How much repair/maintenance should every self-respecting aut/o/ enthusiast be able to do to their car?
I feel so impotent every time I open the hood, thinking I will magically be able to see something is wrong.
>>14686110
I'd say at least be able to do a tune up on your car and change wear items i.e. pads and rotors/drums.
you should be able to do absolutely anything there's a video tutorial for
if there's a video tutorial on an engine rebuild and you still feel like you can't do it? maybe get a different car
>>14686110
You should be able to disassemble your intake system and clean all the crap out of it.
>>14686110
It really depends on the tools they have on hand, and the workspace available to them.
Hard to do much work if you dont have a garage, or dedicated parking space.
>>14686110
It all starts with prescribed maintenance. If you can do that, it gets you into the engine bay and you start looking at things, and that's how you become comfortable doing these things
>gotta start somewhere
Basic:
>oil and oil filter change
>air filter change
>tire rotations
Intermediate:
>spark plugs
>rotor and cap replacement
>fuel filter
>transmission oil/fluid drain
>coolant flush
top-tier shadetree:
>brake pad replacement
>brake fluid flush
>wear item replacement(ball joints, u-joints, bushings, etc.)
>component replacement (alternator, sensors, starter, etc.)
Professional tech:
>engine and transmission work
>electrical troubleshooting
>>14686740
>tfw changed my headgaskets (engine out) and rebuilt my power steering pump last week
y-you flatter me, anon
>>14686776
>taking apart the engine
if you were a casual you would have taken it to a shop, or more likely, junked it and bought a camry.
>mfw not even flattery, br/o/, just real talk.
At least be able to change the air filter, oil, and brakes and being able to tell when there's something wrong with your car.
So, yadda yadda yadda, we like cars so we obviously ahve to enjoy working on them.
I work 40 hours a day, and honestly don't like working on cars.
I worked at a shop for 2 years, and having lift bays, and air tools at the ready spoiled me to never want to work on a car in my driveway ever fucking again.
I don't mind paying 500 dollars on a 200 dollar repair if it gets done right the first time, not by me, and if I don't have to do it again myself a second time because I messed up slightly somewhere else along the line.
Fuck all that shade tree shit, I don't even change my own oil anymore.
>>14686925
Even if I had the money, I'm to paranoid to let anyone else work on my car and risk them botching something.
Depends how old the car is. Older cars are easy to troubleshoot and repair. Newer cars are a fucking nightmare of plastic, tight spaces and horribly placed components. Taking a new car to a dealer or mechanics is totally acceptable.
If you can't change a tire or add washer fluid then you shouldn't be driving, sadly there's lots of "men" who cant do this.
Also, fuck people who clog up mechanics with winter wheel swaps. Buy a jack and a torque wrench and do it yourself ffs.
>>14686977
>annoying pain in the ass old ford hubcaps
>watch the newbie at the tire shop get pissed and frustrated
>better than finding nemo on the lobby tv
>>14686205
>Because everyone has rebuild specialty tools
Inb4
>Why dont you own them?
Because specialty tools are expensive and they change from make/model.
>>14686740
>Mfw I've done 90% of this and don't feel mechanically gifted just poor as fuck and have family thats been tearing apart cars for decades. Most the time I am on my own though.
>>14686977
>sadly there's lots of "men" who cant do this
>>14686740
I'm sort of a mixed bag.
I've done brake pad replacement, I can change the rotors just fine too of course. Though, I haven't done or know how to do the brake fluid flush or suspension related work like ball joints, u-joints, bushings. I've done motor mounts though.
I did some electrical troubleshooting but didn't get any results in trying to find an electrical fault that might have lead to the dead O2 sensor in my shitbox. Still driving with a dead O2 sensor since I think a leaky exhaust and clogged/messed up cat might just mess it up again. I don't know how to weld so I haven't done any work on the exhaust or replaced/removed the cat even though I could replace the O2 sensor easily.
I keep getting cars with auto tragics too far gone to risk fluid replacement.
I'm about to do my first coolant flush.
I've fixed misfires 2 times that were just faulty coil packs.
Alternator and starter repalcements, had help with starter.
List goes on and on.
All in all I'm just learning as I go. Hopefully I can do a timing belt change/valve cover gasket/head gasket/clutch/etc on my own soon.
>>14686110
you should be able to do most of the work yourself but sometimes your situation might prevent you from doing certain work.
or you're fed up with a certain problem and would rather just hand it off to a greasy monkey to get it done once and for all for 40$. I've had 6 problems with my rear calipers on my s2000 since I bought it. fucking done with this shit.
bought new calipers this week to get refurbished at a shop and I'm just gonna have them put them on the car for me. shit like engine work or things that require specific tolerances I'll do myself because I don't trust mechanics to take the Time to do it right. FYI this will be the second time bringing it to a mechanic since I bought the car two years ago. first time was for the exhaust system because the flange bolts were too rusted for me to get off.
just 1...
wiper blades.
fuck you millennials who can't put on a fucking overpriced stick of rubber and metal and a bigger fuck you to boomers, you should be ashamed and I don't care how much money you make its all the fucking same 5 designs with included instructions
Given the right amount of space (i.e a Garage, pref two car) I'd try just about anything myself, however; since I live in an apartment I'm pretty limited.
Fortunately, my apartment really doesn't seem to give a shit about me working on my truck. I've done the following in my apt parking lot.
>Brake Pad change.
>Transmission Fluid Change (replace my pan to one with a drain)
>Motor Oil Change
>Rear Differential fluid change.
>Spark Plug change.
>Rear-view camera installation.
I just try to stay super paranoid about making a big mess with my fluids so I can keep doing it.
Fortunately we're moving this summer, I'm hoping to get a nice two-car garage so I can tackle some engine/transmission work.
>>14687148
tool rentals
in fact, forums usually have tool rental lists where people basically get on a list by posting in a thread and get the tool sent to them, and they then send it off to the next guy on the list once they're done, its nice
>>14686110
>As someone who knows his way around race spec mountain bikes and can do full suspension rebuilds his eyes closed.
Fuck working on cars/trucks plain and simple. I can do almost any repair, I just don't have the patience to actually do it. It's like engineers have fun finding new ways to make the simplest repair a 4 day job.
>>14686110
If you can't do brakes/plugs/oil/fluids you're retard tier
If you can't do wheel bearings you're benchracer tier
If you can't do head work (maintenance; valve adjustments/gaskets) or a starter you're meh
If you can't do internals or electrics you're probably slightly above average
If you can do all of that stuff, you could probably moonlight as a shadetree. Beyond that stuff, the only real skill you'd need is tuning, but that's not really repairs or maintenance.
>>14686949
I feel that
>>14686231
>not having a parking space
What pleb place doesn't have parking spots?
>>14686977
>torque wrench for changing wheels
>Not just wrenching it on as tight as you can get it
>>14687955
I always torque my wheels fampai
>>14687955
>wrenching on it as tight as you can get it
good way to fuck up your lug nut threads, that is.
>>14687955
do not listen to this retard. you should torque your lugnuts every time you remove a wheel or you are gonna eventually have a bad time trying to get a wheel off.
>>14687987
Well maybe not as tight as you can get it, but I usually use a breaker bar until they're tight and then give it one more pull to snug them down.
>>14687872
Ok but what the fuck are you going to do in the meantime with your DD youre waiting for a tool for...
>>14688013
Get a torque wrench from harbor freight at least, you mong
>>14686977
>owning a new car
>fuck people who clog up mechanics with winter wheel swaps.
I do this because I only have one set of wheels. Used to have 2 sets of steelies, but the winter ones rusted away.
>>14686740
Where would a timing belt kit install be?
Wear item?
>>14688192
top end of basic, bottom of intermediate. but that can depend a lot on model since transverse engines (the car equivalent of cancer) usually need stuff removed before you can get to the belt
>>14688031
It really isn't that crucial that he tightens his lugnuts like that
>>14686740
Literally everything up until engine and transmission work, belongs in "basics". Then you start intermediate. To tier starts at engine and tranny rebuild, and throw in differential rebuilds, among other things. Pro tier pretty much only includes real diagnosis, not part stabbing, but actually being able to figure out what's wrong before buying any parts.
Mind you, I'm talking about auto ENTHUSIASTS, not your everyday normie.
>>14687820
>Rear-view camera installation.
Bump for no reason. Other than the fact that this thread is a rare good one. This is the shit we should be discussing.
I'm the kind of fucking idiot who can barely put on wipers, I definitely would not want to go anywhere near oil filters or spark plugs or any aspect of a suspension.
Might as well throw myself off a cliff
>change plugs
>car doesn't miss anymore
>>14688511
>letting your plugs get so worn they cause a misfire
>Strut replacement
>water pump replacement
>thermostat replacement
>radiator replacement
>ac compressor replacement
>spark plug, wires, and coil pack replacement
>rotor replacement
>break pad replacement
>tire change
>serpentine belt replacement
>various sensors including O2 sensors
>fuses, relays, broken interior components including a door lock clip
>freeze plugs replacements (the one under the tranny was a nightmare)
I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. I'm proud of myself at 20. It helps having a dad that used to be a mechanic for a tractor trailer company
>>14686110
You should be able to at least do a top end rebuild and head gasket.
>>14686110
>For the past month I spend my every free moment reading Automotive Technology a System Approach someone from /o/ suggested.
>Watching all those retro instructional vids on how car systems work
>Watching Eric the Car Guy and every other car dedicate yt channel there is
>Feel incredible when suddenly I understand how electric motor, all those sensors and various system works, it was so simple all along
31yo NEET hiki, havent left the house in 10 years, never driven a car and its safe to say I never will or even own one.
>tfw wasted time on something absolutely useless when I could emulate some old games because I love old games (and my PC is too shit to play anything released past 2006 and most games on my PS3 cannot be played on SDTV comfortably or at all)
>replaced my johnson rod
am i good yet?
>>14688360
Fun fact: I installed it, haven't even legitimately used the fucking thing once. I installed it when I first got my truck, after about a week of driving I realized my mirrors did such a fucking good job that it stopped me from finishing the wiring to where the camera turns on with the reverse switch. So it's largely unused.
I do literally everything except boring of the block, don't have a boring machine.
>>14687941
People whos driveway is on an incline.
>>14686110
Pretty much everything. I started doing work on my beater when I was 16, simply because it was cheaper than the shop. I had access to all my dads tools though.
i don't work on my car at all because i drive 120 km round trip to work i can't really afford down time for it
Cleaned my car?
space, tools, and time should be your only limits, or if you know somebody is going to do a better job than you (taking it to a reknowned engine builder to get every last bit of power out of it).
There are somethings I don't like doing.
Strut replacement, i'll do it, but hate spring compressors. Never had an issue, but still its alot of energy waiting to take yoru head off.
Airbags, like the compressed springs, its a bomb.
o2 sensors, exhaust manifold, pretty much anything that heat and rust have fused into one piece of metal.
>>14686925
>40 hours a day
Damn son
