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I'd like to be able to do more maintenance on my own but I have a major fear - I don't want to end up messing something much in my attempt at doing the repair myself and not being able to revert back.
Then I'm in a major bind.. not only is the car no longer working but I don't have the means to drive to a mechanic or auto parts store! The only option at this point is to call an expensive tow truck.
I'm not a very mechanically inept person and I may be capable of doing auto maintenance myself.. but I don't wish to take the risk of putting myself in the situation described above. I have no problem fixing other things around the house on my own like computers, appliances, furniture, etc. because if I screw up, I can still drive to the store to get replacement parts. But that does NOT apply to fixing my car.
It may not save me money or time, but at least when I do it, I know its done correctly. I've seen too many bad mechanic jobs to trust them for pretty much anything anymore. I'd rather mess something up, and stop there, then have a mechanic mess something up, cover it up, and let it come back to haunt me.
I can, and have, rebuilt cars from the ground up. Mechanical, electrical, body and paint. I do as much of the interior work as can be done without sewing, but seat upholstery and convertible top sewing (if a custom one has to be made) I have to farm out. I try and do as much as I can myself, but, I'm willing to checkbook a repair if I just don't have time. But I have to really trust the place I'm taking the car to (and usually it's because I know the guy doing the work is an expert on that particular car).
Now, one thing I will do even if I take to mechanic is buy my own parts and oils. They tend to put cheap ****, I need to know what they are putting in there. I think its fair that they give us a choice of what quality part they are putting in.
I know a lot of quality shops, including my own back whan I had it, that really did NOT like you bringing in your own parts. And the reason was the same as you gave for bringing them in: Too many customers brought in cheap knock-off crap or had bought the part for the wrong car, so if you tried to put it in/fit it (especially body parts), there was twice as much labor involved trying to make it work and often it never did. Made the shop look bad because the customer would think it was due to the shop's incompetence when it was really the cheap crap the customer wanted installed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deez Nuttz
My only beef with FWD is sometimes it's a PITA replacing simple things like plug wires or a cap and rotor. I dunno about the exhaust manifold.
Sometimes it's hard to do that with RWD cars. We gotta quit with the blanket statements. Most FWD cars are simply 4 cyl cars, and as such, are as easy to get to those parts as any other car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gimme3steps
You have obviously never changed the plugs and wires on a Dodge minivan. Or the alternator.
Or the rear plugs on a mid-size GM V6.
Or a distributor cap or module on an older GM compact.
I could go on...
No different than trying to get to the front accessories, etc on a full size chevy or Ford van:
it's a PITA to get to spark plugs and the like in here:
I'd like to be able to do more maintenance on my own but I have a major fear - I don't want to end up messing something much in my attempt at doing the repair myself and not being able to revert back.
Then I'm in a major bind.. not only is the car no longer working but I don't have the means to drive to a mechanic or auto parts store! The only option at this point is to call an expensive tow truck.
I'm not a very mechanically inept person and I may be capable of doing auto maintenance myself.. but I don't wish to take the risk of putting myself in the situation described above. I have no problem fixing other things around the house on my own like computers, appliances, furniture, etc. because if I screw up, I can still drive to the store to get replacement parts. But that does NOT apply to fixing my car.
The answer to this is to have more than one car. And/or motorcycle, or some other means of transport. DIY on the one and only car that you have available is stressful and unpleasant, plus what do you do when you take something apart and find that there is something else wrong that you didn't anticipate going in to the job? For me with several old, cheap cars in the fleet, I can continue to work on the one in the service bay and drive something else.
Consider, particularly, an old pickup truck as a "first second" car - maybe not as economical as your daily, but it will do fine for a few days or a couple of weeks, plus it's handy to have to haul bulky items.
I grew up my dad was a mechanic and when I was 15 I could rebuild any car I wanted.
I got older I started building cabinets when I was 18 and still do.
As I got older I decided I really dont like working on cars and getting all greasy anymore and started taking my cars in to get oil changed and maintenance.
After a couple of more complicated jobs that I ended up having fix myself after paying some one else to do,I figured out its easier to just do it my self than to try to get someone else to do.
So know I have a 2 car garage plus a 24 x 36 heated shop in the back yard and I take care of all of my cars and my kids cars even if I dont like getting greasy. In the long run its Still easier for me.
And like buying cool tools so that makes it fun some time
Depends.. when i was younger, i had a 1979 Cutlass Supreme with a 305.. my buddy and i replaced the camshaft and put on an aluminum intake in one afternoon ay his huose, another day we swapped the punny tranny with a built Turbo350.. i have done brake jobs, water pumps, alternators, pretty much everything short of a complete rebuild. Now, i moved to another state and live in an apartment, so i lost my parents garage to work in. I did swap my wifes alternator in her Focus a few weekends ago in the 28 degree cold weather. The local mecahniac wanted $425 to do it, the alternator cost $175. No thanks.. but the brakes on my F150 i had to have a shop do, because i don't have a floor jack or jack stands or that much room. As soon as we get a house, that's all changing...
Access is a piece of cake once you split the fan shroud on a Chevy or remove the air filter box on a ford.
Actually, it's not, especially getting to spark plugs when the floor around the base of the engine cover is up against the manfolds. And even taking that fan shroud and radiator completely out, it's no fun getting into that Chevy van I posted. On my didge van, 4 spark plugs were got to from the top (3 from the rear, wone from under teh hood) and the otehr 4 had to be got from underneath.
the point is, saying "RWD vehicles are such and such, and FWD vehciles are such and such" is simply BS, as each vehicle is differnt. Most transverse FWD 4 cyl cars are easy to work on, but some are not. Most longitudinal RWD vehciels are esy to work on, but some are not. Try getting to the rear spark plugs on a 6 cyl 3 series, way back under the cowl. Or to the coil packs in my RWD Range Rover V8, back between the rear of the intake manifold and the firewall. There's a reason Land Rover charges 4 hours to replace just the spark plug wires.
^^ Well, you said front accessories on the RWD vans. And that Chevy van you posted is cake.
Anyways, on the other stuff, you're preaching to the choir.
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