What kind of Mechanic/DIY person are you?

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Originally Posted By: artbuc
Originally Posted By: 2dogs
I do the simple stuff. However, with advancing age and with cars getting more complicated, even the simple stuff is getting more difficult.

Funny, I think cars are much less complicated than back in the 60’s when I started driving and wrenching. Fuel injection vs carbs, disc instead of drum brakes, etc.

I don’t miss rebuilding carburetors or changing points, or even plugs every 25k miles or so.

I think things have become more simple in many ways. One still has to know basic troubleshooting, but what is different is merely how the fuel and spark get to the engine. And the computer can tell you what it sees to help you figure out why one or both are not arriving.

There are a lot of parts swappers out there. Perhaps what modern technology has done is dumbed down engines and some , but not all techs.

I too wish diagnostics and tasks were as simple as they used to be. Carburetors were never a problem with me. I'll take a tune-up with points over the problems modern cars have today. I'm finding myself replacing parts that never existed before. And some of these parts are downright expensive... some cost more than a complete carburetor! And some problems are seemingly unresolvable.

I looked through the shop manual for my 22 year old Mercedes. There must be a couple hundred relays and switches on the car! Some of them are labeled with names that I have no idea what they do! Yet every 3000 miles, one of them goes bad and needs diagnosis and repair. Yes, it's a Mercedes, but even the more pedestrian cars are reaching that level of sophistication.

 

[Anduril]

My vehicles don't see a shop unless they have to (or in the case of the wife's Versa, have free maintenance and are under warranty). I've done fluid changes, brakes, basic maintenance stuff, I do my own tires with a HF manual changer, the most "involved" repair I've ever done was the A/C compressor on my Cavalier, done in the driveway at my leisure over 3 days since we have more vehicles than people. Also installed radios, USB ports, trailer hitches, an inverter in my truck, that kind of thing. Installed a trans cooler in the truck and welded up my own mount for it.

Never been inside of an engine/transmission. My bike is due for a valve adjustment soon, I'm going to be farming that one out. Unless I can find a good enough YouTube video/DIY write-up with detailed pictures, then I might try it myself. Hard to justify paying someone else $100/hour when I have a pair of hands, a decent set of tools, and most repairs basically just amount to following instructions anyways.

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: Kira
... own a compressor?


I really can't think of any reasons why someone shouldn't own one.

Harb Frght sells a really nice 12-volt high volume one with a removable yellow coiled hose. I came back to the minivan at the airport after being gone for two weeks to find a flat tire. That right there made it one of the best $20 I have ever spent.

I carry a patch kit and a 12v compressor in each of our vehicles. Saved my [censored] once when my truck got a flat in the middle of nowhere - patched the tire, filled it back up, and was back on the road without much fuss. Yeah I could have used the spare I suppose, but that's a pain to deal with. Wish it was that easy on my motorcycle (it has tubes) since I picked up a screw in the tire in a parking lot was about 60 miles from home. Luckily we have a flatbed trailer and my wife could come get me, because that would have been an expensive tow (and if you count the cost of maintaining a wife, it still was!)

 

[pjhalifax]

I would say I'm in the "average" category. I like to do my own work when I can. Fluid changes, belts, brakes, spark plugs, any component I can get to, basically.

I typically approach projects with 2 main criteria: can I do it safely, and can I save money? The second part is the easiest and most fun (for me, at least). I price out a project with any included tools and compare that to what I'd expect a shop to charge. If the numbers work out, I get a fun project and maybe even a shopping trip to get some tools. Half the fun is digging around online for advice.

The first part - safety - has changed since my son was born. I was always cautious getting under a lifted car before, but now it's pretty much out of the question. Who knows...maybe that will change later. But right now (he's 3) I'm nervous working under a car and I don't want to approach a project with anxiety. I feel like I'm more prone to making a mistake that way, if that makes any sense.

 

[rustypigeon]

I guess I would be called an advanced DIY guy. I have done all my own repairs and maintenance for the last 20 years. I taught myself how to repair cars right after I started driving in the early 1990's. Youtube didn't exist then. Household internet was not common. I bought myself tech school textbooks to learn some of the more advanced things about cars. I found the Haines manuals too simple for anyone wanted to do more than general maintenance.

In addition to the common maintenance items, I have done numerous electrical diagnostics, timing belts and chains, struts, fuel pumps, partial engine rebuilds, starter and alternator rebuilds, rebuilt 2 different automatic transmissions. etc.

I have had other people, including a professional shop mechanic, call me up to help diagnose vehicle problems.

I have tools that most DIY guys don't have. Compression testers, leakdown testers, fuel and oil pressure gauges, spark testers, oscilloscopes, numerous multimeters, micrometers, depth gauges, dial indicators, full set of torque wrenches, specialty automatic transmission tools, etc.

 

[Piston_slap]

Back in the 70's I would pull an engine and rebuild it, did the same for a few Ford Automatic xmissions (FMX, C-6, C-4). Pull the axles for gear ratio changes and ofcourse tuneups and brakes. Older now and minus a leg limits me to brake jobs and shocks. The rest goes to an independent shop.

 

[SeaJay]

None, zero. The time it takes me to do these repairs is far more valuable to me than the cost of paying someone else much more quickly and efficiently than I can.

 

[camrydriver111]

I do simple DIY.

Oil, filters, belts, spark plugs, brakes, easy to change gaskets, etc.

For everything else I take my car in.

Originally Posted By: SeaJay
None, zero. The time it takes me to do these repairs is far more valuable to me than the cost of paying someone else much more quickly and efficiently than I can.


If something is fast and easy I find it's less effort to do it on my driveway on a weekend, than to drive my car across town during a weekday, get it looked at, order parts and schedule the work afterwards.

For example my windshield washer pump was leaking, putting a new one in was 30 minutes of my time. Driving to the shop and back once would have been 30 minutes, and I live in a small town.

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
I do simple DIY.

Oil, filters, belts, spark plugs, brakes, easy to change gaskets, etc.

For everything else I take my car in.

Originally Posted By: SeaJay
None, zero. The time it takes me to do these repairs is far more valuable to me than the cost of paying someone else much more quickly and efficiently than I can.


If something is fast and easy I find it's less effort to do it on my driveway on a weekend, than to drive my car across town during a weekday, get it looked at, order parts and schedule the work afterwards.

For example my windshield washer pump was leaking, putting a new one in was 30 minutes of my time. Driving to the shop and back once would have been 30 minutes, and I live in a small town.


Drop the car off at my indie shop early in the morning on my way to work (catch a train from near there) and pick it up on the way home. He only fixes what I ask him to fix, or something that needs fixing (phone call first of course), no trying to sell me something that may be nice to have.

 

[Duffyjr]

Part of being 60 years old is learning your limitations and working on vehicles is one of mine. Sure back in the day when I was nimble I did a lot of my own wrenching, starters, alternators, shocks and general maintenance but never any thing major. Furthest I went on my own was a valve cover gasket on a 250 six banger in my 67 chevy pickup and I remember the dang thing still leaked a little but not as bad. Timing light, vacuum gauge, dwell/tach and a $40 set of craftsman tools could get a lot done back then.

 

[marine65]

I used to do a lot,starters,alternators,in tank fuel pumps, water pumps,brakes,etc.
Now that I'm 70 I pay people to do it.
I don't even change the oil myself anymore. I buy Syn oil and a good filter and pay Jiffy lube $30 to change it.
I'll probably do spark plugs as both my cars are 4 bangers and the plugs are easy to change.
There comes a time when you got to say that's enough.
I've been a shade tree mechanic since I was 15.

 

[ZZman]

I loved reading these. Some talented and smart people here.

 

[ls1mike]

If it isn't setting up a rear end or rebuilding a transmission I will do it.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
If it isn't setting up a rear end or rebuilding a transmission I will do it.


Likewise here. Done it all in house for decades. Saves a ton of money that we get to keep!!!

 

[Delta]

Depends on the vehicle, really. Everything on the S10 is DIY from me because it simply isn't worth enough to have a "pro" work on it. The GTI gets simple fluid and filter changes by me and dealer for anything while under warranty. After that it will go to the European repair shop a town over for anything over my head. The Camry seems laid out simple (belt, hoses, etc.) and gets fluid and filter changes by me right now. The Jeep is not bad to service either, so I do what I can on it. I'm well mechanically inclined, but half of what goes wrong seems to be electrical issues. If it's not a simple circuit, I'm not touching it.

 

[BAJA_05]

My hands are entirely to big to wrench & I dont have much luck with patience.