locations

Mechanic shops are the best place to look. Garages, car supply stores and gas station storage rooms hold tools, batteries and parts. Mechanic shelves sort parts by kind, such as wheels, suspension, mufflers and electrics. Wrecks and parked cars are the other big supply, because any installed part can be taken out with the right tools.

Notes

• The Wash Vehicle option cleans a car with water from the inventory.
• A Generator can be plugged into a vehicle with the Plug Generator to Vehicle option.
• The Mechanic occupation starts with Mechanics 4 and Welding 1.

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