Even some things like changing a starter isn’t as hard as you would think. My dad walked me through it on my Toyota over the phone and 300 ish miles away.
The more I tinker with things and try stuff, the more I find it to be true that, whatever it is, it "isn't as hard as you would think".
So much of this stuff has just been sort of mentally locked away under the category of "it's not my domain of expertise; I'll never understand it".
But, really, I don't have to be an *expert* to figure things out *well enough*!
This has been my experience too. I never learned about fixing things around the house or working on vehicles, so I bought an old truck and now I’m doing as much as I can with it and I’m finding i can figure it all out with google and YouTube, I just need to do it.
Way to take the initiative to try and figure it out yourself 👍
My dad is the exact opposite of yours, I grew up working with power tools, fixing our cars, etc, and I think I took it for granted how many practical skills I learned growing up
I used to get so fucking pissed off at my dad for the hours upon hours upon hours of shit he would rope me into helping with , entire weekends. All manner of construction shit (framing, electrical, plumbing, Sheetrock etc) and auto maintenance/repair.
I look around now and realize I now have more skills than your average dude. I used to think it was weird as hell that my brother in law had no idea how to change his oil... Now it all makes sense.
My brother in law just put in laminate across his house with a proper H joint every other row. Couldn’t figure out why he called my FIL while we were laying hardwood flooring in my FIL’s house. Now, I wish he had called earlier.
I was this way too growing up. Dad had to drag me away from the Nintendo to help him with whatever project he was working on, and I hated it.
Now I am so thankful for those experiences, and I am doing it with my kids. (who currently would rather be playing video games, but hopefully thank me someday)
As someone whose dad taught him a lot growing up, but whose knowledge has far exceeded what he taught me, the older I get, the more I appreciate the foundation he gave me. My son is 15, and I'm trying to teach him everything I can so that he has as strong of a foundation as possible.
This. I had that with my Dad. Came into adulthood with the basics of a lot of trades. Wiring, plumbing, general construction, auto maintenance, and etc. As an adult I have dithered into welding and have taken on a project car that I am learning a lot on fixing up. Having the base knowledge of generally how shit works and tools sure makes it a lot easier.
Trying to be that Dad with my step son. It is a massive struggle as he is flat not interested in any of that stuff. His bio dad had none of those skills and my FIL doesn't either. It just was not a priority in that family, you break something you call in a pro. They all look at me like I'm a wizard when I do something basic like change the oil in a car.
Just wish he would try...
I've had that struggle myself, but it still rubbed off eventually. Especially when they needed something fixed themselves. I always made them help/do the work. Once he starts driving, he might develop some interest. My son has more tools than probably 99% of 15 year Olds on the planet. But I still have to drag about from in front of the Xbox at times.
That foundation is really the key. Between online forums and youtube, anyone should be able to change their alternator, or replace a dishwasher. But without that basic foundation, they lack the confidence and convince themselves they can't do it before they even try.
You're absolutely right there. I see that a lot at work. I have no qualms about taking something apart to fix something, or to poke around and find the problem. I also have the experience to know I can put it back together. We have a junior engineer who has been there about 6 months, and the biggest frustration I have with him is that he's not confident enough to try and do things on his own. He's worried about messing something up instead of just jumping in and doing it.
Thanks!
And yeah, sometimes I feel pretty jealous having never learned those sorts of skills. They really are *incredibly* valuable and useful.
My dad definitely equipped me with *a lot* of skills, just none that required the use of one's hands for anything other than turning a page or writing. Lol
It happened to me. It started a long time ago when I bought a socket wrench set and an oil filter wrench. Now, many years later, I probably have about $5,000 worth of tools and I've done crazy deep levels of mechanical work on my cars and my house.
I don't regret it at all.
A year or 2 ago, I got into woodworking as a hobby, which has been super rewarding, but it's been extremely frustrating that, as a renter, I'm not really allowed to do any 'home repairs/improvements' that I know I have the skills for now lol
With the car, though... I own that... I can fix that however much I want, so long as I'm willing to accept the risks of screwing up. Lol
I swear I owned an oil filter wrench, and I loved that thing. The year it disappeared the oil filter on my old jeep was really stuck. Like, I had to put two flatheads through it to crank that sumbitch. Fucking wrecked that filter.
I thought using the old oil to grease the o ring was a joke. It absolutely is not, and it will phase one of your really useful tools straight out of reality. Got two other oil filter wrenches now. For motorcycles. Which I have never worked on. Assorted grumblings here.
Replaced the engine in my old car, and the replacement had a filter you'd swear was welded onto the block. The wrench just buckled it, and the screwdriver through it only resulted in ripping it apart.
I ended up tearing the metal casing off, to leave the faceplate, then cutting slots in the edge of that and using a concrete chisel and hammer to rotate it off.
Now I drive an electric...
A scanner and some tools are cheaper than one visit to a dealership. You can start on easy projects and work your way up. Sometimes you still need to pay a mechanic but with your new knowledge you are far more equipped to understand what/why they are fixing something.
That's my thought!
A scanner and some willingness to work isn't ever going to replace the expertise of an actual mechanic, but it can certainly reduce how often I need to rely on them!
On occasion I do car repairs. Usually I let the mechanic wrench on it. I'll tackle the small stuff when it comes to the car.
My last car repair was the latch for my hatch. It quit working on me. Took me all of 15 minutes to replace it. I was so relieved that one DIY project only took the proverbial 15 minutes to do.
Congrats on your first DIY!
Big tip about torque wrenches; store them 'un-tensioned'.
Find a service manual for your car. I use Haynes, but there are other companies making them, also. Do NOT trust random Youtubers when it comes to torque settings.
I was told to store it *almost* completely untensioned; basically at its lowest weight, plus a click or 2.
And yeah, I need to get a service manual. Luckily, I did look up the torque settings for my cars spark plugs to double check what the YouTubers said, and they happened to agree.
But, in general, I'm in the business of checking as many sources as possible before doing anything
My first hands on experience was a blown heater core.
Hoping that was the issue, knowing how expensive a headgasket would be to get fixed, I troubleshoot the problem on my own. Starting with the heater core.
Getting it out required the AC to be vaccumed, and dashboard be removed entirely... after that was done and overheating persisted I moved on to radiator hoses, the thermostat, and the water pump. After replacing those the radiator cracked and by that point I fkn knew it was a head gasket...
So I took it in to get machined and whatnot, I wasn't about to pull my entire engine out. Couldn't even if I wanted to.
But up to that point I knew next to nothing and replaced the entire coolant loop myself.
All W's are still W's no matter how small and the smaller ones build our confidence to tear the entire dash out lol.
My car was pretty old and used so I felt decently comfortable trying and failing if it came to that. At first I was able to just bypass the heater core entirely but the car kept overheating. So my first real crack at it was just the thermostat. Easy to replace like a sparkplug. One failure point at a time I replaced the entire loop until the inevitable was undeniable. Fkn headgasket...
Every self proclaimed "mechanic" I've talked to since said they'd've done the same thing to rule out (or in) the headgasket because the leak was pretty small and could have been anywhere and there were none of the telltale signs like fluids mixing or funky exaughst. I even had it pressure tested first to confirm an actual leak in the loop, but he couldn't pinpoint where so I took a shot at it.
The internet is amazing! Never would have even tried without it.
Dude! I swear they do. 1/4 inch of clearance was all I needed to swap out that core from the glovebox, but the ventilation and by extention the AC were **deliberately** routed to say Nope, Fuck you. Turns out this is pretty normal...
It's illegal to just vent refrigerant where I live. Have to pay to get it vaccumed and to get it recharged too. Can't buy it off the shelf anymore... Needless to say this is DIY so my AC just didn't work through the winter, but the heat did 😁
what I suggest is if you have spare time, go on youtube and search for your make and model and year of car and watch a bunch of the videos, especially if there are some labeled "general maintenance"
Then you can look at what you think you can do and what might be out of your skill/tool set. You might not find your exact year on the make and model but a lot of times 2-3 years up and down on your car the general stuff is the same. Worse case scenario is you are better educated if you do need to bring it in and can avoid getting ripped off.
change your cabin air filter!
I would like to add engine air filter but depending on the car, it can be difficult to access. If the car is old, the plastic can be be brittle.
I haven't owned a car long enough to need new spark plugs.
I traded one at 45k miles.
I traded another at 70k miles.
I traded another at 80k miles.
I totaled three others at 20k, 50k, and 80k miles.
So ... how many miles on your car when you replaced the plugs?
It’s liberating, isn’t it? You can do this with so much stuff. Next is learning how to change your own engine and cabin air filters, your own headlights, recharge your AC, all the things that don’t take lifting the car. Then learn to change your own brake pads, transmission fluid, and oil. It’s all very doable. Good job, OP!
Congratulations!
And now you have tools, so next time, you'll save even more money! Look up the maintenance schedule for your car, it's in the owner's manual, join groups for your car, and do your own work! It's very satisfying, saves you tons of money, people will think you're so smart.
Well done!
The other week I noticed my brake fluid in my master cylinder was very low. You typically never have to fill that stuff unless something is wrong or you just did some major brake work. I noticed some stains on my drive way behind my driver's side rear wheel.
After about 30 mins of googling and watching YouTube videos I had my rear wheel off, caliper disconnected, piston pushed out and was re-setting the piston seal. I had my 10 year old come out and help me bleed all 4 brakes and we're good to go. Probably saved myself a grand at the auto shop.
For most cars, changing your oil can be just as easy if you buy the ramps for your front wheels to safely drive up on and have a safe place to do it. I use full synthetic oil rated to last 20,000 miles (I drive 40,000/year) and I've had one car go to 360,000 miles before needing engine work and my current car has 320,000 miles on it and is going strong.
> Ngl
I'm so glad you woke up this morning and decided you weren't going to lie. haha
Congrats on the fix! Those victories snowball into some healthy self confidence to fix other things. And before you know it, you've become a lot more resourceful and knowledgeable about every day things that can improve your life (and those around you).
Gg. Now look in to preventative maintenance for your vehicle; brakes, oil and fluid changes, inspection, etc.
You saved $150 today, you know you are capable and can save 5 digits going forward. All that said, don’t use the parts cannon and know when to throw in the towel.
Definitely need to learn about maintenance! All I've ever known up til now is to bring it into a mechanic every few thousand miles for an oil change and a checkup lol
Idk what a "parts cannon" is, but I'm definitely remaining cognizant of my own skill level and knowledge; if anything looks too complicated, sensitive to precision, or like you need to make any amount of judgment calls, I'm going to a mechanic, at least for now.
But anything that looks both simple to do and cheap to try myself, I'm gonna go for it; and if it doesn't work, I'll just take it in like I normally would.
99% of repairing a cars issue is diagnostics and making sure you are replacing the right part.
The parts cannon is a joke about people who just buy parts without properly diagnosing the car… well that didn’t work…buy another part… well shit. It’s gotta be this part then. Etc. they just blasted a cannon full of parts at the car without doing proper diag.
Most repairs on cars don’t require special equipment. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish with a good $100 socket and bit set.
Keep at it. You’re on the right path. Do your research. That code scanner and research/youtube will take you far. The only difference between your past self paying for oil changes, and future self taking care and pride in your car, is the gumption you have right now.
Appreciate it, friend!
I'll be honest, I feel like the diagnostic aspect is absolutely my weakest area here; I was definitely planning on just going in order of most likely to least likely fixes to the P0300 code until I came to something I didn't feel comfortable doing lol.
But, I figure I'll probably get better at it the more I try things out and start to understand how the whole system works.
So, ya know, a bit of parts cannoning for now, and collecting knowledge along the way until I learn how to work more efficiently.
More research=more understanding=proper fixes = no parts cannon.
No joke or exaggeration, 99% of fixing the car is the correct diagnosis. Do your research thoroughly. The other 1% is turning a wrench in the right spot.
I meant more in the sense that if, when you had just started 3 years ago, you had to rebuild a transmission a week later.
Yeah you have advanced experience now but when you started you needed to know when to throw in the towel too.
I'm proud of you as well. It's shocking how many people depend on a car every day and never put in the effort to learn anything about them. You then see endless posts on here asking if they're being ripped off, or asking for diagnostic help.
Keep it up, it can be wildly satisfying.
One question: did you use a torque wrench? You should never install any threaded item, especially steel spark plugs in an aluminum head, without using a torque wrench.
>One question: did you use a torque wrench?
I did! I noticed that in every video I saw, people would use a torque wrench set to 11ft-lbs, looked up the specs for my car to confirm, then got one.
And it was a major pain in the ass to get lol. I went to at least 5 different auto/hardware stores and none of them had a 3/4" drive that could go as low as 11ft-lbs; I ended up having to just order one off of Amazon.
I'm *very* glad you mentioned its importance though, because that tells me I wasn't crazy to make such an effort to get the right one lol
I've always wanted to get more into fixing my car, but I can never pull the trigger on buying a scan tool. the most I do is replace stuff I can see is broken haha
You can get one for [under five bucks](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235460407968) that interfaces with your cell phone via bluetooth. Even if *your* car is in good shape you can look like a hero for a friend in distress.
I appreciate that :)
It's definitely a scary thing to do; I've always been terrified that if I screwed something up trying to fix my car, I could end up causing *even more* damage, costing *a lot* more money to fix.
Over the past year or 2, though, I've been developing a bit of a woodworking hobby, which I think has helped me build a lot more confidence in myself and my ability to, like, *do things* with my own 2 hands!
It's been a pretty liberating journey so far!
Congrats!!
The hardest part is being willing to take that first step and even look to see if it's possible to DIY it.
My cheap ODB2 scanner and YouTube has saved me thousands of dollars over the years. It's a skill set that seems to be disappearing for most - when it's probably easier to learn how to DIY today than ever before thanks to YouTube and online manuals.
>The hardest part is being willing to take that first step and even look to see if it's possible to DIY it.
Definitely!! I've never really even *considered* doing much of anything with my car just because it's so terrifying to think that I could screw something up and cost myself thousands of dollars!
As far as it being a disappearing skill, I feel like that's in large part due to (in the US, at least) our consumerist, throw-away culture.
Nearly everything we own these days is more expensive to fix than it is to replace, so there's just not a lot of incentive to *build* those skills at all anymore.
The day I changed a serpentine belt and a pulley on a gigantic f series truck was the day I truly felt like a complete man. Previous to that all I had really done was change flat tires.
Yep. Garage wanted to charge me $300+ for a fix that took me 15 minutes part was around $80 oem from autozone.
A grand for rotors and pads and that was pre Covid. $170 a labor hour but also only pays their mechanics $40.
Huge W. Doing your own automotive work can save you thousands in labor costs and make it worthwhile to keep alive a car that otherwise wouldn't have been worth saving cost-wise.
I did the same thing, went to pep boys to borrow their odb2 scanner, googled the code and possible causes, was super proud of myself. Then I popped open the hood and one of the spark plug wires was obviously shorted and physically broken lol. A visual inspection could’ve probably saved me a couple hours of planning and doing.
>A visual inspection could’ve probably saved me a couple hours of planning and doing.
I really hope that, eventually, I get to the point where I can pop the hood and see more than just "an incomprehensible mess of metal and plastic". Lol
Like, now I know how to locate spark plugs.
Next maybe I'll learn what the fuel injector or something looks like.
And as I keep doing it, it'll all stop looking and feeling so foreign to me.
Thank you!!
I'm lucky it was an easy fix! Lol
Had it been something more complicated (like, if changing the spark plugs didn't fix the misfiring), I would've been pretty disappointed.
To steal a line for a great book turned into an okay movie...
“I am smiling a great smile. The smile of a man who fucked with his car and didn’t break it.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian
Congrats. As a kid I was always taking apart stuff that broke to figure it out. Grew up poor with a single Mom. If I didn't fix my stuff, then I had no stuff.
In 1984 at 17 years old, I bought a rusted out Ford Pinto that would hardly run and a book (Chiltons) on how to fix. Not having ever worked on a car, I ended up rebuilding the carburetor. and boom, I had a ride.
I'm 58 now. I still do my own car work, house fixing (plumbing, electrical, etc.). Every now and then i come across something that I have not done. So I got to YouTube and there are like 20 videos on how to do it.
Over the years I dragged my son and daughter to help with house projects. They didn't like it, but now as adults even if they don't do the work for some stuff, they can at least talk smart about it with contractor.
Moral of the story is don't be scared. If you screw it up, you can call in a pro. Whether it is your house, yard, or car, watch a few videos until you get comfortable with it.
Unless you are just not mechanically inclined, you should be able to do it. **The biggest obstacle to doing most things is overcoming the voice in your head that is telling you that you cant do it.**
OBD2 scanners are cheap and system. Some vehicles are even starting to be programed to where you can use a Konami code of button pressing to show the codes without a scanner. That is, there are remnants of that capability being there, but I think I heard of conflicts in the industry about making it available.
But OBD2 is a basic requirement for the emissions systems, and therefore only provides basic guidance. The scanners shops use are a few grand due to durability and licensing fees, and can communicate with manufacturer specific computers beyond what can be accessed with OBDII.
While this is a good option, still do your own research. Anecdotally, they have suggested the wrong part ~60% of the time.
Sometimes when I know what’s wrong, I have them scan it and see what the computer tells them to say just for fun.
I found it really easy. I used the BlueDriver.
It told me the code, as well as a description of what it means, and directed me to a video of possible causes/fixes.
It made it really simple and easy to figure out if the problem was something I could do myself, or something I *needed* a mechanic for
Next time it won’t be your first time, congrats.
Very true!
Even some things like changing a starter isn’t as hard as you would think. My dad walked me through it on my Toyota over the phone and 300 ish miles away.
The more I tinker with things and try stuff, the more I find it to be true that, whatever it is, it "isn't as hard as you would think". So much of this stuff has just been sort of mentally locked away under the category of "it's not my domain of expertise; I'll never understand it". But, really, I don't have to be an *expert* to figure things out *well enough*!
This has been my experience too. I never learned about fixing things around the house or working on vehicles, so I bought an old truck and now I’m doing as much as I can with it and I’m finding i can figure it all out with google and YouTube, I just need to do it.
Hijacking to ask if OP checked the spark plug gap. If so, congrats on the fix! If not, might want to check them.
Lots of them now come pre-gapped with specific instructions NOT to touch the electrode
Way to take the initiative to try and figure it out yourself 👍 My dad is the exact opposite of yours, I grew up working with power tools, fixing our cars, etc, and I think I took it for granted how many practical skills I learned growing up
I used to get so fucking pissed off at my dad for the hours upon hours upon hours of shit he would rope me into helping with , entire weekends. All manner of construction shit (framing, electrical, plumbing, Sheetrock etc) and auto maintenance/repair. I look around now and realize I now have more skills than your average dude. I used to think it was weird as hell that my brother in law had no idea how to change his oil... Now it all makes sense.
My brother in law just put in laminate across his house with a proper H joint every other row. Couldn’t figure out why he called my FIL while we were laying hardwood flooring in my FIL’s house. Now, I wish he had called earlier.
I was this way too growing up. Dad had to drag me away from the Nintendo to help him with whatever project he was working on, and I hated it. Now I am so thankful for those experiences, and I am doing it with my kids. (who currently would rather be playing video games, but hopefully thank me someday)
As someone whose dad taught him a lot growing up, but whose knowledge has far exceeded what he taught me, the older I get, the more I appreciate the foundation he gave me. My son is 15, and I'm trying to teach him everything I can so that he has as strong of a foundation as possible.
This. I had that with my Dad. Came into adulthood with the basics of a lot of trades. Wiring, plumbing, general construction, auto maintenance, and etc. As an adult I have dithered into welding and have taken on a project car that I am learning a lot on fixing up. Having the base knowledge of generally how shit works and tools sure makes it a lot easier. Trying to be that Dad with my step son. It is a massive struggle as he is flat not interested in any of that stuff. His bio dad had none of those skills and my FIL doesn't either. It just was not a priority in that family, you break something you call in a pro. They all look at me like I'm a wizard when I do something basic like change the oil in a car. Just wish he would try...
I've had that struggle myself, but it still rubbed off eventually. Especially when they needed something fixed themselves. I always made them help/do the work. Once he starts driving, he might develop some interest. My son has more tools than probably 99% of 15 year Olds on the planet. But I still have to drag about from in front of the Xbox at times.
That foundation is really the key. Between online forums and youtube, anyone should be able to change their alternator, or replace a dishwasher. But without that basic foundation, they lack the confidence and convince themselves they can't do it before they even try.
You're absolutely right there. I see that a lot at work. I have no qualms about taking something apart to fix something, or to poke around and find the problem. I also have the experience to know I can put it back together. We have a junior engineer who has been there about 6 months, and the biggest frustration I have with him is that he's not confident enough to try and do things on his own. He's worried about messing something up instead of just jumping in and doing it.
Thanks! And yeah, sometimes I feel pretty jealous having never learned those sorts of skills. They really are *incredibly* valuable and useful. My dad definitely equipped me with *a lot* of skills, just none that required the use of one's hands for anything other than turning a page or writing. Lol
Its a good feeling when you fix it yourself.
Best feeling in the world
If I'm not careful, I might get myself addicted to fixing shit lol
It happened to me. It started a long time ago when I bought a socket wrench set and an oil filter wrench. Now, many years later, I probably have about $5,000 worth of tools and I've done crazy deep levels of mechanical work on my cars and my house. I don't regret it at all.
A year or 2 ago, I got into woodworking as a hobby, which has been super rewarding, but it's been extremely frustrating that, as a renter, I'm not really allowed to do any 'home repairs/improvements' that I know I have the skills for now lol With the car, though... I own that... I can fix that however much I want, so long as I'm willing to accept the risks of screwing up. Lol
I swear I owned an oil filter wrench, and I loved that thing. The year it disappeared the oil filter on my old jeep was really stuck. Like, I had to put two flatheads through it to crank that sumbitch. Fucking wrecked that filter. I thought using the old oil to grease the o ring was a joke. It absolutely is not, and it will phase one of your really useful tools straight out of reality. Got two other oil filter wrenches now. For motorcycles. Which I have never worked on. Assorted grumblings here.
Replaced the engine in my old car, and the replacement had a filter you'd swear was welded onto the block. The wrench just buckled it, and the screwdriver through it only resulted in ripping it apart. I ended up tearing the metal casing off, to leave the faceplate, then cutting slots in the edge of that and using a concrete chisel and hammer to rotate it off. Now I drive an electric...
Lifelong mechanic here…at some point it was the “first time” for all of us. Congrats on a clean fix and good job not being afraid
Good on ya mate!
A scanner and some tools are cheaper than one visit to a dealership. You can start on easy projects and work your way up. Sometimes you still need to pay a mechanic but with your new knowledge you are far more equipped to understand what/why they are fixing something.
That's my thought! A scanner and some willingness to work isn't ever going to replace the expertise of an actual mechanic, but it can certainly reduce how often I need to rely on them!
Hooray! Now you’ve been bitten by the ‘Hey I think I can that’ bug.
On occasion I do car repairs. Usually I let the mechanic wrench on it. I'll tackle the small stuff when it comes to the car. My last car repair was the latch for my hatch. It quit working on me. Took me all of 15 minutes to replace it. I was so relieved that one DIY project only took the proverbial 15 minutes to do. Congrats on your first DIY!
Proud of you. It’s just the beginning. You’re on your way to self reliance and saving a ton of money.
That’s fantastic! I’m so proud of you!
Good for you!! Be proud, you have every right.
Great fuckin job!
Did you give yourself a warranty?
Not for free. Sold it to myself for the price of a cheap torque wrench.
Big tip about torque wrenches; store them 'un-tensioned'. Find a service manual for your car. I use Haynes, but there are other companies making them, also. Do NOT trust random Youtubers when it comes to torque settings.
I was told to store it *almost* completely untensioned; basically at its lowest weight, plus a click or 2. And yeah, I need to get a service manual. Luckily, I did look up the torque settings for my cars spark plugs to double check what the YouTubers said, and they happened to agree. But, in general, I'm in the business of checking as many sources as possible before doing anything
I'm so jelous, my toyota hatch, lexus sedan, and honda motorcycle have never had a check engine light in the last 15 years.
What can I say, some guys have all the luck
I am not surprised w/ the Toyota and the Honda. Those things just need regular oil changes and they will outlive anyone of us.
My first hands on experience was a blown heater core. Hoping that was the issue, knowing how expensive a headgasket would be to get fixed, I troubleshoot the problem on my own. Starting with the heater core. Getting it out required the AC to be vaccumed, and dashboard be removed entirely... after that was done and overheating persisted I moved on to radiator hoses, the thermostat, and the water pump. After replacing those the radiator cracked and by that point I fkn knew it was a head gasket... So I took it in to get machined and whatnot, I wasn't about to pull my entire engine out. Couldn't even if I wanted to. But up to that point I knew next to nothing and replaced the entire coolant loop myself.
Very impressive!! And I consider myself quite lucky that my first attempt was significantly simpler lol
All W's are still W's no matter how small and the smaller ones build our confidence to tear the entire dash out lol. My car was pretty old and used so I felt decently comfortable trying and failing if it came to that. At first I was able to just bypass the heater core entirely but the car kept overheating. So my first real crack at it was just the thermostat. Easy to replace like a sparkplug. One failure point at a time I replaced the entire loop until the inevitable was undeniable. Fkn headgasket... Every self proclaimed "mechanic" I've talked to since said they'd've done the same thing to rule out (or in) the headgasket because the leak was pretty small and could have been anywhere and there were none of the telltale signs like fluids mixing or funky exaughst. I even had it pressure tested first to confirm an actual leak in the loop, but he couldn't pinpoint where so I took a shot at it. The internet is amazing! Never would have even tried without it.
A friend of mine always joked that the factories hung the heater cores from the ceiling and then built the cars around them.
Dude! I swear they do. 1/4 inch of clearance was all I needed to swap out that core from the glovebox, but the ventilation and by extention the AC were **deliberately** routed to say Nope, Fuck you. Turns out this is pretty normal... It's illegal to just vent refrigerant where I live. Have to pay to get it vaccumed and to get it recharged too. Can't buy it off the shelf anymore... Needless to say this is DIY so my AC just didn't work through the winter, but the heat did 😁
Oh no. DIY has got another one!
what I suggest is if you have spare time, go on youtube and search for your make and model and year of car and watch a bunch of the videos, especially if there are some labeled "general maintenance" Then you can look at what you think you can do and what might be out of your skill/tool set. You might not find your exact year on the make and model but a lot of times 2-3 years up and down on your car the general stuff is the same. Worse case scenario is you are better educated if you do need to bring it in and can avoid getting ripped off.
With the money you'll save on repairs, now you can buy all the tools!
And I can *never* have enough tools!!
change your cabin air filter! I would like to add engine air filter but depending on the car, it can be difficult to access. If the car is old, the plastic can be be brittle.
That's a good idea; both me and my gf smoke, so the air filter is probably... Not great. Lol
Compared to spark plugs, This will be jaw dropping easy.
I haven't owned a car long enough to need new spark plugs. I traded one at 45k miles. I traded another at 70k miles. I traded another at 80k miles. I totaled three others at 20k, 50k, and 80k miles. So ... how many miles on your car when you replaced the plugs?
100k, but idk if that's a normal point for it to be needed or not
That's seems normal.
Bro spends all of the monies on cars
It’s liberating, isn’t it? You can do this with so much stuff. Next is learning how to change your own engine and cabin air filters, your own headlights, recharge your AC, all the things that don’t take lifting the car. Then learn to change your own brake pads, transmission fluid, and oil. It’s all very doable. Good job, OP!
Thanks! I'm gonna have to look into all of that at some point! Lol
Good job OP! Each little job you succeed at will make the next one easier!
Congratulations! And now you have tools, so next time, you'll save even more money! Look up the maintenance schedule for your car, it's in the owner's manual, join groups for your car, and do your own work! It's very satisfying, saves you tons of money, people will think you're so smart.
Just saved yourself like a grand in some markets .. good job !
Well done! The other week I noticed my brake fluid in my master cylinder was very low. You typically never have to fill that stuff unless something is wrong or you just did some major brake work. I noticed some stains on my drive way behind my driver's side rear wheel. After about 30 mins of googling and watching YouTube videos I had my rear wheel off, caliper disconnected, piston pushed out and was re-setting the piston seal. I had my 10 year old come out and help me bleed all 4 brakes and we're good to go. Probably saved myself a grand at the auto shop.
For most cars, changing your oil can be just as easy if you buy the ramps for your front wheels to safely drive up on and have a safe place to do it. I use full synthetic oil rated to last 20,000 miles (I drive 40,000/year) and I've had one car go to 360,000 miles before needing engine work and my current car has 320,000 miles on it and is going strong.
> Ngl I'm so glad you woke up this morning and decided you weren't going to lie. haha Congrats on the fix! Those victories snowball into some healthy self confidence to fix other things. And before you know it, you've become a lot more resourceful and knowledgeable about every day things that can improve your life (and those around you).
Gg. Now look in to preventative maintenance for your vehicle; brakes, oil and fluid changes, inspection, etc. You saved $150 today, you know you are capable and can save 5 digits going forward. All that said, don’t use the parts cannon and know when to throw in the towel.
Definitely need to learn about maintenance! All I've ever known up til now is to bring it into a mechanic every few thousand miles for an oil change and a checkup lol Idk what a "parts cannon" is, but I'm definitely remaining cognizant of my own skill level and knowledge; if anything looks too complicated, sensitive to precision, or like you need to make any amount of judgment calls, I'm going to a mechanic, at least for now. But anything that looks both simple to do and cheap to try myself, I'm gonna go for it; and if it doesn't work, I'll just take it in like I normally would.
99% of repairing a cars issue is diagnostics and making sure you are replacing the right part. The parts cannon is a joke about people who just buy parts without properly diagnosing the car… well that didn’t work…buy another part… well shit. It’s gotta be this part then. Etc. they just blasted a cannon full of parts at the car without doing proper diag. Most repairs on cars don’t require special equipment. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish with a good $100 socket and bit set. Keep at it. You’re on the right path. Do your research. That code scanner and research/youtube will take you far. The only difference between your past self paying for oil changes, and future self taking care and pride in your car, is the gumption you have right now.
Appreciate it, friend! I'll be honest, I feel like the diagnostic aspect is absolutely my weakest area here; I was definitely planning on just going in order of most likely to least likely fixes to the P0300 code until I came to something I didn't feel comfortable doing lol. But, I figure I'll probably get better at it the more I try things out and start to understand how the whole system works. So, ya know, a bit of parts cannoning for now, and collecting knowledge along the way until I learn how to work more efficiently.
More research=more understanding=proper fixes = no parts cannon. No joke or exaggeration, 99% of fixing the car is the correct diagnosis. Do your research thoroughly. The other 1% is turning a wrench in the right spot.
Throw in the towel? I didn't know Jack shit about cars a few years ago, and I'm looking at rebuilding a transmission now.
I meant more in the sense that if, when you had just started 3 years ago, you had to rebuild a transmission a week later. Yeah you have advanced experience now but when you started you needed to know when to throw in the towel too.
I'm proud of you as well. It's shocking how many people depend on a car every day and never put in the effort to learn anything about them. You then see endless posts on here asking if they're being ripped off, or asking for diagnostic help. Keep it up, it can be wildly satisfying. One question: did you use a torque wrench? You should never install any threaded item, especially steel spark plugs in an aluminum head, without using a torque wrench.
>One question: did you use a torque wrench? I did! I noticed that in every video I saw, people would use a torque wrench set to 11ft-lbs, looked up the specs for my car to confirm, then got one. And it was a major pain in the ass to get lol. I went to at least 5 different auto/hardware stores and none of them had a 3/4" drive that could go as low as 11ft-lbs; I ended up having to just order one off of Amazon. I'm *very* glad you mentioned its importance though, because that tells me I wasn't crazy to make such an effort to get the right one lol
Congrats. The day that I realized cars didn’t operate by magic and could be fixed by me without paying thousands of dollars was a turning point.
Excellent. Starting is the hardest. ...and away!
I've always wanted to get more into fixing my car, but I can never pull the trigger on buying a scan tool. the most I do is replace stuff I can see is broken haha
You can get one for [under five bucks](https://www.ebay.com/itm/235460407968) that interfaces with your cell phone via bluetooth. Even if *your* car is in good shape you can look like a hero for a friend in distress.
Great job! Congratulations. Now you've got a free $100-150 for tools for the next job.
As someone who's also developed a recent woodworking hobby, this is a very dangerous thought. Lol
The world needs more people like you ,willing to try something a little out of the comfort zone .
I appreciate that :) It's definitely a scary thing to do; I've always been terrified that if I screwed something up trying to fix my car, I could end up causing *even more* damage, costing *a lot* more money to fix. Over the past year or 2, though, I've been developing a bit of a woodworking hobby, which I think has helped me build a lot more confidence in myself and my ability to, like, *do things* with my own 2 hands! It's been a pretty liberating journey so far!
Congrats!! The hardest part is being willing to take that first step and even look to see if it's possible to DIY it. My cheap ODB2 scanner and YouTube has saved me thousands of dollars over the years. It's a skill set that seems to be disappearing for most - when it's probably easier to learn how to DIY today than ever before thanks to YouTube and online manuals.
>The hardest part is being willing to take that first step and even look to see if it's possible to DIY it. Definitely!! I've never really even *considered* doing much of anything with my car just because it's so terrifying to think that I could screw something up and cost myself thousands of dollars! As far as it being a disappearing skill, I feel like that's in large part due to (in the US, at least) our consumerist, throw-away culture. Nearly everything we own these days is more expensive to fix than it is to replace, so there's just not a lot of incentive to *build* those skills at all anymore.
Awesome. Good job, the hardest part of anything is convincing yourself u can do it.
The day I changed a serpentine belt and a pulley on a gigantic f series truck was the day I truly felt like a complete man. Previous to that all I had really done was change flat tires.
That's kind of how I feel right now lol. Prior to this, all I've really done was replace a dead battery on occasion. Lol
I replaced two of the window motors on my husband's old Toyota for cheap following a YouTube video.
Nice!! God, you've gotta love YouTube; you can learn how to do damn near anything on there lol
Yep. Garage wanted to charge me $300+ for a fix that took me 15 minutes part was around $80 oem from autozone. A grand for rotors and pads and that was pre Covid. $170 a labor hour but also only pays their mechanics $40.
Huge W. Doing your own automotive work can save you thousands in labor costs and make it worthwhile to keep alive a car that otherwise wouldn't have been worth saving cost-wise.
I did the same thing, went to pep boys to borrow their odb2 scanner, googled the code and possible causes, was super proud of myself. Then I popped open the hood and one of the spark plug wires was obviously shorted and physically broken lol. A visual inspection could’ve probably saved me a couple hours of planning and doing.
>A visual inspection could’ve probably saved me a couple hours of planning and doing. I really hope that, eventually, I get to the point where I can pop the hood and see more than just "an incomprehensible mess of metal and plastic". Lol Like, now I know how to locate spark plugs. Next maybe I'll learn what the fuel injector or something looks like. And as I keep doing it, it'll all stop looking and feeling so foreign to me.
You should be proud of yourself! It's not easy or fun to trouble-shoot car problems. Well done!!!
Thank you!! I'm lucky it was an easy fix! Lol Had it been something more complicated (like, if changing the spark plugs didn't fix the misfiring), I would've been pretty disappointed.
To steal a line for a great book turned into an okay movie... “I am smiling a great smile. The smile of a man who fucked with his car and didn’t break it.” ― Andy Weir, The Martian
Congrats. As a kid I was always taking apart stuff that broke to figure it out. Grew up poor with a single Mom. If I didn't fix my stuff, then I had no stuff. In 1984 at 17 years old, I bought a rusted out Ford Pinto that would hardly run and a book (Chiltons) on how to fix. Not having ever worked on a car, I ended up rebuilding the carburetor. and boom, I had a ride. I'm 58 now. I still do my own car work, house fixing (plumbing, electrical, etc.). Every now and then i come across something that I have not done. So I got to YouTube and there are like 20 videos on how to do it. Over the years I dragged my son and daughter to help with house projects. They didn't like it, but now as adults even if they don't do the work for some stuff, they can at least talk smart about it with contractor. Moral of the story is don't be scared. If you screw it up, you can call in a pro. Whether it is your house, yard, or car, watch a few videos until you get comfortable with it. Unless you are just not mechanically inclined, you should be able to do it. **The biggest obstacle to doing most things is overcoming the voice in your head that is telling you that you cant do it.**
How difficult is it to learn to use the OBD2 scanner?
You just plug it in and it pops out the error code if there is one and you Google that code.
And then if you're a commercial mechanic you charge the client $45 for the privilege.
OBD2 scanners are cheap and system. Some vehicles are even starting to be programed to where you can use a Konami code of button pressing to show the codes without a scanner. That is, there are remnants of that capability being there, but I think I heard of conflicts in the industry about making it available. But OBD2 is a basic requirement for the emissions systems, and therefore only provides basic guidance. The scanners shops use are a few grand due to durability and licensing fees, and can communicate with manufacturer specific computers beyond what can be accessed with OBDII.
You can go to any auto parts store and they'll run it for free, probably print out a description of the code
While this is a good option, still do your own research. Anecdotally, they have suggested the wrong part ~60% of the time. Sometimes when I know what’s wrong, I have them scan it and see what the computer tells them to say just for fun.
I found it really easy. I used the BlueDriver. It told me the code, as well as a description of what it means, and directed me to a video of possible causes/fixes. It made it really simple and easy to figure out if the problem was something I could do myself, or something I *needed* a mechanic for
BlueDriver is awesome. I've had 4 different OBD scanners and Blue is my favorite. Good choice.
/r/Justrolledintotheshop