Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 is a garage management and repair sim from Red Dot Games and PlayWay S.A., released on Steam on August 11, 2021. The campaign is built around blue Story Orders: fixed customer jobs that unlock as you level, teach new systems, and eventually push you into full engine, suspension, body, paint, and diagnostic work.
This guide is written for players who want to clear the story jobs cleanly without wasting credits or tearing half a car apart for one hidden bushing. It is not a copied part-by-part dump. Instead, it gives you the full job order, the workflow that solves almost every story car, the places where new players lose money, and the cleanup plan for barns, junkyard builds, tuning, and achievements after the campaign.
What type of guide is this?
For 9puz, this is best treated as a story missions and progression guide. The game has puzzle-like diagnosis, but it is not a puzzle walkthrough in the escape-room sense. The useful structure is:
- Campaign route: the 30 story orders and their unlock rhythm.
- Repair method: how to find hidden bad parts with testing tools and inspection habits.
- Economy: when to buy, when to repair, and when a full rebuild is a money trap.
- Cleanup: barns, junkyard cars, tuning, full restorations, and late achievements.
Before you start: the garage rules that matter
Story orders usually fail for one of three reasons: a missed hidden part, an empty fluid reservoir, or a part installed below the customer’s required condition. Before accepting a big blue order, build these habits.
| Habit | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Inspect first, remove second. | Examine Mode, test path, compression test, OBD scanner, multimeter, fuel pressure tester, and brake test reveal parts before you create a messy pile. |
| Drain fluids before pulling fluid-connected parts. | Radiators, oil pans, brake components, power steering, and coolant jobs can penalize you if you forget the drain tool. |
| Use the job list as your checklist. | A story order can hide unidentified items. Keep reopening the order panel until every required line is satisfied. |
| Do not sell old parts until the order is done. | If you accidentally remove a good part, comparing it with the old stack can save time and money. |
| Replace every required fluid at the end. | Oil, brake fluid, coolant, power steering, and washer fluid are easy to forget because they are not always visible as broken parts. |
The 30 story orders in order
The blue story jobs are fixed. Early jobs introduce belts, filters, brakes, bushings, and fluids; the middle stretch adds body and paint work; the late campaign expects you to diagnose wider systems and manage large shopping lists. The readable references agree on the following 30-car order:
| # | Story car | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxor Baronne | Intro engine service, filters, tires, and basic fluids. |
| 2 | Griffin Tyro | Brakes, ignition, belts, bushings, and multiple fluid changes. |
| 3 | Vallsen 2040 | Larger engine accessory job with fuel, relay, radiator, clutch, and timing parts. |
| 4 | Hinata Moon MK1 SUN RISE | More hidden internal parts; expect deeper engine and suspension teardown. |
| 5 | Bolt Hornet | First notable body-repair lesson alongside mechanical work. |
| 6 | Salem GW500 | Mixed mechanical repair; test before dismantling. |
| 7 | Ribbsan Starline | Suspension and driveline work starts to become more involved. |
| 8 | FMW Panther MK1 Performance | Performance-oriented parts and careful engine bay checking. |
| 9 | Bolt Cargo | Bigger vehicle, more repeated parts, higher chance of missed bushings or brakes. |
| 10 | Hinata Kagura SX | Midgame diagnostic job; use tools before buying parts. |
| 11 | Royal Town | Classic car layout; check old suspension, exhaust, and body pieces. |
| 12 | Edgewood Hellcat | Muscle-car service with engine and driveline attention. |
| 13 | Emden Jager | Compact layout; hidden ignition and suspension faults are common pain points. |
| 14 | Sakura Takumi Velin | Expect multi-system work; keep a written or on-screen shopping pass. |
| 15 | Delray Highroad | Large vehicle, repeated suspension parts, and body-panel cleanup. |
| 16 | Sixon Cebulion | Last level-gated early story job in the readable list; by now diagnostics should be routine. |
| 17 | Ribbsan Z530 | Late campaign job; expect broader part coverage. |
| 18 | Hinata Kagura | Use tests to narrow down unknowns before stripping the car. |
| 19 | Sixon Cebulion | A second Cebulion order with a different repair profile. |
| 20 | Lacroix Fret | Check drivetrain, brakes, and suspension as a complete system. |
| 21 | Elenti Callope | Small car, but still verify fluids and electronics. |
| 22 | Sceo LX550 | Luxury/SUV-style job; higher part count and careful wheel-side checks. |
| 23 | Mayen M8 | Engine bay and accessory work; confirm every clip, cover, and belt path. |
| 24 | Zephyr L-Series | Older-car repair profile with body and suspension checks. |
| 25 | Bolt Mosquito MK6 | Compact performance-style work; do not overlook small ignition pieces. |
| 26 | Bolt Atlanta | Classic restoration-style order; body and mechanical tasks can overlap. |
| 27 | Hinata Moon MK2 | Late job with fuller teardown logic; use repair benches where allowed. |
| 28 | Salem Spectre | Classic muscle layout; tune your process before starting. |
| 29 | Salem 1500 | Near-final check of your ability to combine diagnosis, repair, and shopping. |
| 30 | Olsen GTR | Final story order; treat it as a full professional workflow rather than a quick fix. |
A reliable story mission workflow
Use this routine on every blue order. It is faster than guessing, and it keeps the garage profitable.
1. Read the order before touching the car
Look for four things: minimum part condition, body repair requirements, fluid requirements, and undiscovered parts. If an order asks for parts above a condition threshold, do not install cheap low-condition junkyard parts just because they fit. The job will still refuse completion.
2. Run every relevant test you have unlocked
The test path identifies suspension and brake problems. The compression tester helps with pistons, rings, valves, and deeper engine damage. The OBD scanner, multimeter, and fuel pressure tester narrow down electronics, relays, fuses, fuel pump, and ignition problems. Even if a test does not reveal everything, it usually reduces the search area enough to avoid wild teardown.
3. Strip by system, not by panic
If the order points to front suspension, remove the wheel, brake, hub, and arms on one side, inspect the revealed parts, then move to the other side. If it points to engine timing, remove covers and belts in a controlled order. If you tear down every visible part at once, you create a second problem: remembering which good parts belonged where.
4. Build the shopping list after inspection
Use the part list in the job panel and your inventory names. Buy in batches, but avoid buying every nearby part just because you are already in the shop. Story jobs pay well enough if you are accurate; they feel poor when you buy unnecessary parts and sell them back at a loss.
5. Repair what the game lets you repair
As your garage expands, repair benches can restore many body and mechanical parts. They cannot save everything, and they cost time, but they are excellent for larger late-game jobs and for cars you plan to restore and sell. For customer story orders, repair is best when the part is expensive and safely above the required condition after repair.
6. Refill and recheck before finishing
At the end, refill every required fluid, reinstall all clips and covers, mount balanced wheels, align if needed, then check the order panel. A job that looks complete but will not submit usually has one of these issues: a missing clip, an unbalanced tire, the wrong tire size or ET, an empty fluid reservoir, a part under the minimum condition, or a hidden bushing still marked unknown.
Fluids: the quiet story-job killer
The early story cars teach this immediately: changing parts is not enough if the order also asks for fluids. Make this your final checklist:
- Engine oil: drain old oil first when required, replace the oil filter if listed, then refill from the engine bay.
- Brake fluid: refill after brake component work; the reservoir can be easy to miss.
- Coolant: drain before removing radiator or coolant-linked parts, then refill.
- Power steering fluid: check after steering rack, pump, or steering-related jobs.
- Windshield washer fluid: simple, cheap, and often forgotten.
If you are stuck at 95-99% completion and the part list looks clean, check fluids before you dismantle anything else.
Hidden parts and common mistakes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Order says parts are undiscovered. | A testable part was skipped or is hidden behind another assembly. | Run tests, then inspect the nearby system piece by piece. |
| Brake job will not finish. | Pads, ventilated discs, calipers, ABS, or fluid missed. | Check both axles and refill brake fluid. |
| Suspension job still incomplete. | Rubber bushings, wheel hub bearings, sway bar links, or arms overlooked. | Use the test path and inspect every mirrored part on both sides. |
| Engine starts but order is blocked. | A belt, roller, clip, relay, fuse, spark plug, wire, or filter is still bad. | Use OBD/multimeter/fuel tests, then check accessories and electronics. |
| Wheel task fails. | Wrong tire size, width, profile, rim size, or ET; wheel not balanced. | Match the exact tire/rim spec and use the balancer before reinstalling. |
| Body/paint task fails. | A panel was replaced but not repaired/painted to the required condition. | Use the body repair station and paint shop when the order specifies it. |
Money and XP strategy during the campaign
The safest route is to prioritize story jobs, then use regular customer jobs only when you need XP, credits, or practice with a system. Avoid buying junkyard projects too early unless you are comfortable with a long rebuild. A half-restored project car ties up money in parts and garage space, while story orders pay and unlock tools.
- Upgrade diagnostic tools early. They pay for themselves by preventing blind purchases.
- Expand garage functions before vanity spending. Test path, repair benches, paint, welder, engine stand, and auction/junkyard access all open new options.
- Use repair benches for expensive parts. Cheap filters and bushings are not worth fussing over; body panels, engine pieces, and larger mechanical parts often are.
- Keep a small cash buffer. A late story order can require many parts at once. Do not sink every credit into a personal build right before a big customer job.
- Sell repaired project cars, not half-finished experiments. Profit comes from buying low, welding body/frame condition, restoring mechanical condition, and selling at a higher value.
Barns, junkyard, shopping lists, and late cleanup
After the story campaign, the game opens into completion work: buying cars in poor condition, rebuilding engines, restoring bodies, tuning performance parts, visiting barns, and filling achievements. The readable Steam Community references are especially useful here because they focus on practical shopping and location planning.
Barns and junkyard
Barns are useful for rare cars, parts, crates, maps, and restoration projects. One older Steam guide describes editing save files to create 99 barns, but it also notes that newer saves became encrypted after updates, so treat that as outdated and risky rather than a normal recommendation. The safe in-game approach is to search the junkyard and barns naturally, keep barn maps when you find them, and use those trips to stock parts or find candidate project cars.
Shopping-list discipline
Community shopping-list guides exist for every car and every engine, and their real lesson is simple: large builds become easy when you know the exact part family before you buy. When rebuilding a car from scratch, identify the engine type, tire/rim specs, gearbox, suspension layout, and electronic parts first. Then buy by system: engine block and internals, timing, ignition, intake/exhaust, drivetrain, suspension, brakes, body, interior, wheels, fluids.
Achievement cleanup
The requested TrueAchievements walkthrough pages were blocked during collection, so this article does not claim a verified achievement-by-achievement route. A careful cleanup plan is still straightforward:
- Finish all 30 story orders first; this unlocks tools, money, XP, and familiarity.
- Then grind regular orders for any level, money, or job-count achievements.
- Use barns, junkyard, salon, and auctions for collection or purchase-related achievements.
- Save full restorations and tuning-heavy builds for late game, when the garage can repair, paint, weld, test, and dyno efficiently.
- Keep separate notes for any achievement that depends on a specific action, because completion trackers can vary by platform.
Recommended story-order checklist
Here is the short version to keep beside you while playing:
- Accept one blue story order at a time.
- Read minimum condition, fluids, body, paint, and undiscovered-part requirements.
- Run all unlocked tests that apply to the car.
- Inspect the target systems before removing large assemblies.
- Remove parts by system and keep good old parts until the order submits.
- Buy exact replacements, matching tire/rim sizes and part variants carefully.
- Repair expensive eligible parts if they can meet the required condition.
- Reinstall, balance wheels, refill fluids, and recheck the order panel.
- Only submit when every line is green.
- After story completion, move into barns, junkyard restorations, tuning, and platform-specific achievements.
Sources and credits
Official game metadata and images: Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 on Steam. Story order and repair-flow facts were cross-checked against readable community story-order, car-shopping, engine-shopping, barn, and junkyard references. Blocked Fandom and TrueAchievements pages were saved as failed/challenge fetches and were not used as verified sources.