Who works on their own vehicle nowadays?

[TennTony]

I work on mine. Gotten to the point that I do not trust most commercial shops. My ex was told she needed new front calipers and other work totaling almost $500. I offered to look at it and ended up installing new pads. Saved her about $480 in unnecessary work. As long as I can find instructions I will try almost anything.

 

[venomballistics]

I do all my own wrench flipping.
with all the corners Ive seen cut at shops I take comfort in the fact that a micrometer and or calipers were used to fit the rings, lube was used in assembly, and bolts torqued with love.

 

[Knightrider03m]

When I had my SUV, I did everything. Now since I drive a car, I can get under it to change the oil.

 

[m1gunner]

I do my own work, and a bunch for a truck company in town.

5 Chevy trucks, one with a mechanical diesel engine, a diesel tractor, a Jeep, some sort of car made in Japan, and a red-haired-stepchild of a Land Rover. Have the factory service manuals for most of them.

I still have and use my tach and dwell and my Sun timing light. Have added a vac gauge, high pressure fuel pressure gauge, multi-meter, and assorted micrometers and such. Thinking of buying a tire machine and an injection pump timing light.

The last time (an it will stay the last time) one of my vehicles was in a service garage, it was to replace a part that was covered by GM's lifetime warranty (had a failure 300 miles from home, so had it fixed at a dealer). This local Chevy dealer said I had to buy $350 in additional parts, else they wouldn't fix it. After some discussion with the franchise owner, they decided they would fix it afterall. I don't need that static, so I do it all now, warranty or not.

The truck I prefer to drive has over 500,000 miles on it, and I have a spare engine and tranny for it if I ever need it. Even have a new in box Quadrajet for it, with the correct manufacture date and tag number for that particular truck.

 

[Evil One]

I have built a few cars from the tire tread to the dome light.
Except for paint.


Jim

 

[Deckard]

I went with

Just about everything short of a complete engine rebuild.

altho I do rebuild engines, transmissions, tranfer cases, etc... cause I don't have a dyno. I have a '54 Willys, '69 Chevy, '77 CJ, '89 Toyota, '06 Chevy and '07 GMC. The old stuff is easy to work on and keep running, the new stuff not so much so.

Deckard

 

[MO_mule]

I like wrenching. In my next life I will have a big garage/shop such that I can check off the first choice of the poll. Something that I have found to be quite enjoyable and a good learning experience is using tuning software to tweak the program (since almost everything is controlled by the computer these days). Tuning these days consists of (a) tweak the tune, (b) upload/flash the PCM, (c) test drive and datalog, (d) review the data to see if (a) worked as expected, (e) tweak again or revise the tune, (f) repeat. Lotsa fun.

Chris

 

[cshoff]

There are only a few things I will have someone else do on my vehicles; tires, exhaust, and internal transmission work. Other than that, I take care of everything else as needed.

 

[H Richard]

I was a Jet engine mechanic in the early 60's and could totally disassemble J71, J33, J47 engines and re-build then and run them. I won't touch the new computer controlled car engines. I spend my mechanic time now inside a S&W revolver or Colt 1911.

 

[twaits]

It would be interesting to see this poll on a liberal forum. You would see vastly different results. As we all know gun owners tend to be a bit more self reliant. It's no big surprise to me that the majority of us here can actually change our own oil and spark plugs
Of course my car is rather easy to work on compared to whats out there now as I drive an '87 Cadillac Brougham (it still has an actual carburetor!)...but I digress.
If this was the Tree Hugger forum or PETA forum or Greenpeace forum
I seriously doubt they would even know what an oil filter or drain plug looks like!

 

[alde]

I love working on cars when I don't have to get it done to go to work in the morning. I overhauled the V-6 engine in my 1992 Toyota truck but did it in a nice warm, well lit garage over about 3 months. It was alot of fun and very rewarding when it started right up. It has over 35K miles on it now and still running strong "knock on wood". It only had 219K on it when I overhauled it but had a leaky head gasket. My first one was an old air cooled VW. Those are easy. It's like a model airplane engine.

 

[rayb]

Still doing most routine stuff..
The concrete outside is now colder that it used to be during February. It is also more distance from laying flat on that cold concrete to standing up.

However, I'm going to keep doing it until I absoluteky cannot .

My favorite pickup now has 416,XXX miles on the speedometer.

The goal is 500,000.

rayb
"obstinate shade tree mechanic"

 

[Andy Griffith]

It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to see fellers that still know how to turn a wrench.
I sometimes think I'm a dying breed.

Kudos to those that do, and also the others that do have the money to get the work done at their favorite garage.

I hope everyone else that doesn't know how may someday get someone to show y'all that there is nothing that intimidating about working on a vehicle- if you have the right tools and a good manual and someone to show you.

 

[jframe]

I do things that I WANT to do to my Mustang. Since I work parts in a Ford store, it's just too damn easy to let our Quick Lane do all the maintenance. By the time I buy the stuff, jack up the car, strip out the drain plug, and cuss and drink beer over being so stupid, it's easier to pay them to do it. A good parts man doesn't necessarily make a good mechanic anyway, although people like to think we are diagnostic specialists. Like Dirty Harry said in Magnum Force, a man's just got to know his limitations.

 

[ncy54]

Used to do it all...cars, motorcycles, etc.....limited only by what tools that I had access to and a lack of specialized equipment, such as hoists and lifts.
These days, it's let the dealer/shop do it. Diagnostic equipment is needed today and I've lost the motivation to remove three layers of plastic covers to get to a spark plug. Frankly, cars these days don't need much user intervention.
I confine my wrenching to bicycles these days, working in my son's bike shop (shameless plug: Cycles 54 New Jersey's Leading dealer of quality road, mountain, hybrid and triathlon bikes and equipment. . Even there, technology, has taken over and changed the business, especially at the high end.
There I'm able to keep current with the trends and changes, while still keeping the foundation of quality and workmanship from the days when "bikes were made of steel". Besides, the shop has all the special new tools and I have all the special old tools when one of the vintage bikes show up.

 

[venomballistics]

I think its a case where people have grown to fear the electronic thunder under the hood.
at the advent of computer control yeah .. there have been some convoluted nightmares but it is less of a truth now. Honestly, the computer makes it easier than the golden age of pure mechanical solutions.
put it together to specs. and that computer does all the setup and tuning for you.
no more turning screws on a Holly 4150 or 4160 over a scalding hot engine or discovering your sleeve can reach the fan belt from where your working.
just turn the key.

its really almost that simple now ... in fact I strongly suspect that its ease of use has lead to the Toyota thread since they have given far more than what is necessary to the computers charge because ... it does make things easy

 

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

On my wife's car & my new truck I do oil changes, brake jobs, & other routine work as they are under warranty and I will "allow" the stealership to do the warranty work on them. When the warranty is gone they are gone.

On the wife's winter beater GMC S-10 type 4X4, with over 300,000 I do all the work; except for mufflers, tail pipes, etc.
On my beater '66 Dodge stake body 4X4 I am the only one that has ever turn a wrench on the beast. over 500,000 miles on the clock

My '57 Apache Pickup; since I bought/restored her in '65 no one has got near her with a tool in their hand but me.

grizz

 

[G.T. Smith]

mechanical shortcuts

I do all the work on my wifes and my trucks. Even though you have a manual that doesn't mean that they are showing the quickest or easiest way to get it done. For example, I had to replace the fuel pump on my 2002 chevy S-10. The book said to remove all kinds of stuff under the tank, then lower the tank from below to access the pump which is located on the top of the tank. My garage has a grass floor and sky lights, 8 bolts and a couple of wiring plug ins and me and a friend simply lifted the bed up and back and there it was. just gotta try to use common sense sometimes. not that easy for me.
G.T. Smith

 

[reddogge]

I am actually a more skilled mechanic on my 1941 Ford 9N tractor. Only maintenance and minor repairs, tune-ups, oil changes, etc. I had to go to a forum for this to learn some skills but it paid off and I've kept it running well for the last 20 years. Would not do a total rebuild or total restoration though.

 

[truckemup97]

put it together to specs. and that computer does all the setup and tuning for you.

its really almost that simple now ...

That's caused a huge problem in repair of heavy trucks. If your mechanic isn't over 50 y/o, all he knows how to do is plug it into the computer and read the codes. If you're having a problem that isn't throwing a code, they have no idea how to diagnose it.