Anyone here fix their car themselves?

[SS1970chrysler]

I'd say I do about 95% of the work on mine and my family's cars, if they drive something I'm willing to work on. Even when they don't, I do what I can. Currently, my mother drives a '78 LTD and my brother uses a '73 Cougar as his 2nd car.
I have a 2 bay 25x25 foot garage and normally do most repairs outside in front of it. If I need to use it for bigger jobs, then I just move the cars stored inside out of the way temporarily.

 

[vtecboy]

I do all the work myself,the only time i was forced to take it to a shop was when i needed a new inner tie rod ends,i didn't had the special tool.

 

[Lyman]

Originally Posted By: Kestas

My sister once remarked that I enjoy working on cars. I had to think about that, because I don't. I told her that I enjoy watching TV. I work on cars because of the satisfaction I get on seeing the job well done, and I enjoy the money that's saved. Nobody will repair a car better than the owner.
This I can relate to. I feel the same way.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I do all my own work on my truck and my g/f's car. Only major stuff I can't do gets taken to a guy who does it for cash.

 

[Quest]

I maintain a small private fleet of approx. 14 vehicles (my family's, parents, my good friend's family + parents, extended families, next door neighbour's and their sons, etc.) It's a cash deal for me and I set my limitations based on my garage's limitations (e.g. cannot do extensive undercarrier/chassis work due to lack of hoist, etc.)

Q.

 

[Quest]

Oh, even though I still own a cherrypicker (engine hoist) @ my parent's garage, I now no longer do engine rebuild work (broke my pipette during house move, no time to shop for another one for engine blueprinting, + backpain, etc.)

I still do clutch work provided that the engine is still relatively easily accessible (e.g. small engine < 2L 4 cyl, FWD (no 4WD due to lack of hoist), etc. I don't trust outside shops (charged too much) for doing my clutch work and ditto with all the brake services and repair.

Q.

 

[bigjl]

I do most things these days but farm out stuff like cambelts or stuff needing heavy lifting.

Though, touch wood, no major issues recently.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
My vehicles are kept in a condition that they rarely ever need work, and it's been ages since I've had to do any major repairs (clutch, etc).

I don't understand what this means. Even above average preventive maintenance will not stop wear items like transmissions, suspension, water pumps, timing belts/chains, etc. from wearing out.


I don't consider something such as a timing belt major-it's routine maintenance and not all that hard, and it falls under the "rarely ever need any work" comment. Transmission? Other than fluid/filter changes I haven't had to work on one in 20+ years (most vehicles are kept 200,000 miles or more). The last time I had to open an engine was at least 15 years ago. Water pumps, suspension components, etc are all part of routine maintenance, and not difficult. Again, they fall under the "rarely ever need any work" comment since they are items that only need done once in the average vehicles life span.

I haven't had to replace a clutch in 20 or more years. Our current Subaru has about 120,000 miles on it and the clutch is still just fine, so I don't expect any issues with it anytime soon.

 

[DB_Cooper]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
The Vanagon on the left looks really nice.
Ours was an '81 and therefore air cooled, though.
Were you doing an engine transplant?


The blue 88 Vanagon was hit in the left rear about a month after an engine rebuild..sigh..very nice Vanagon..the white Vanagon was better.

Found the white 91 Vanagon in Texas with a sick engine and transmission (auto) that belonged to the German envoy. Very well kept and some nice Euro accessories on it too.

The transaxle case was cracked by the accident in the 88, so an engine transplant and complete transmission rebuild got me going again. Installed Audi 5000 turbo internals in the rebuilt 91 automatic. Very heavy duty. Four gear planetary gear sets and clutches. Brass thrust washers rather than plastic, etc.

Did it all under the shade tree three years ago. The 91 runs out very well.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
I don't consider something such as a timing belt major-it's routine maintenance and not all that hard, and it falls under the "rarely ever need any work" comment.


Routine, yes. Rare? When I bought my car, it was every 3 years for a timing belt (100kmile interval, and I was driving over 32k/year). Not sure if that counts as "rare".

As for easy... my VW probably isn't a good benchmark for that. It's not a bad job: but get it wrong and the parts list starts around $2k and goes up from there.

[When I bought the car, I did so knowing it was around $700/100kmiles to do the timing belt. On a cost/mile basis, it was neglible. Still is. But I've done timing belts more often than brakes on this car.]

 

[KrisZ]

Browsing through the dealer service records, for my recently purchased Focus, made me and especially my wife realize just how much money we're saving with me doing the maintenance and repairs. Some of the things the previous owner was charged for, were ridiculously expensive and a lot of times not needed. There were few $300 glorified oil changes with "inspections". The spark plugs, rated for 100k miles were changed two times in 80k miles! The EGR, which is very easy to change on these cars, was around $500 mark!

Few weeks ago I helped a coworker with rear brakes on his Mazda 3. It turned out his parking cable was frozen and caliper pins were sticking, which caused his rear brakes to not engage. He drove like that for a while because the rear rotors were rusted with no pad contact patch visible. I freed up the parking brake cable and lubed up the pins in about an hour and half. He will definitely need new rotors and pads soon, but at least I got them to work again. If he went to a mechanic, or worse, a dealer, he would end up getting a new parking cable, most likely new calipers and of course pads and rotors. Most likely a $1200-1500 job after taxes.

So why do I DIY again?... oh yes I remember, I love working on cars

 

[GearheadTool]

I do what I can! Though, some cars you can "fix" more things yourself than on others. (Computer controls, etc etc.)

 

[fdcg27]

Wow, that thing looks nice!
I really liked our Vanagon.
Fun to drive for a van, really spacious and really solidly built.
The thing even shifted well, or at least as well as a 911 or any other rear engined machine.
Kudos for having such a nice one.

 

[MinamiKotaro]

I do all my work myself. There's always the "time vs. money" argument I see bandied about, i.e. "the time you save having a shop do it is more than worth the money you spend". I enjoy working on cars more than just about anything else, so in my case it's time well spent as well as money saved.

Plus, I've yet to find a repair shop that can fix it anywhere near as well as I can myself. Re-repairing something a shop "fixed" on one of my friend's cars is something I do pretty often.

 

[DB_Cooper]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Wow, that thing looks nice!
I really liked our Vanagon.
Fun to drive for a van, really spacious and really solidly built.
The thing even shifted well, or at least as well as a 911 or any other rear engined machine.
Kudos for having such a nice one.


Thanks