Author: DART auto

DART auto has its roots in Porsche racing.  Owner Dave Banazek left his work in commercial real estate to pursue his passion for cars and racing Porsches in particular.  While the business has evolved and we do a lot more work on cars that are used for day day commuter use, we still like to…

Resealed BMW X3 transmission pan Shuft Shaft Seal BMW X3 valve cover replacment replacing BMW x3 output shaft seal Filling transmission fluid with special tool This BMW X3 customer came in with several fluid leaks.  Our factory trained BMW technician gave her vehicle our free preventive maintenance and safety check.  We found and repaired several…

We normally stick to German cars, but sometimes we get sidetracked.  Most of our techs have other automotive experience and interests outside of German cars and we can get talked into working on other cars too.  In this case my neighbor had a 77 corvette with a bad engine.  He had picked up a rebuilt…

Parts laid out ready to assemble. Another happy customer 996 vs 997 intermediate shaft bearing. Not larger new bearing. We have now done several rebuilds on the 996 and 986 engines.  All of the engines we have rebuilt have had failed intermediate shaft bearings.  Some years ago we saw an early engine with the D…

Cylinder head off, block and pistons exposed Using jig to install thread repair inserts Vanos tool installed to set cam timing Camshafts installed Camshafts Installed Cams and cam towers removed Ready to go A failed cylinder head gasket is fairly common for E46 3 series BMW’s.  The root cause is usually a problem with the…

Radiator and cooling fan removed Old water pump Old Pump removed This 5 series BMW came in with a leaking water pump.  Luckily the owner was attentive and brought it in before more serious problems developed (see previous post).  These pumps usually start leaking from the drive shaft but can also leak at the seal…

Bad Turbo New Turbo Engine on engine stand Lowering Engine Ready for the road This Cayenne came in to us with a customer concern about smoke coming out of the tailpipes at about 100,000 miles.  An inspection of the tailpipes confirmed oily residue,  further inspection of the turbo boost pipes showed liquid oil in the…

New & Used Brake Pads New & Used Brake Pads Porsche 911 Turbo S Porsche Ceramic Brakes All laid out with new brake hardware Lets get started The Porsche 911 turbo can be optioned with awesome ceramic brakes.  Saving several pounds each and offering exceptional stopping ability they are really an engineering achievement.  They do…

This engine had the classic intermediate shaft bearing failure.  I have not seen and actual data on the failure rate of these bearings but many sources estimate it to be about 1%.  When this bearing fails there is typically a loud banging noise coming from the engine and and a large oil leak at the…

The Parking brake cables on these VW Jettas can rust internally.  This can cause the parking brake not to engage properly or not to disengage, neither of which are good situations.  This is a pretty straightforward Volkswagen repair.  Some interior panels are removed and the cables are detached from the parking brake assembly.  They are then…