At some point, you’re going to end up needing to repair your car inPacific Drive, especially if you want to make it out of the Olympic Exclusion Zone. Maybe a door gets broken because you ran into too many rocks, or your car takes an unfortunate tumble down a hill.

There’s no way to get out of the Zone with a broken-down car, and driving around with an overly damaged car only puts you in a bad position since you don’t want to come across any Anomalies like that. Even if things are relatively safe, your car will get worn down. When it happens, you’ll need to do some repairs.

Crude Panel on the player’s car with a chunk of its durability missing in Pacific Drive.

Car Maintenance, Explained

As you play, you’ll need to repair your car periodically, either torepair already existing parts of your carlike the doors or panels, or youmight need to replace it entirelyif it’s not worth it using your resources up for a repair.

To check the status of a car part, you caninspect the pieceandlook at its durability bar. Themore durability that’s missingfrom the bar, themore damaged the car part is, and thatmakes it more likely to breakor cause an issue.

Logbook showing several status effects and highlighting the Cracked status effect in Pacific Drive.

Avoid running intoor hittingexplosive Anomalies, such asTourists, as they’llexplode on impact, and achain of them can cause massive damageto your car.

You can alsoget an overviewof the damage toevery part of your carby checking thesmall screen on your dashboard. Each car piece is displayed independently, and thecolor of itwillgive you a general idea of its health, as well as warn you of issues.

Applying Repair Putty onto the front panel of the car and letting it restore the durability in Pacific Drive.

Car Statuses, Explained

Besides just getting damaged,your car’s partscan beaffected by their own specific status effects, such as itbeingFlat, which indicates thatone of your tires has lost airandwon’t have as much traction or controlon the road.

You canget information on a part’s statuseffectby scanning it, and thenlooking at the unlocked logbook entry, which willgive you the status' name, a brief description of it, andtell you what tool or item you’ll need to fix it.

Player character holding a Sealing Kit and preparing to seal up a large crack in their car window in Pacific Dive.

There are atotal of 34 different statusesin the game, and themajority are ones that will affect your car’s parts, including Flat, Breaking, and Disabled.

How To Fix It

Bald

Your tire has lost its texture and will have reduced traction.

Replace the tire entirely.

Blown Out

One of your car’s tires is ruined and needs to be replaced.

Repair Putty or Blowtorch

Player character using a Battery Jumper to recharge they car battery in the Zone at night in Pacific Drive.

Your engine is critically damaged, and needs to be replaced.

Mechanic’s Kit

Charged

Car parts are over-charged with electricity, and will react in water.

One of your car’s windows is cracked and weakened.

Player character holding a Steel Door and replacing one of the back car doors with it in Pacific Drive.

Sealing Kit.

Disabled

An electric part of your car has been overloaded and can’t turn on correctly.

Something’s punctured your car’s tire and it’s losing air.

Replace the car part.

Leaking

Your car’s fuel tank has been punctured or ripped, and needs to be repaired.

Sealing Kit

Loose Wheel

One of your car’s wheels is loose and no longer properly aligned.

Oxidized

Part of your car is being rusted due to weather or an Anomaly.

Shorted

One of your lights has been blown out, likely by an Anomaly.

Electrician’s Kit

Shorted Spark Plug

One of your car’s spark plugs has been blown out, likely by an Anomaly.

Light Replacement Kit

How To Repair Parts Of Your Car

If you’vegot relatively minor damageto your car, orlack replacement parts, you’ll want to break out theRepair Putty.

Repair Putty

Craft Mat or Tinkerer Station

2x Scrap Metal, 2x Plastic, 2x Glass Shards, and 2x Chemicals

You canuse it on almost any car part, such as adoor or a panel, andapplying itonto a car part willrestore a portion of its durability within a few seconds.

Make sure tocheck your engine and see if it needs repairing regularly, asdamage to it isn’t as noticeable visuallyas it is on other parts.

How To Use Repair Putty

Touse the Repair Putty, you’ll first need toequip it to your handfrom your inventory, orQuick Assign it to a slot. Approach the car part you want to repair, thenapply it to the damaged partwith theUse Held Tool Or Item button, and it’ll make the part as good as new.

Theonly downsideto the Repair Puttyis its cost and durability, as itneeds some pretty important materialsto craft it, such asscarce and valuable Chemicals, and you’lloften want to save thosefor other things.

Each Repair Puttyonly hasfive uses before it breaks, and you’ll need to craft or use another Repair Putty to continue repairing your car.

How To Use The Blowtorch

Later on,once you reach the Mid-Zone, and unlock new crafting stations and blueprints such as the Fabricator, you’llget access to and be able to craft the Blowtorch. TheBlowtorch works similarlyto Repair Putty, but withfar more durability,so youwon’t need to replace it as often.

It alsocosts fewer rare materialsto craft, so you cansave those Chemicalsfor more important things, and theBlowtorch repairs more durability to higher tier car parts, like Armored Doors.

How To Repair Cracked Windows And Leaks

Sometimes if yourun into something,get thrown around by an Anomalylike an Abductor, or yourcar ends up rolling, you’llend up with more than just regular damage.

Parts ofyour car can end up cracked or leaking airor other fluids, andeven if you use Repair Putty, a Blowtorch, or another repair item to handle most of the damage, itwon’t fix a status effect like Cracked.

Not keeping windows and other parts repairedcan lead to effects from the outside likeradiation being let in, or the part breaking entirely.

If this happens, you’llneed to use a Sealing Kiton the part. Sealing Kits can becrafted with two Duct Tape,three Rubber, andone Glass Shardat your Craft Pad or other crafting station.

Theywork similarly to the Repair Putty: you’ll need toequip it,approach the damaged part, thenapply it with Use Tool Or Item.

Asingle Sealing Kitwill onlyrepair one affected part, so make sure youkeep at least two on handin case you end up withseveral status-effected parts at once.

How To Charge Your Car’s Battery

As youuse your car’s headlightsandother special abilities you unlockthroughout the game, yourcar’s battery is going to drain.

You’re able tocharge the batteryas much as you wantat the Auto Shop, butif you’re out in the Zone, having yourbattery charge run outcanspell the end of a run.

If youwant to do any battery charging during a run, you’llneed a charging itemsuch as aBattery Jumper, which can becrafted in a Craft Matwithfour 9v Batteries,two Copper Wires, andone Electronics.

How To Use A Battery Jumper

Touse a Battery Jumper, you’ll need toequip it in your handlike any other tool, thenopen the front panelof your car. Find the battery on thebottom right-hand corner of the engine basin, theninteract with Use Tool Or Itemon it.

After a few moments, the battery willregain a portion of its charge. As you progress anduse the Fabrication Station, you’llunlock better batteries, andbetter methods of chargingthem, such as the Plasma Charger.

How To Replace Car Parts

Toreplace a car’s partbecause it’s either damaged or you’re looking to upgrade to something more durable, you’ll first need to interact with it using Uninstall, and pull the part off.

You canuse the Matter Deconstructortodeconstruct excess car partsinto theirbasic materialsif you don’t need spares or are in need of materials.

Store ordrop the car part somewhereelse, thenpick up or craft the part you wantto replace it with, andbring it over to your car. Then all you’ve got to do isinstall it with Use Tool Or Item, and you’ll have a brand-new addition to your car.

Whilemostcar parts, like Panels and Doors,can’t be stored in your backpack, you canput them inside the storage in your trunkand bring them on trips into the zone.