Parts identification, done right
Practical articles on vehicle variants, factory equipment and OEM references. Check the conditions that decide whether a part fits before you send the order.
Articles 97–120 of 156. Search by model, catalog or part.
DS Automobiles: a young badge on familiar bones
DS spent years as a Citroen trim line before becoming a brand of its own in 2014, and the split left a trail that still shows in parts data. Early cars are badged both ways depending on market, and the platforms remain…
Vehicle identificationWhat "by VIN" actually gives you that a model search cannot
People treat a VIN search as a quicker way of doing what a model search does. It is a different operation. A model search returns everything that model ever took, and leaves you to narrow it. A VIN search returns what…
Parts sourcingGulf-spec vehicles: what the heat changes, and what it means for parts
A car built for the Gulf is not the same car as the European version with a different sticker. Manufacturers specify separately for sustained heat, fine dust and long highway runs, and the changes reach cooling capacity,…
Parts sourcingHyundai and Kia share a catalog. Here is what that actually means at the counter
Hyundai, Kia and Genesis sit in one catalog, Snap-on EPC, because the three brands share platforms, engines and a great deal of hardware. That is genuinely useful once you know where the sharing stops. A Sportage and a…
EV and new techEV batteries: repair, module replacement and the passport that arrives in 2027
The default answer to a failed traction battery has been to quote a whole pack, and the quote is frequently large enough to write the car off. That default is starting to break, partly because module-level repair is…
Parts sourcingThe Chinese brands are already in your bay: identifying parts when the badge is new to you
A workshop that had never seen a Chery in 2022 now books three a month. The cars are not difficult. What catches people out is that the habits built over twenty years of German and Japanese work do not transfer cleanly,…
AftersalesRight to repair and the data question: what an independent workshop can actually get
Right to repair is discussed as though it were one law and one victory. For a workshop it is neither. It is a slow, uneven expansion of access to specific kinds of manufacturer data, and the part that decides whether you…
Workshop how-toOil and fluid specifications by VIN: why the approval matters more than the viscosity
Two bottles both labelled 5W-30 can be entirely different oils, and pouring the wrong one into a modern engine can block a particulate filter or wear a camshaft. Viscosity is the number everyone quotes. The manufacturer…
Diagnostics & repairDiesel injectors: classification codes, copper washers and the job that must be finished properly
A common rail injector is a precision device manufactured to tolerances so tight that each one leaves the factory with its own correction code. Fit a set without entering those codes and the engine runs, badly, in a way…
Collision & bodyAirbag and SRS parts by VIN: the components you cannot guess at
Restraint-system components are specified per market and per build, and an SRS part is matched to one exact vehicle rather than to a model. Every other system on a car gives you a second chance. The restraint system…
Diagnostics & repairBattery, alternator and starter by VIN: the charging system that has to be told what changed
Fitting a battery used to be the simplest job in the workshop. On a vehicle with stop-start and intelligent charging it is a parts decision, a chemistry decision and a coding procedure, and getting any of the three wrong…
Parts sourcingSpotting counterfeit parts before they reach the vehicle
Counterfeit parts are not a problem of dodgy market stalls any more. They arrive in convincing boxes, through marketplaces that look legitimate, and the categories most often faked are the ones where failure hurts…
Workshop how-toAir conditioning parts by VIN: refrigerant type, compressor oil and the parts that will not mix
Air conditioning is the system where the wrong assumption is expensive twice: once for the part and once for the gas. Two refrigerants are in circulation, they need different equipment, and the compressor oil has to…
Diagnostics & repairSensors by VIN: why the one that looks identical is the wrong one
Sensors are the parts most often ordered on a description and most often returned. Two lambda sensors with the same thread and the same four wires can carry different cable lengths, different connectors and different…
Diagnostics & repairTurbo parts by VIN: actuators, oil feeds and the failures that repeat
A turbocharger is one of the few parts that will destroy its replacement if the job around it is done carelessly. Actuator type, oil supply condition and the exact variant fitted to that build decide whether the repair…
Workshop how-toTiming belt and chain parts by VIN: kits, revisions and single use bolts
Timing work is the job where being approximately right is the same as being wrong. Tensioners are revised during production, chain guides get updated after field failures, and half the fasteners around a timing cover are…
Diagnostics & repairRacks, shafts and joints: steering and driveline parts without the guesswork
A driveshaft seems like honest, simple metal — until you learn one model can list a dozen of them. Length, spline count, joint sizes and intermediate bearings all follow the engine, the gearbox and sometimes the wheel…
Workshop how-toClutch and gearbox parts by VIN: dual mass, concentric slaves and expensive assumptions
A clutch quote given from the model name is a guess with four figures riding on it. The same car can carry a solid or a dual mass flywheel, a conventional release bearing or a concentric slave inside the bellhousing, and…
Diagnostics & repairDPFs, catalysts and the emissions maze: identifying exhaust parts without expensive guesses
Nowhere on the car does a wrong guess cost more than under the floor. A diesel particulate filter can be four figures; catalysts are precious-metal pricing; and the same model wears different emissions hardware depending…
Workshop how-toCooling system parts by VIN: water pumps, thermostats and the repeat overheat
Cooling faults come back more often than most repairs, and the reason is usually a part that was close enough to fit and not close enough to work. Pump drive types, integrated thermostat housings and radiators specified…
Workshop how-toAnatomy of a perfect parts lookup: one VIN, one brake job, every decision shown
Guides tell you the rules; this one shows the game. Below is a single, ordinary job — front brakes on a seven-year-old German hatchback — walked from phone call to order, with every decision narrated. Nothing here is…
Parts dataSprings, dampers and the paint-dot lottery: suspension parts by VIN
Look closely at a coil spring and you’ll find dabs of coloured paint on the coils. That’s not decoration — it’s the factory telling you which of several near-identical springs this is. Suspension is the most…
Diagnostics & repairThe right part isn’t always plug-and-play: coding, adaptation and married components
The part is genuine, VIN-matched, physically perfect — and the car still refuses to accept it. Welcome to the growing family of components that need a digital handshake after fitting: coding, adaptation, registration or…
Parts dataHot-climate radiators, cold-climate heaters: how geography edits the parts list
Carmakers do not build one car for the world. They build the Gulf version with the bigger radiator, the Nordic version with the fuel-fired heater, the dusty-market version with the extra filtration — all under one model…