Vehicles we work on
We work on the cars that actually fill the roads here: Corollas, Civics, City, Mehran, Cultus, Alto and Wagon R, imported hybrids, pickups, vans and 4x4s, and the large number of them running on CNG. What changes between them is the common fault list and the parts supply, not whether we will take the job.
The cars on these roads
A rough picture of what the market here is made of. If yours is not listed, it does not mean we cannot work on it.
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Yaris
- Toyota Aqua
- Toyota Prius
- Toyota Vitz
- Honda City
- Honda Civic
- Honda Vezel
- Suzuki Mehran
- Suzuki Cultus
- Suzuki Alto
- Suzuki Wagon R
- Suzuki Swift
- Suzuki Bolan
- Daihatsu Mira
- Toyota Hilux
These names are here because they are common, not because they are the limit. The question that decides whether we can help is never the badge on the front. It is whether the job needs equipment we have and parts we can get, and we will answer both plainly before you commit to anything.
What changes with the type of vehicle
Same principles, different wear patterns and different parts situations.
Small hatchbacks
Mehran, Alto, Cultus, Wagon R, Mira and the rest of the 660cc and 1000cc class. Simple mechanically, which is their great advantage: most faults are cheap to diagnose and cheap to fix. What they do need is attention to suspension and bushes, because our roads punish small, light cars, and to charging systems, because a marginal alternator on a small battery leaves you stranded quickly.
Sedans
Corolla, City, Civic, Yaris and similar. The mainstream of the market, which means parts availability is good and known fault patterns are well understood. Common work is suspension, brakes, air conditioning, automatic transmission service and the electrical faults that arrive with age.
SUVs and 4x4s
Heavier, higher and harder on brakes, bushes and wheel bearings. Four-wheel-drive systems add transfer cases, differentials and driveshafts to the list of things that can fail, and a vehicle used off tarmac needs its underside looked at rather than assumed to be fine.
Pickups and vans
Hilux, Bolan, Ravi, Hiace and the working vehicles that pay for themselves by moving. Load changes everything: clutches, leaf springs, brakes and tyres wear on a schedule set by weight and duty rather than by the service book. Downtime is the real cost, so these are the vehicles worth servicing on a plan.
Hybrids and electrics
Aqua, Prius, Vezel and the growing number of imported electrics.
A hybrid is an ordinary car with an extra system bolted to it. Suspension, brakes, steering, air conditioning, bodywork and cabin electrics are all normal work, and in some ways hybrids are easier: regenerative braking means pads and discs often last far longer than on a comparable petrol car.
The difference sits in three places. The high voltage system has to be isolated before anything near it is touched, and that procedure is not optional. The traction battery degrades slowly and eventually becomes a real decision about whether to replace, refurbish or sell. And the inverter cooling system needs attention that owners rarely know about until it fails.
Imported hybrids bring a fourth issue: diagnostic software and service data written for the market the car came from. Where that makes a specific job impractical, we will tell you before you spend money finding out.
Fully electric vehicles are arriving here in small numbers. The same rule applies as with everything else on this site. If a job needs equipment or a specialist we do not have, we say so and point you at someone who does.
Worth knowing before a quote
- Battery health is measurable. It should be checked before anyone quotes you for a replacement.
- A hybrid warning light is not automatically a battery. It is frequently a sensor, a cooling fan or a 12 volt battery that has gone flat.
- The small 12 volt battery still starts the systems, still dies, and still strands you.
CNG-converted cars
Very common here, and they need to be treated as what they are rather than ignored.
A large share of cars here run on gas, and the conversion changes how the engine behaves. Gas burns hotter and drier than petrol, which is harder on valves and valve seats. Ignition components work harder and wear faster. Timing and mixture set up for petrol are not correct for gas, and a conversion done without adjusting them produces the flat, hesitant running that owners come to accept as normal.
Much of what gets blamed on CNG is actually installation quality: a poorly fitted reducer, a leaking line, a cylinder mounted badly, or an emulator wired in a way that confuses the engine control unit. Those are findable faults, and finding them is cheaper than replacing engine parts that were never the problem.
When we diagnose a converted car we treat the kit as part of the engine, because it is. That means checking the gas side as well as the petrol side before concluding anything, and telling you honestly which of the two is causing what you are experiencing.
Cylinders have a service life and a test regime. If yours is overdue, we will say so. That is a safety matter, and it is not something to leave for next time.
Symptoms worth a look
- Runs well on petrol and poorly on gas, or the reverse.
- Hesitation, backfiring or a loss of power under load.
- A smell of gas in or around the car at any time.
- Hard starting when switching between fuels.
- A check engine light that appeared after the conversion.
Older cars and the parts question
Age is rarely the obstacle. Parts supply is.
Cars stay on the road much longer here than in the markets they were designed for, and a twenty-year-old car in daily use is entirely ordinary. Mechanically that is fine. The difficulty is that the dealer network stops stocking parts long before the cars stop running.
There are usually three routes left. OEM suppliers who still produce the part for other markets. Aftermarket manufacturers, where the brand matters more than the price. And used parts pulled from the same model, which for body panels, trim, switchgear and discontinued electronics is often the only option and frequently the right one.
We will tell you which route your part is on, what each option costs, and what the trade-off is. On an older car, spending genuine money on a part that will outlive the vehicle is not caution. It is waste, and you should be the one deciding that.
Request a PartWhat to tell us about your vehicle
Six details that turn a vague answer into a useful one.
- Make, model and year, and the engine size if you know it.
- Whether it is a manual or an automatic, and which automatic if you know.
- Petrol, diesel, hybrid, or petrol with a CNG conversion.
- Whether it is a local assembly or an import, because parts differ.
- Roughly what mileage it has done.
- What it is doing now, when it started, and whether it is getting worse.
If you do not know some of these, send it anyway. The registration or a photo of the engine bay usually fills the gaps, and working out what the car is happens to be our job rather than yours.
At your door or in the workshop
Decided by the job rather than by the vehicle.
We come to you
Servicing, filters, batteries, brake pads and discs, scan-tool diagnostics, air conditioning checks, belts and hoses. True for a small hatchback and equally true for a pickup, provided there is room to work safely around the vehicle.
The vehicle comes to us
Engine internals, gearbox and clutch work, suspension needing a press, wheel alignment, exhaust welding, denting and painting. If the car is not safe to drive, say so and we will arrange the move rather than let you risk it.
Work we do, whatever you drive
Start from the symptom. We will work out which of these it belongs to.
How we work
The same four things on every vehicle that comes to us.
Diagnosis before quote
We find the fault first. A price given over the phone for a noise nobody has heard is a guess.
The price is agreed first
You approve the work and the cost before a spanner is picked up. Extra work means another call.
Parts you can check
We tell you whether a part is genuine, OEM, aftermarket or used, and what each one costs.
Old parts returned
Ask and we will hand back whatever we replaced. It is the simplest proof that the job was done.
Where we work
Islamabad and Rawalpindi, at your location or in a workshop.
Questions about particular vehicles
Tell us the car and the symptom
Make, model, year and what it is doing. We will tell you what it is likely to be, whether it can be done where the car is, and what it will cost.