Find Motors in ARC Raiders by breaching car hoods in Mechanical areas, especially Water Treatment on Dam Battlegrounds and the highway vehicles on Blue Gate.
You can also search the shipping containers beneath Primary Facility, giving you a useful alternative to opening another row of car hoods. Your first target is three intact Motors for Refiner Level 3. Equip a loadout with a Safe Pocket before deploying, protect each find, and keep those upgrade materials separate from anything you plan to recycle.
Where should you search for Motors?
Motors are Rare mechanical recyclables. Start with areas marked Mechanical on the map, then search vehicle engine compartments, shipping-container shelves, drawers, and breachable containers. Industrial facilities also contain suitable search targets.
Choose a route around the objects you want to loot. Blue Gate offers concentrated vehicle searches, while Primary Facility on Dam Battlegrounds gives you container shelves and cabinets to check alongside breachable cubes.
| Search location | What to open | Why choose it? | Main consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Gate, Highway Collapse toward Checkpoint | Car hoods and buses | Numerous vehicles along a repeatable route | Surface searches leave you exposed |
| Dam Battlegrounds, Water Treatment | Car hoods and mechanical containers | A direct target for vehicle-based Motor hunting | Search the vehicles and interactive containers throughout the area |
| Dam Battlegrounds, Primary Facility underground dock | Shelves and cabinets inside red and blue shipping containers | A container-focused alternative to vehicle searches | Shelf spawns vary between raids |
| Blue Gate, Warehouse Complex tunnels | Underground vehicles | Many cars beneath the complex | Underground enemies add risk |
A Motor is a possible find, not a guaranteed reward for breaching a vehicle. Search several suitable objects rather than building your entire run around one car.
How do you farm Motors on Blue Gate?
Follow the highway vehicles toward Checkpoint
Start at Highway Collapse and work toward Checkpoint, searching the vehicles along the road. This keeps your attention on a concentrated set of Motor-capable containers instead of sending you across Blue Gate to unrelated buildings.
Use this sequence:
- Breach car hoods along the highway route.
- Search buses you encounter as well.
- Move any Motor into your Safe Pocket as soon as you find it.
- Head to extraction once you have the Motors you need or have finished the nearby vehicles.
These vehicle searches can also produce Light Bulbs. If both items are on your shopping list, the ARC Raiders Light Bulb farming routes give you additional locations to target after securing your Motors.
Blue Gate vehicle search route
Should you search the Warehouse Complex tunnels?
The Warehouse Complex offers another vehicle-heavy option. Go to Building B, continue to the back, and use the road zipline leading underground. Search the cars throughout the tunnels, then use the nearby Warehouse Airshaft extraction when you finish.
Ticks and Fireballs can appear underground. Choose the Warehouse Complex because you want its vehicle density, and bring equipment suitable for those encounters. For a straightforward surface route, stick with Highway Collapse and the road toward Checkpoint.
How do you farm Motors on Dam Battlegrounds?
Primary Facility suits short, focused raids: search the dock containers, check the nearby cubes, and extract.
Search Water Treatment vehicles
Water Treatment Control combines Mechanical and Industrial loot, making it a sensible place to start on Dam Battlegrounds. Check car hoods and searchable mechanical containers in the Water Treatment area.
Car hoods are a common Motor source, so make them a deliberate part of your Water Treatment search. Opening containers inside the facility gives you additional chances without committing to a completely different loot category.
Check the underground dock beneath Primary Facility
At Primary Facility, head to the underground dock below the main facility and inspect the red and blue shipping containers. Search their shelves and cabinets rather than stopping after checking the vehicles outside.
The dock has three shipping-container spawn positions, with zero to two shelf spawns at each. That variation makes a thorough sweep worthwhile, but the number of shelves is not a promise of Motors.
Search Primary Facility shelves
Breachable cubes in the underground area can also contain Motors, Rusted Tools, and Rusted Gear. If Gunsmith upgrades are competing for your attention, the ARC Raiders Rusted Tools farming guide helps you identify another useful item to keep during these searches.
Loot refreshes between raids, so you can repeat that search instead of extending every attempt into a full-map expedition.
Where else can you find Motors?
Spaceport and Buried City offer vehicle-based alternatives when your raid takes you elsewhere. Other Mechanical areas worth checking include locations on Stella Montis, Riven Tides, and Pendola Pass.
| Map | Locations to search | Search focus |
|---|---|---|
| Spaceport | Vehicle Maintenance | Searchable vehicles and engine compartments |
| Buried City | Parking Garage and the central highway | Vehicles across the garage floors or along the elevated road |
| Stella Montis | Sandbox, Assembly, and Loading Bay | Mechanical loot searches |
| Riven Tides | Weighing Checkpoint | Mechanical and Industrial loot |
| Pendola Pass | Railroad Junction and Railyard | Mechanical loot, with Industrial loot also at Railyard |
Is Buried City's Parking Garage worth checking?
The Parking Garage puts searchable vehicles on multiple levels, including the basement and rooftop. Work through each floor so you cover the building's vehicle concentration rather than checking only the entrance level.
Buried City's central highway is another option, with breachable vehicles along its elevated road. Pick the garage for a contained, multi-floor search or the highway for a vehicle sweep along the road.
Buried City vehicle search
How do you protect Motors before extracting?
Use a custom loadout with an Augment that provides a Safe Pocket. Free loadouts do not provide the protection you want for this farming task. Items placed in your Safe Pocket survive if you die before extraction.
Each Motor weighs 3 kg and stacks to 3, so a full stack weighs 9 kg. Account for that weight before filling your inventory with other mechanical loot, and move a Motor into the protected slot immediately rather than leaving it in your backpack until extraction.
Should you choose a Night Raid?
Night Raids offer increased loot value, but they also have fewer active Return Points and no active Raider Hatches. Choose one if you are comfortable with those extraction restrictions and the increased ARC presence.
For a focused Motor search, the useful habit stays the same: search a concentrated group of vehicles or containers, protect your finds, and leave. Blue Gate's highway vehicles and Primary Facility's dock both support that approach.
How many Motors do you need for Refiner Level 3?
Upgrading the Refiner from Level 2 to Level 3 requires:
- 3 Motors
- 10 ARC Circuitry
- 6 Bombardier Cells
Refiner Level 3 unlocks refining for Rare and Epic parts. Keep your first three Motors intact until that upgrade is complete, even if you currently need Oil or Mechanical Components.
Motor runs can also bring back materials for other stations. If Gunsmith Level 3 is another goal, keep its three Rusted Gear separate too; the ARC Raiders Rusted Gear farming guide covers targeted searches for that requirement.
Should you keep, sell, recycle, or salvage Motors?
Your Refiner progress should decide what happens to a Motor. Before Level 3, keep it. Afterward, choose between materials and Raider Coins based on what you need.
| Action | Result per Motor | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | One intact Motor toward the 3 required | Refiner Level 3 is unfinished |
| Recycle at the Workshop | 2 Oil and 2 Mechanical Components | You need both crafting materials |
| Salvage in a raid | 3 Oil | You specifically need Oil during the raid |
| Sell | Raider Coins | The upgrade is finished, and you prefer coins to materials |
Salvaging gives 3 Oil, while Workshop recycling gives 2 Oil plus 2 Mechanical Components. The trade-off is specific: salvaging produces more Oil per Motor, but gives you no Mechanical Components and leaves no intact Motor for the upgrade.
Can you craft or buy Motors?
Motors have no crafting recipe and are not sold by traders. Obtain intact Motors by looting vehicles, containers, and other suitable searchable objects.
For your next attempt, choose Blue Gate's highway vehicles or Dam Battlegrounds' Water Treatment and Primary Facility searches. Protect each Motor, reserve three for the Refiner, and process only the extras. Recheck the Refiner upgrade screen after updates before spending your saved materials.
