Struggling getting through tutorials

[birdhousesk824]

Hi, I am new to this game and community. I cant even get past the tutorials. It is really frustrating. I finally was able to finish the table and moved onto putting together the engine block and when I got to the pistons it asked me to put them together without putting on the piston head so I did exactly as it asked and it wouldn't say I did it so I took it apart and put it back together numerous times and still it acted like I didn't do it right. So I gave up and it never lets me save so now I have to go through the whole beginning again and again.

Is there anyone that can help me please? I am struggling with us. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help

[EssBee]

Heya.
As it stands, the standard set of tutorials in the base game are known to be pretty buggy and not work correctly.
They are due to be replaced pretty soon though, so although it's kinda frustrating that they don't work too well right now, that won't be the case forever.
The base game is going to go through some pretty big changes as a whole pretty soon with an all set of tutorials, a brand new career mode, and a whole heap of new car parts and workshop tools and items being released.

All of this new content is currently available for anyone and everyone to try out on the 'Beta Branch', which is basically a test bed for new content where people can try it and give feedback or report any bugs to help the dev's perfect the new content before releasing it on the 'Standard Branch' and it becomes the new default base game content.

To be totally honest, in your situation it might be worth switching to the Beta Branch and giving the new tutorials and game mode a try.
It WILL wipe your old 'Standard Branch' game saves though, but as you state that you can't save the game anyway this won't really be a problem for you right now.
Just bear in mind that this Beta Branch stuff is still in development though, so this too is not perfect at the moment.
Once the dev's have ironed out the bugs in this Beta Branch content though, this will totally replace everything in the current base game anyway, so you're basically just getting a sneak preview of what is to come in the not too distant future.

The choice is yours though. I won't push you into trying the Beta Branch stuff, but I'm currently using it and I have to say, even though there are a few ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and bugs here and there, it definitely outweighs what that the current base game offers. There's far more content, more workshop tools, and better tutorials, even though some of the tutorial content is still a little incomplete right now.

If you do wan't to switch to the Beta Branch stuff and give it a try, it's pretty simple to do.
Just Right Click on 'Wrench' in your game library, select 'Properties', click on the 'Beta's' tab in the top right corner, and then just select 'Beta Branch' from the drop down menu.

The new content should start downloading automatically after you select beta branch in the drop down menu and then close that little 'Properties' window again, but if it doesn't then just closing and then restarting Steam should kick the download in to gear.
It's not a very big amount of content it needs to download so it'l probably only take a minute or so.
That's all there is to it really.

Once it's all downloaded and installed, just start the game as normal and click on the 'New Game ' option and away you go.
It'll automatically take you through the new tutorials which will help you get up and running, help you to unlock some of the new tools available, and also award you some money which you will need to help you save up for your first car.
You don't start with your own car in the new game mode, you have to save for one and, once the tutorials are complete, work on customers cars to gain money to help you work towards buying your own car(s). Like I say... a whole new career mode awaits! It's a whole different game experience, but in fairness a much better one in my opinion.

Anyway, I'll leave you to think it over.
It's kinda either a case of try and work around the current buggy tutorials or skip them entirely, or switch to the Beta Branch and give all of the new upcoming content a try.
It's your call really.

The only other thing you cold perhaps try if you don't want to switch to the Beta Branch is just skipping the current tutorials completely and jumping straight in to working on your own car.
It's a bit of a baptism of fire if you're not too sure how the internals of a car work, but I have put together a couple of guides here on Steam which will no doubt help you out if you decide to take this route.
They are both currently a little out of date though, and I'm waiting until the dev's have finalised all of the changes they're currently making on the beta branch content, got it all bug free, and then released it on to the standard branch as the new default game content, before I throw a whole load more hours into updating the guides again.
There are admittedly a few things that my guides don't yet cover, like the intake and a lot of the new cooling features in the engine guide, and some of the changes to parts and assembly procedures in the chassis guide, but for the most part they should bail you out if you get stuck.
You can check them out in the 'Guides' section for Wrench, here on Steam.

So yeah, that's pretty much all the advice I can really offer right now.
If you do decide to try and struggle on with the current tutorials and still remain stuck, give me a shout back and I'll see if there is anything else I can do to help.
Really though, all you can really do if the tutorials fail to move on is just try and skip that particular section and move on to the next. Not ideal, but that's kinda where we are at the moment until the the new content goes live.

[birdhousesk824]

Steph, that was such a thorough reply! Thank you so much! I will switch to Beta right now. I am excited to see the new content. As it goes I am loving the game. I feel like it could really teach me about how engines work. I wish they had a few Motorcycle engines. I own a KLR and want to take apart the motor. Anyways, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Its good to know that there are people on here who care and that the DEVS are working to make this game greater. I can see this game going places. Let me try to set up the BETA and I will get back to you on how it worked. Once again, thank you!

[EssBee]

You're more than welcome!
As an ex-motorcycle mechanic, (and having just looked up what a KLR was as I'm a little out of touch with bikes these days) I can pretty much safely say that if you can strip and rebuild the engine in this game, you're gonna be fairly well placed to pull your KLR motor apart without a massive amount of problems as long as you've got a decent set of quality tools and a good workshop manual.
Just sit and have a good read of the manual before you pull anything apart just to make sure you think you're up to the task.

It seems pretty daunting if you've never done it before, but it's not so bad if you take it slow and concentrate on what you're doing.
Just make sure you've got the right tools etc and that you have a solid plan of what you're going to do before you start and you should be fine.
Keep it clean, keep it simple, keep it methodical, and lay everything out neatly and tidily on a clean, uncluttered surface, and you should be just fine.
Checking tolerances is probably the hardest part. The rest of it, being just a 4-stroke single, should be pretty straight forward if you follow the manual properly.
You know where I am if you ever have any questions about it, no matter how silly you may think it is. The only silly question is the question you were too silly not to ask!

If it helps, I was pulling old single and twin cylinder two stroke engines apart before I'd even started doing any training as a mechanic, just by reading books and bike mag's and listening to the advice of my Grandad... who wasn't even a mechanic himself but just learned, as I did, by getting stuck in and trying it! ;D
Must admit though, he did scare me when he took the fuel cap off of one of my bikes and took a close look in to the fuel tank with a lit cigarette in his chops on a red hot summer's day, as the waft of petrol vapours came flooding out of the tank as soon as he took the cap off!
Grandad... you know the vapours are way more flammable than the actual liquid, right?!
Ooh yeah, forgot I had a 'smoke' on!
Duh! ;D

.... And talking of manuals.... it'll probably help settle your nerves a little about your bike engine if you throw an eye over the engine guide that I wrote for the engine in this game anyway.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1631544923

Cars or bikes, a 4-stroke N/A petrol engine is a 4-stroke N/A petrol engine... some just happen to have more pistons than others, that's all! ;D
The only other difference is your bike has the gearbox built in to the crankcases too rather than it being separate.
But, like I say, take it slow and be methodical when you pull it apart and lay it all out neatly so as you know what goes where when you want to put it back together again and it's really not all that hard to do.

You've got an input gearbox shaft that attaches to the clutch and in turn the crank (maybe a couple of small gears or possibly the water pump or perhaps a balance shaft which counters the effects of the crank inertia in between them or something like that), and an output gearbox shaft that has the gearbox sprocket on it that the drive chain sits on which drives the rear wheel.
Then there's a little cylindrical thing with a few prongs that fit in to it which are sitting on a couple of little rods which they slide about on, which is your selector drum and the selector forks which force the gears back and forth on the input and output shafts as you press the gear pedal with your foot to change gear.
Unless you start removing circlips and then removing individual gears from the shafts, you've basically just got the two shafts, the selector drum, and the rods with the selector forks on them to worry about.
That, in a nutshell is your gearbox!
All of the gears are held firmly in place on the shafts bar a couple of gears on each shaft will slide back and forth, (that's how it engages gears, so don't panic if a couple slide about), and the forks may or may not have circlips on the ends of their rods, so just be a little careful not to let the forks slide off of the rods when you remove those from the cases. Other than that, five or six sets of components... that's your gearbox in a nutshell.
That's pretty much all there is to it really.

Lay them out one next to the other, and maybe put the clutch basket next to the front (input) shaft, and lay the drive chain sprocket next to the rear (output) shaft next to the respective end of the shafts that they each attach to, then lay the drum and fork assemblies out in the directions they came out of the cases in, and you really can't go far wrong with that one.

Easy, innit?! :D

Do the same kinda thing with the crank, pistons, cams, etc, etc, and you'll know where everything goes on reassembly.

This also goes for valves, springs, retainers, collets, buckets, and shims if you remove them.... just make dead sure you have the right valve assemblies and respective shims in the right places when you lay them out, and /or reassemble them or you'll have the headache of having to start messing around with valve clearances!

Trust me, you don't wanna be sitting there measuring every individual shim with a micrometer and then calculating the shim sizes to get the right valve clearances if you don't have to!
It's not just measuring the shims, you then have to assemble and tighten the cams in to the head again, use feeler gauges to measure the valve clearance, then pull the whole lot apart again to put in a bigger/smaller shim to alter the valve clearance.... rinse and repeat until the clearances come in to the correct tolerances.

Best bet, unless you actually have to to replace valve stem seals, or lap in the valves to the valve seats in the head to get a nice seal or something, try and avoid pulling the valve assemblies from the head if you possibly can.
Just watch the buckets and shims don't slide out of the head if you tip it upside down with the cams removed when disassembling or, again, you'll probably end up having to measure the shims to get the valve clearances right. It's a proper pain in the a**!

Trust me, I've had to do valve clearances on Yamaha 1000cc inline 4's which have 20 valves per head! Tedious isn't the word... especially when you're doing it on race engines with high lift cams and skimmed cylinder heads..... you gotta be spot on with your tolerances or you'll destroy the motor when the pistons get a little too intimate with the valve heads! That's one VERY expensive mistake to make.... luckily, no, I didn't ever get it wrong. Would've been more than my life was worth! ;D


Anyway, now I've basically managed to talk you through the entire process of rebuilding your KLR engine......
(we'll make a motorcycle mechanic of you yet!)
Hope you enjoy the Beta Branch stuff in Wrench. ;D
Lemme know what you think of it, and if you find it any easier.

I just bought my first car on the beta, stripped it bare and threw everything in the trash, and rebuilt the entire thing, chassis and engine, from the ground up with every possible component, nut, bolt, and washer replaced with brand new ones.
2k left in the bank out of about 63k after that rebuild. Kinda judged that pretty well... thought I was gonna go bankrupt for a while! Trouble is, no money left to race it now! Oops! ;D

Yes... of course I cheated and used my guides... I've spent 70 - 80 hours so far writing them... damn right I'm gonna use them where I can! ;D

[EssBee]

Just in case you're interested, I found this little gem on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B59d9r7n_iU

Complete rebuild of the entire bike in 15 minutes! A Kawaski KLR 650.
Engine first.
As I mentioned, he started off with the gearbox... two shafts, the selector drum, and the selector forks. As you'll see, it's not overly complicated if everything's laid out and you work methodically.
I was bang on the money too... there is a balancer shaft to counter the weight, inertia and consequent vibration caused by the crankshaft, as being a big(ish) bore single 4-stroke, the crank will need to be pretty heavy to overcome the the compression of that monster sized piston!
The only difference is, I thought the balancer shaft may be connected to the clutch by gears or something, but as it turns out it's actually on the left hand side of the engine, behind the flywheel and generator, and driven by a pretty long and complex chain system. Not the lightest or easiest way to do it, but that's Kawasaki for you! Simplicity isn't always their strongest point. Then again, all of the Japanese manufacturers have done some pretty wild and wayward things at some point or other. Kawasaki certainly aren't alone there. In fact, every single motorcycle manufacturer has done some very oddball things. It's not fair just to wave the finger at the ♥♥♥'s!
Being from the UK I should theoretically be a fan of Triumph's... but don't EVER come to me with a Triumph Trophy 1200cc from the mid '90's. Seriously, I'll probably set the damn thing on fire right before your very eyes!
25 screws just to hold the lower half of the fairing on one side of the bike... and I'm not even kidding!
Most bikes probably don't even have that many screws holding the entire fairing on both sides of the bike, as well as holding on the screen, the nose cone, the belly pan on... the whole lot!
But the 1200 Trophy, 25 on just the lower half on one side!
I had to do a full service on that beast including valves, all brakes, front and rear tyres, a wheel bearing, the whole bang and caboodle.
It practically wore out all of my tools there were so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fasteners and things everywhere. It even broke the tip off of one of my brand new Snap-On screw drivers too 'cos the fittings were such horrible quality and all out of tolerance. £10 for one screwdriver, that was too.... I was not amused!!!!!!
So yeah... keep your 1200 Trophy's well clear of me!
On the flip side, the Triumph 900cc Trident, a 4-stroke triple, had a monstrous amount of torque for a pretty basic and 'weighty' motor. I had an absolute blast riding that thing, even if it was heavy as hell with the COG so high it was practically at chest height! Took a bit of effort to initially get it to start leaning on corners, but then it just kinda fell into the turn... unfortunately the excess weight meant it just kept on trying to fall..... luckily there was lots of torque on hand to help lift it back up again! Took some getting used to, but was a quirky and fun bike to ride once you got used to it! ;D

Anyway, back to the KLR rebuild. Unfortunately, he doesn't really show the valves and all of the buckets and shims and stuff, I think he took my advice and left them all fitted in the head... or just cut it from the video as it's so boring and time consuming doing the shims and clearances. But, if you do wanna see it out of interest, just type in 'shim under bucket valve clearance adjustment, or just KLR valve clearance adjustment, end you'll soon find a few people showing how to do it.
Other than that... as you can see... it's not particularly massively complicated to do an engine rebuild on one if you have the tools and a good workshop manual to follow, and also work in a logical, methodical and organised and tidy fashion.

For most people, it's the fear of doing it that stops them, rather than the fact that they outright probably can't do it.

I won't lie, some people even with a ton of training, probably still don't have the inbuilt technical ability to even work out which end of screw driver they should be holding, let alone figure out how to attempt an engine overhaul, and these people definitely should leave something like this to a professional.
But for those do possess the ability to use a screwdriver correctly without needing instructions and has the ability do do basic maintenance and repairs on their bike (or car) without being too scared to try the basics first and work their way up as they got more comfortable, then these people should be able to work out whether or not they feel comfortable attempting to do a full overhaul or not just by watching a few video's like this and /or reading a dedicated workshop manual or some books or magazines the learn how things are done.

That's how I got started. Books and magazines, tips and advice from my 'pyromaniac cigarette chain smoking Grandad, and then tips and advice from the biker Dads of my friends, progressed to starting to do basics on my own bikes (and helping friends and my Dad and Grandad with theirs) and building up in complexity as I got more confident, then started a motorcycle mechanics course, then got a job at a local bike shop, who were also one of the UK's top motorcycle race tuners too (a massive bonus since I'm in to bike racing too in a pretty big way.... MotoGP, SBK, that kinda stuff), and then eventually ended up being allowed to help work on the race bikes in between doing all the customer road bike jobs.... a proper dream come true, that was.... working on the race bikes!
Helped prep bikes for everything from little private club racers, through to helping to prep bikes for the Isle of Man TT, the British SuperCup as it was then, which is now the British SuperBike Championship, and a couple of European championships too. Even worked on a BSB /TT spec sidecar outfit too... which was an experience!

So yeah, have a little look at that video and it'll show you what you're in for if you do think about touching your own bike.
Playing around with this engine in Wrench though will certainly give you a bit of an insight in to what your bike engine is like. Basically, all you have to do is forget about three of the cylinders in the engine in Wrench, and just concentrate on just one cylinder. That's the basics of what you have in your bike, crank, piston, and cylinder head -wise.

For most it's the fear that holds them back, or falling flat on their face through lack of preparation and diving in when they don't have the tools or the proper knowledge or instructions on how to do the job properly.
Do your homework, plan ahead, get the right tools and instructions, and work cleanly and methodically, and most people will actually be surprised at what they can accomplish.
I never ever thought in a million years that I'd be able to pull a bike apart when I first started riding one..... a few years later I was helping prep race bikes for the likes of the Isle Of Man TT, and the forerunner to what is now BSB (British Superbike Championship).
Who'd have thought that possible?!
I certainly didn't!!!! :o

[birdhousesk824]

Steph, that is a ton of good quality information. I wish I could put it on paper so I could save it for later if need be. I don't plan on taking it apart here anytime soon to be honest with you but I figure one day I may need to and I dont want to sell it as I wouldnt feel right about selling someone a motorcycle. Sounds stupid but they are dangerous. I think I will copy paste your reply haha.

Thank you for being so detailed and kind to respond. I have a question in regards to the game. Im a little flustered. So I have $3600 in the game and it keeps posting the same jobs over and over. Its getting boring changing the tires and coolant. What I really wanted to do was take apart the engines and put them together to learn but I haven't gotten the oppurtunity to do that yet, only in the first game I downloaded but not with the BETA. Its daunting to think that I need at least $8000 to buy a car and in order to make money I can only change the coolant and tires and will have to do that 22 more times if I'm making $200 each time lol

I honestly am not sure if its worth it at this point, unless I am missing something. I also tried to change the transmission fluid and I take out the dip stick and the transmission fluid bottle doesnt connect to the whole so that I can pour it in so I cant even do that job.

I really liked putting the engine together in the first one. So far Ive spent close to 5 or 7 hours changing fluids and tires and brakes only and now only tires and coolant.

Am I doing something wrong? And will I get an oppurtunity to mess with engines again in this game?

That video looks pretty good that you put there. I will give it a look. Thank you again for all of the help. Sorry if Im just not getting it.

[EssBee]

No worries. At least it gives you a bit of an insight into what to expect if you do decide to pull it apart at some point in time.

As for the jobs in-game repeating, I think you get more variety of jobs with the more workshop tools you buy.
Obviously you've got the tyre changer as you're getting tyre jobs, but have you bought the engine stand and the gantry crane yet?
I think getting these opens up the opportunity to do engine work. I may be wrong, but that's how I think it works.

ps. Forgot to add.... You don't need to touch the dipstick to change the transmission fluid. The dipstick is purely for checking the engine oil level.
To fill the transmission, there is a small fill plug on the left hand side of the transmission casing which looks almost identical to the drain plug.
It's kinda wedged up between the transmission casing and the chassis, so can be a little tricky to spot at first. Using a lamp the throw some light up there will definitely help.
Pop that fill plug out and attach your transmission bottle hose in to the hole in the transmission casing.
You'll need two bottles of transmission fluid to fill it (a few squirts of a third bottle will ensure it's fully filled, and you'll see fluid spilling out of the fill hole and around the transmission fluid bottle hose when it's completely full).
Both fill plug and drain plug should be tightened to 30Nm. Just for reference.

[birdhousesk824]

Well you sure are the biggest help. I think you were right. At least I bought the gantry crane and the engine stand but it didn't give me any engine jobs. I have been getting other jobs though, My problem now is bleeding the brakes. I thought Id skip over that one because I followed the directions to a T and I always ended up with the same message, "break fluid(wear)"

I put on the blue cap, pumped the break fluid bottle to right about 10 psi, then I bled all of the breaks starting at the rear driver side working counterclockwise finishing at the driver side. Each time I watched the fluid come out with bubbles to the reserve bottle and when it finally stayed a solid amber color I would tighten it up and move on. At the end I put the regular cap back on the master cylinder and then put on the hood. I go to check job and the same message every time, "Unfixed Parts and Fluids:
Front brake rotor
Break Fluid(Wear)"
This was for the job Failed Caliper Replacement. Its a $2000 job so I gave it a try but got the same message as when I tried to bleed the breaks regularly, the only difference is this time is said Front brake rotor also.

Man, I hate these roadblocks. Its a great game, I need to update my review since I have realized I was wrong about not being able to make enough money. I just seem to keep getting glitched or maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Sorry to keep bugging. I wish there were more people on here that played and there was some walk through or common problem and solution board.

Thanks again, I wish I could give back for all your help.

[EssBee]

Currently there is a known bug with bleeding the brakes. Best bet is to skip those jobs for now.

If you haven't already then check out their Discord channel. You'll find a ton of information there and they've just set up a 'Known Issues' channel which the dev's update as and when bugs and issues are identified.
There's also loads of people on there always helping each other out and offering tips and advice. It's way more active than the Steam forums.
I'm basically one of the only ones who replies to posts on Steam. Not many people follow it. the dev's do occasionally pop on, but it's kinda hot or miss as to whether they spot a post and reply or not.

Don't worry about bugging, I'm always happy to help people as and when I can.
Shout as often as you need to! ;D

ps. I think, even though you may now have the gantry crane and engine stand, I think the game may possibly build you up slowly from more basic jobs and slowly increasing in complexity. I may be wrong, but I think that's how it works.

[birdhousesk824]

I just made an account on Discord and downloaded the desktop app. You were right, they are very active on there. I got an answer back right away and also I saw the known issues section which explains my struggle, haha.

I edited my review to leave a positive review but I still see my old negative review when I look at Wrenchs main page on Steam. Id like it to change as I feel bad and realize that the issues I was experiencing were mistakes that I was making on my own.

It would be so cool if they added motorcycles on here.

I will probably be reading through your tutorials here soon. It looks like you put a lot of effort into them.

Thanks for your help, Steph and your patience. I hope all is well!

Originally posted by Steph:

Currently there is a known bug with bleeding the brakes. Best bet is to skip those jobs for now.

If you haven't already then check out their Discord channel. You'll find a ton of information there and they've just set up a 'Known Issues' channel which the dev's update as and when bugs and issues are identified.
There's also loads of people on there always helping each other out and offering tips and advice. It's way more active than the Steam forums.
I'm basically one of the only ones who replies to posts on Steam. Not many people follow it. the dev's do occasionally pop on, but it's kinda hot or miss as to whether they spot a post and reply or not.

Don't worry about bugging, I'm always happy to help people as and when I can.
Shout as often as you need to! ;D

ps. I think, even though you may now have the gantry crane and engine stand, I think the game may possibly build you up slowly from more basic jobs and slowly increasing in complexity. I may be wrong, but I think that's how it works.

[EssBee]

There is a game here on Steam called Biker Garage: Mechanic Simulator.
It's basically Car Mechanic Simulator but with Bikes rather than cars.
Might be something you could look in to at some point.
I'm kinda watching it but there seems to be loads of Chops and Harley's and stuff. Not really my cup of tea. If they threw a load more proper sports bikes in I might be a little more tempted. Who knows, maybe more of those will be added further down the line. We'll see.
Trouble is, after playing Wrench games like that just seem too 'arcady' now. Nuts and bolts just appear like they do in CMS and don't need torquing down or anything. Kinda boring really. ;D

And yes, there was a lot of work went in to my guides. About 80 hours to date. There's probably gonna be another 30 hours at least when I get round to finally doing the next updates. Gonna be quite a lot of changes and additions to be put in. Should keep me out of mischief for a while! ;D