Author: Ryan GMW

Here is a ’72 BMW 2002tii. An early example of the fuel injected car that captured many peoples hearts. I bought this example from the original owner, right here in Sacramento. We rebuilt the motor, installed new brakes and tuned her up. Once all was sorted, I decided to sell the car, and made the new owner very happy that I did! The car is as original as you could hope to find these days, with the interior just as it was, the paint still shining and even tires that were over 30 years old!

BMW N52/N52K/N54 engines are the ’06-’13 BMW 6 cylinder. They all suffer from a weak belt tensioner that has a tendency to get tilted with age which can cause the belt to fall off resulting in a loss of power steering, alternator and air conditioning functions. This is a diagram showing the tensioner in relation to the rest of the belt system. The tensioner is number 1 in the diagram:

These tensioners fail and will put the belt out of alignment in relation to the other accessories. Misalignment of the belt can cause premature wear and even failure of the belt completely. If the belt fails the vehicle will lose electrical output from the alternator and the vehicle’s engine will die once the battery’s engine is depleted. This can leave you stranded on the side of the road in a worse case scenario. Our customer Bridget A. had such a failing tensioner, pictured below:

You can see in this picture that the ribbed portion of the belt is about 3 millimeters out of alignment from the smooth portion of the belt. This is a tensioner that is failing. Luckily for Bridget we caught it while we changed her oil before it caused her an issue. Pictured below is the tensioner after it has been replaced with a new unit and a new belt:

Now the only visible part of the tensioner is the very end of the pulley. All is well! The total cost of this repair was about 350 dollars but Bridget is back on the road worry free. This is just one of the issues we can uncover during our free inspections. Schedule one today!

Here at Ryan G. Motorworks we have many vehicles come in that have been worked on at other shops, vehicles the customer has worked on themselves, or customers that state their “friend” worked on the vehicle. Often times we end up correcting these “repairs”. Here is a collection of images from vehicles we’ve seen.

This is an aftermarket polyurethane control arm bushing that had been installed by another shop. The bushing was installed backwards and had worked its way out of the control arm bushing bracket. This caused dangerous dynamic changes in suspension geometry which could have resulted in damage to the vehicle or even personal injury. Luckily, we were able to correct the issue before the unthinkable happened and the customer only had to pay for the labor to repair it.

This customer had a friend of his perform a brake pad installation on his vehicle. Not only is the rear anti rattle spring clip missing but the pad was also installed INSIDE OUT. This means the pad material that is designed to slow down the vehicle is facing the outside while the hard outer backing plate of the pad is against the rotor. We were able to fix this issue for the customer after he brought it in with a complaint of noise coming from the rear. Unfortunately, we were not able to save the brake pad and therefore had to do the job over again.

This is a customer that had just purchased a vehicle from a used car lot and complained of a burning smell. During inspection of the vehicle we found gray silicone (a popular silicone sealant in the automotive industry) around the outside of the valve cover and an oil leak from the valve cover dripping onto the exhaust. We informed the customer of this and moved forward by removing the valve cover to inspect the gasket below. What you see above is what we found. The dealership had taken the time to remove the valve cover, reseal the used gasket with silicone and reinstall the valve cover. Unfortunately for the customer this job had been done incorrectly and had warped the engine’s plastic valve cover. This meant the valve cover in its entirety had to be replaced. Instead of a simple 250 dollar fix the cost was over 600 dollars to repair.

These three examples are proof that a bad mechanic will end up being much more expensive than a good one in the long run. We offer a 1 year, 12,000 mile warranty on every job we perform. Save yourself the hassle of doing a job twice, or paying more after a botched repair by coming to us in the first place. Call today to schedule an appointment.

With our newly installed Hunter DSP600 alignment machine, Ryan GMW can perform any sort of alignment your vehicle needs. Our factory trained and certified alignment technicians go the extra mile and use over 400 lbs of weights in your vehicle during the alignment process.

This additional weight in the vehicle during the alignment process is important because it lets our technicians align the vehicle as if the owner were sitting in it. Without these weights, the vehicle would have a perfect alignment when parked and an incorrect alignment as soon as the driver sits down. This is not ideal for the ultimate driving machine.

Our alignments provide better tire wear and the best possible handling that your fine German automobile can provide.

We also offer performance and custom alignments. If you driving only twisting and turning mountain back roads with tires that are stickier than the factory recommended brand and you’re looking for that last bit of performance to really take your vehicle over the top, our performance alignments may be for you.

We can align your vehicle to YOUR custom specifications as well. We have experience with both autocross and road race vehicles and can help maximize your performance at your next event. Call us for an appointment today!

We’re happy to annouce that, from now on, customers with our Ryan G. Motorworks license plate frames installed on their vehicle will receive special 50% discounted oil changes. We appreciate our loyal customers and would like to rewards all of you with our plate frames for being so awesome!

Call today to schedule your appointment!