1995 Tracer
Customer complaint: car sounded like a “plane”; no water coming from the windshield wiper fluid tank.
Diagnose: broken muffler. After a thorough look, rust damage was noticed all over the rear end. The tank was clogged.
Solution: replace the rear suspension, install new muffler, replace all the rusty parts with good parts from a local junk yard, install a new brake line, replace the brake fluid, replace the windshield wiper tank.
Work done: rear suspension, brake drums, brake line, muffler, brake fluid, windshield wiper tank. In order to reduce the cost of parts, only the muffler and the sway bar links were brand new. The rest of parts (cross member, control arms, brake drums, brake line, windshield wiper fluid tank) were in very good condition and acquired from a local junk yard. Rubberized undercoat had been applied on all parts for maximum rust protection.
Left rear control arm and the fuel tank pipes above. Look at the rust!!! Right rear control arm. The metal started peeling off! Close-up of the fuel tank pipes. Cracked sway bar links. Cracked sway bar links. One rusty brake line. Notice the new brake line. A half done job done by a previous shop... Close-up of the left rear control arm. Close-up of the right rear control arm. Replacement fuel tank pipes with surface rust waiting to be cleaned-up. Replacement fuel tank pipes with surface rust waiting to be cleaned-up. Replacement fuel tank pipes with surface rust waiting to be cleaned-up. Here is the cleaned-up part waiting to be covered with rubberized undercover. Here is the cleaned-up part waiting to be covered with rubberized undercover. The right rear bolt holding the sway bar links was broken because of rust! This is the broken bolt, just the lower part is still there. A pile of junk! These all parts needed to be replaced because of rust. Notice one of the control arms still stuck to the cross member. Broken screws during the disassembly process. Old fuel tank lines and cross member along with the rusty brake line. Close-up of the rusty brake line that needed to be cut, the flare nut was completely stuck! Old muffler with the hole in it.