Overview
A list of common Satsuma problems and how to fix them along with some tips for the satsuma for if the forums are too long to go through and you can’t get a straight answer!
Quick Note
If you experience or have any of these problems remember you can exit without saving, alt+f4 or alt+tab then close game so you spawn from the last savepoint instead of walking home from somewhere on the finnish dirt roads 🙂
Car Starts Then Dies
If the car starts then promptly dies or does not start:
• Make sure the choke is fully pulled out (left click to go in right click to go out.)
• Adjust the carburetor so the car is not running rich or lean if you can.
• Give the car enough throttle so it keeps running but stays below about 4000rpm as hard revving when cold can wear and damage the engine prematurely, if you are playing with a keyboard then give it short bursts of throttle repeating when the revs get below about 1500rpm.
• Make sure the car is in neutral or the clutch is fully depressed
• Check it has fuel and the bolt on the fuel lines by the tank is done up
• Ensure the engine is built properly (there should be no more parts) and all bolts are done up
Car Doesn’t Move
If the car starts and goes into gear but doesnt move:
• If auto-clutch is on then make sure the handbrake isn’t on.
• Check clutch linings for loose bolts then refill with clutch fluid (brake fluid.)
• Make sure all three parts of the clutch are put in (Clutch pressure plate, Clutch itself and Clutch cover plate.)
• Ensure all the gearbox bolts are tightened.
• Check halfshaft bolts to ensure they are tightened.
If the car lacks power after all this then adjust the distributor (see below for guide)
Car Drives For A Bit Then Stops
If the engine itself stops shortly after driving has begun:
• Make sure it hasn’t overheated and seized.
• Fill the car with oil if it hasn’t got any in it at the moment.
• If you have just gone into first gear at a silly speed like 200kmh then the engine will blow and pistons and bearings will fly out of the engine.
• Check the engine is bolted in correctly.
If the car grinds to a halt but the engine still works and the speedometer still shows speed as you accelerate:
• Check no wheels have fallen off. If so, replace and tighten bolts.
• Look for suspension parts scattered around then replace and tighten bolts.
• Check halfshaft bolts.
• Check to make sure the suspension isn’t so bent a wheel is off the floor.
Car Is Overheating
If the car keeps overheating:
Solution:
• Make sure all 4 radiator bolts are tightened and all hoses are attached as well as coolant is in the radiator.
• Readjust fan belt: Undo screw and adjust alternator until it squeaks then do the opposite until it doesn’t then one click more and then tighten the screw while standing in a place where tightening the screw will not adjust the alternator which can happen.
• Take off radiator hoses in order 1,2,3 then re-attach in order 1,2,3 then refill with coolant.
• Tune the carburetor to run a bit richer (between 13.5 and 16 while warm is perfect. If you dont have the gauge then look for faint transparent smoke (white smoke is lean and darker smoke is rich.)
• Make sure the car hasn’t been overheated before and has damaged the head gasket.
• Note the stock radiator is not good at all and will start to overheat while going full throttle espectlly on the highway with stock parts so before you modify the parts buy the racing radiator.
• Make sure the choke is pushed in all the way or nearly all the way in by the time the engine temerature is about a quarter way up the gauge as keeping it out will overheat the engine.
• Check the water pump if all else fails, it is easy to remove (Adjust alternator and remove fan belt, remove water pump pulley then water pump) and take it to fleetari to get a new one. Alternatively you can check the wear in MSCEditor
• Tighten radiator hoses and refill coolant.
You may seem skeptical about some of these but these remedies really do work!
Punctures
Punctures are caused when the tyre wear gets to 0, like a real tyre blowing out, but not quite as spectacular to see or dangerous. Excess wear can be caused much like real life by either spinning the wheels i.e. pulling away too fast by dumping the clutch on the limiter and although this looks very cool it destroys the tyres. Tyre wear rates also get increased by skidding e.g. doing handbrake turns; this is also a cool way to destroy tyres and the other main way is by locking up the tyres due to heavy braking. Heavy braking so that you lock up isn’t fun nor safe so it is the least recommended way to destroy your tyres. The other way to destroy tyres that doesn’t directly require driving is annoying the drunkard, he will pop your tyres when you steal his suitcase. New tyres can be gotten at Fleetari (Mechanic) for a fee and there is also a spare at the dump.
Camshaft adjustment
Please note: This ONLY applies to users on the experimental branch. If you are not, ignore this but be aware the next update will include this
Thanks to Commander Piglet for telling me to add this page
OK so now onto adjustment:
DO NOT START THE CAR YET OR IT WILL BREAK AT LEAST THE ROCKERSHAFT although you should know this if you are able to use the experimental branch and read the warnings
1. Adjust the alternator with the screw driver and remove fan belt
2. Remove water pump pulley (4x7mm bolts)
3. Remove water pump (5x7mm bolts)
4. Remove crankshaft pulley (1x11mm bolt)
5. Remove timing cover (6x6mm bolts)
6. Remove timing chain (Just right click it)
7. Adjust the camshaft gear with a 10mm socket/spanner until both markings line up like so
8. Reverse of dissasembly (timing chain, timing cover, crankshaft pulley, water pump, water pump pulley, fan belt and alternator)
9. Make sure you have your battery and oil filter installed as these will respawn to tiemos if you are using aftermarket ones (highly recommended) and fill radiator with coolant
10. Bring the mighty Satsuma back to life!
Quick note: if you are driving to the shop to get your batteries and oil filters, you might as well stop at Fleetaris and get a new water pump and alternator. It is not required to even remove the alternator but you might as well replace both while they are off the car as preventative maintainence as the alternator charging rate now depends on wear and who wants their water pump to fail randomly?
Distributor Adjustment (Timing)
If the car does not run right you can adjust the distributor as follows. It is reccommended as a first resort because it is so simple requiring no dissasembly
1. Scroll down to loosen the screw at the base of the distributor all the way until it visibly stops unscrewing
2. Scroll up 25-27 times to tighten it and adjust the timing
Done!
User Problems
This section is for people in the comments that had certain problems not necessarily on this guide but I was still able to suggest fixes and/or help fix these problems to both prevent excess commenting and to save time. Please note these are in time order so some names may be repeated. Thanks to RunKittensRComing for the suggestion:
Leif Öhman:
Problem with overheating at high speeds and using lots of oil/water; the head gasket causes the engine to overheat and excessively use oil and water especially at high speeds
jokke perkele:
A/F mixture always going up along with temperature; suggested to try the overheating fixes and a new head gasket sorted it out
MadDots:
Car won’t start and after it started won’t move because clutch fluid seemingly wasn’t filling up; the green bar goes up when filling and stops when fully filled (green bar should be at the end of the black rectangle) and the spark plugs need to be bolterd in with the spark plug wrench
PAPA JIMBO:
Satsuma had gone; Fleetari takes your car if he calls four times about you keeping his car after finishing a job. This takes about 5 days and missed calls count so never keep Fleetairs car for more than about 5 days at very most, he should finish all work in less than two days, usually less than 24 hours
Leif Öhman:
Smoke coming from engine bay when the engine is running; check exhaust header bolts to both the engine and to the pipe and if they are all tight replace the head gasket. there was also a problem of the car bouncing and stalling ramdomly; get the A/F gauge and make sure it is between 13 and 15 on a HOT engine (Middle of temp gauge)
raj198058:
Got a new fan belt and there is a whining noise and the alternator doesn’t work; adjust the fan belt and if that still doessn’t work get a new alternator and fit that then tighten
MP3:
Car not starting and the battery drains slowly; A/F mixture was only 9 on the racing carb, set it closer to 14 on a hot engine
NeonWildsurge:
Car not starting everthing checked, fuel in; saved and exited then bought a new battery from Tiemo and it worked
Bob Ross:
Smoke coming from engine bay; check exhaust header bolts to both the engine and to the pipe and if they are all tight replace the head gasket
Commander Piglet:
Engine keeps smoking; check exhaust header bolts to both the engine and to the pipe and if they are all tight replace the head gasket
Leif Öhman:
Car consuming oil like crazy; check all sump bolts including the big drain bolt
RunKittensRcoming:
Car unreponsive; get a new battery and tighten rockershaft
Mr Piotor:
Car making a wierd sound when starting; camshaft not aligned which breaks rockershaft. Get a new rockershaft and fit it
Leif Öhman:
Engine smoking; check all exhaust header bolts and replace head gasket.
MiikaH:
Car not moving; check all halfshaft bolts and make sure the drive gear is in
Mr Piotoir:
Lack of engine power; adjust distributor
Driving Tips:
Here are some tips for the satsuma so you don’t get caught out!
• Carry Brake fluid (I recommend 2), oil, coolant and the petrol jerry can so that in case you are stranded you have these vital fluids
• Although you may memorise the map after a while (I have), I recommend either printing the map or using a photo on a phone, tablet etc. with auto lock disabled or on at least 5 minutes. Here is a photo by me, feel free use it in any way but if you share it, give cedit to me please
• Be careful when driving on the highway, trucks or the bus may have cars overtaking them, the green techno car (Vauxhall Cavalier or Opel Vectra A) may swerve into your lane and try to hit you.
• Be careful on dirt roads of the green car and the corners circled are decieving when taken in the
direction the arrows show. Again feel free to save/print it as long as it is not claimed a being your own (give credit to me if shared):
• Always carry food and a case of beer in the front of the car just in case.
• The rear of the car is very light and slippery when unalden, although keeping the recommended supplies in the back (oil, coolant, petrol and brake/ clutch fluid) should keep it from being too bad, if it is still very slippery then put a case of beer or something in the boot.
• You shouldn’t drive/rev the car hard until it is warmed up as this will cause wear/damage to the engine prematurely. I recommend not going past 4000rpm until the temp needle is at least a quarter of the way up the gauge
• The tyres that you get when starting a new game as of the 5.12.2017 update WILL NOT pass the inspection. You need new tyres from fleetari and you have 4 choices. Standard tyres are what come on the satsuma; nothing special but they are cheap at 1750MK a set. Gomma Gobra tyres are an upgrade from the standard tyres but at still more road oriented so not the best offorad but an upgrade nonetheless. These cost 2110MK per set. Please note that only Standard and Gomma Gobra tyres will pass the inspection. Rally tyres are next and are required for rallying. They are excellent on dirt and OK on road. These are expensive costing 3200MK a set. And finally are the racing slicks. These are useless offroad but very good on road. They are to be used for drag racing and although nothing requires them at the moment like the other tyres this may change in the future. These cost 2950MK a set respectively.
• The caravan car will cause damage if it hits you. If involved in an accident it may swing out so be wary round this vehicle.
• The van and Sewage truck aren’t available at the start of the game. Make the most of the time you get with the van. Please note the occurrence of the uncle and van is randomised; there’s no guarantee on when he will be home
• The satsuma launch time dictates how long the car takes to crank before starting, this increases when the engine is cold meaning longer crank times. This is normal
On a non satsuma related note: the van will wobble chronically at about 110+kmh and the speed limit in both that and the sewage truck is 80km/h. In the other vehicles it is 100kmh and the Ferndale (muscle car) speedometer is in miles per hour instead of kilometers per hour so the speed limit is 62 although no one follows it. 😉
I hope you all liked my first guide, comment what you think, if your exact problem isn’t listed, feel free to ask in the comments section. Although I would check first to make sure it hasn’t been answered already. If you feel I am extraordinarily good then consider donating to me, I don’t put this at the start like some people, I don’t ask many times and remember: no amount is to little (or big but you know :)) paypal.me/shaunhuggins1. It is not expected of course but highly appreciated and you never know, you name may end up on this guide!
Thank you to whoever awarded the extra helpful, I owe you a beer 🙂