Vehicles
A desrt Vehicle Maintenance Reference
Every vehicle in A desrt—Car, Car2, Van, Moped, or Bus—eventually fails without maintenance. This reference centralizes fluid schedules, weld checks, and engine-specific care so your road trip ends at the next landmark, not in a ditch.
Maintenance in A desrt is not a menu tick box; it is the sum of small physical actions you perform on a live vehicle. DarkCodes built wear into collisions, fluid drain, and loose welds so survival extends beyond combat. Press Z to weld a sagging door, pour from an 8 L gascan before the tank runs dry, tip a 5 L oilcan after overheating, and refill radiator water after zombie front hits. Different vehicle classes share the same principles but scale differently—Mopeds need 0.5 L oil touches while Buses burn through multiple bigcans per leg. Treat this page as the checklist layer atop [How to Fix a Car](/guides/fix-car/) and the deeper [Vehicle Maintenance guide](/guides/vehicle-maintenance/).
Universal pre-trip inspection
- Walk around the vehicle and visually confirm wheels, doors, hood, and panels are welded.
- Verify fuel type matches the engine: gasoline for VAZ/Injection/Turbine, diesel for EngineD, charge for Electric.
- Check oil level with engine off; add from oilcan if the last run included hills or combat.
- Fill radiator water on Car, Car2, Van, and Bus—Mopeds skip large radiators but still need oil.
- Press R for a five-second idle test; listen for knock before loading loot.
Fluid types and container reference
Gasoline powers most early engines. Diesel fuels EngineD swaps. Oil lubricates internal parts regardless of vehicle size. Water cools radiators on full-size chassis. Standard containers: gascan 8 L, oilcan 5 L, bigcan 30 L. Moped operators target 8.1 L gas plus 0.5 L oil per fill. Van and Bus crews should stage separate diesel bigcans once EngineD enters the fleet. Full pour mechanics and contamination warnings sit on [Fuel & Fluids](/items/fuel-fluids/) and [Fluids & Fuel](/build/fluids-fuel/). Never mix diesel into a gasoline Car "just to try"—you will stall and may need to drain the tank manually.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Engine knock at idle | Low oil | Add 0.5–1 L from oilcan, retest |
| Steam from hood | Low radiator water | Refill water, idle off, inspect leaks |
| Sudden stall | Empty fuel or wrong fuel type | Refill correct type from gascan/bigcan |
| Panel rattling | Broken weld | Z weld at stop, see [Weld Repair](/controls/weld-repair/) |
| Speed cap drop | Loose wheels or damage | Inspect welds, replace parts from loot |
Class-specific notes
Cars and Car2 need balanced attention—light enough to forget oil until knock appears. Vans add weight stress; inspect rear welds after every loaded return. Mopeds punish skipped 0.5 L oil more than missed water because there is no large radiator buffer. Buses require crew rotations: one player walks the length checking welds while another tops fluids. After any engine swap, rerun the idle test and confirm mount welds before hitting top speed—Injection at 180 km/h and EngineD at 210 km/h tear loose blocks that were "good enough" at parking-lot RPM.
Engine swap maintenance
When upgrading from VAZ to Injection or EngineD, flush the conceptual fuel line by draining incompatible tank contents, update your carried gascans, and retorque welds once the new block heats. Electric swaps drop oil routines but introduce battery care—extremely rare and documented on the [Engine Tier List](/tier-list/engines/). Turbine engines behave like high-performance gasoline plants with elevated burn. Log each swap in party notes so teammates do not pour gasoline into a diesel Bus by habit. For tools supporting maintenance, see [Tools](/items/tools/) and consider Screwdriver Pro from [Game Passes](/items/game-passes/) if you frequently service sandbox test rigs.
Schedule major service every long session: full weld walk, one oilcan capacity check, radiator fill, tire integrity, and headlight replacement before night runs. Pair mechanical care with route planning from [Looting](/guides/looting/) so you stop at gas stations before the desert gap, not after. Maintenance is boring until it saves a three-hour engine haul—then it becomes the most valuable skill in A desrt.