Thread: Do you service your own car?

I like wrenching on my own stuff. When I started driving I would buy the cheapest piece of crap 4 cylinder beater I could find. Well, my Dad said "if you insist on buying these cars you will learn to work on them!". And learn I did. I have been on the side of the road on more than one occasion with flahlight gripped in teeth turning a wrench/socket/Gerber/Leatherman. I change my own oil, do belts, 2 clutches, radiators, brakes, fuel and water pumps, brake lines, master cylinders and on and on and on....I buy a book for every car I buy as well. I recently (Sept. 11) bought an Isuzu Trooper 2 2 door. It has the inline 4 cylinder, carburated. I did a few things to it since I got it. It has some trash in the tank and is starving it's self for fuel if I get in the skinny pedal, so I need to drop the tank and shake it up with some screws and nuts and bolts to knock all the trash loose. Then re-install all the goodies and run it!

I built street rods, experimental airplanes, and drove trucks for thirty years. Did service and repair work on any and all of 'em.

Nowadays, I take the excuse of a car I have that has an engine you can barely see to the little quick oil change place and pay 'em $15.99 after drinking free coffee or a coke for 20 minutes while they change the oil, filter, fill up the windshield washer, check the air in the tires, and vacuum the floor mats.

Anything major goes to the professionals.

I do help the boy with his old '67 Fairlane as I still know my way around a V-8 with a carb and breaker point ignition. With my arthritis in my wrists, I don't yank on too many wrenches any more. I jsut point and tell the boy to tighten/loosen THAT or THIS.

I know where to put the windscreen wiper fluid and how to change a tyre. That is about the extent of my car knowledge.
For all the rest, I bring it to the garage, which means I can use that time for doing something more productive / fun.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I know where to put the windscreen wiper fluid and how to change a tyre. That is about the extent of my car knowledge.
For all the rest, I bring it to the garage, which means I can use that time for doing something more productive / fun.

I strongly urge you to read Robert Pirsig's Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. It is about defining quality and the various approaches to doing so.

Service them? You have to do what now?

I service all my farm gear, some of it goes back to the 1930s, my tractor 1952, my truck late 60s, and pickup 1976. You can sit in the engine bay and work on this early stuff. My wifes PT is done by the dealer ship. I might replace her brake pads and rotors, but that is about it for this current newfangled gear. Wullie, what sort of hairyoplane did you build?
I do get some things done by the local garage, mainly as they have a hoist and I an getting to fat and stiff and sore to go crawling about under the low slung stuff. A hoist in in the wings once the machinery shed get a concrete floor. The road goes on forever and the party never ends !!!

Cheers

Heelerau

I do whatever maintenance I can. Fluids, brakes, belts, batteries, and god forbid changing the alternator. Simply if I can do it without a mechanic I would rather do it.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

I strongly urge you to read Robert Pirsig's Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. It is about defining quality and the various approaches to doing so.

I'd rather spend time on the quality of the blades I forge, than about something (my car) which to me has the same emotional value as a toothbrush.
I'd rather be zen, swinging a hammer instead of turning wrenches.

The only thing I take a car to a mechanic for is stuff having to do with the electronics / computer.
Anything else I do myself.

At home I also do my own carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, septic, roofing, and HVAC work (did I miss anything there?).


I don't like paying someone to do stuff I can do for myself. Yeah... I understand "comparative advantage" - it's not so much about the economics of it, as it is about being self-reliant as much as possible.

Originally Posted by HNSB

The only thing I take a car to a mechanic for is stuff having to do with the electronics / computer.
Anything else I do myself.

At home I also do my own carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, septic, roofing, and HVAC work (did I miss anything there?).


I don't like paying someone to do stuff I can do for myself. Yeah... I understand "comparative advantage" - it's not so much about the economics of it, as it is about being self-reliant as much as possible.

It's also about time. With a fulltime job, taking care of the kids in the evening, shopping, various household tasks, and renovating the house (which is an ongoing multi-year project which I do myself) I only have so much 'free' time left.