Do you DIY and to what level?

mike65

I spent much of today removing skin from my fingers as I grappled with a couple of aux belts and a cam cover gasket change, they feel raw and have nice disposits of ancient oil under the nails.

I do it cos my labour is very cheap and part of me enjoys the manly masochism of it all! The only pity is I don't have the space or equipment to do larger jobs which require lifting gear.

What level of DIY do you work at or are you someone who's happy to leave it to a professional?

Mike.

mmenarry

Pretty much everything - did a complete timing belt & accessory belt change recently on mine.

I only leave the stuff that's "expensive if you make a mess of it" to the "professionals", i.e. someone I can shout at / sue if it doesn't go well!

Helps having the MX5 Ireland club, no matter what job you need doing, soemone will have tried it before (either successfully or not)

M.

Rabies

The most i can do to my car is change a tyre, fill the water tank and check and fill the oil.
Pretty much a step up from a girl
Haven't a clue about the internal working of a car. Safer to let a professional sort it out.

maidhc

In cars the basics (e.g. service, brakes and so forth). I have never done a timing belt, but might do sometime. They scare me a bit, especially the newer cars.

On the older farm machinery I do everything short of ripping up the engine. I have replaced clutches, gearboxes, cabs, wiring, bearings of various descriptions etc. I get an immense kick out of keeping elderly machines in working condition, and they aren't worth the cost of professional labour.

Ernie Ball

mmenarry wrote:

Pretty much everything - did a complete timing belt & accessory belt change recently on mine.

I only leave the stuff that's "expensive if you make a mess of it" to the "professionals", i.e. someone I can shout at / sue if it doesn't go well!

Helps having the MX5 Ireland club, no matter what job you need doing, soemone will have tried it before (either successfully or not)

Where do you do such work? Do you have a pit in your garage?

I live in an apartment in Dublin with a gated car park. I do put the car up on jackstands for various maintenance tasks and mods (chassis bracing recently for example). But my neighbours would go mental if I had the car up on jackstands overnight...

Tipsy Mac

I've changed bulbs, wipers and topped up fluids, not alot else mainly for fear or breaking something rather than laziness. I think I could easily manage an oil and plug change but would be a little hesitant going near the brakes for safety reasons.

Are modern cars more easier to service that older models for the DIY mechanic?

Ernie Ball

Tipsy Mac wrote:

Are modern cars more easier to service that older models for the DIY mechanic?

They are more difficult than older models due to miniaturisation and the use of computer technology.

mike65

Harder! So much is now in the realms of computer software and fault codes!

Mike.

Tipsy Mac

For a typcial service for a modernish car would computer hookup and diaganostics check be necessary or only helpful if there's a problem?

mike65

Diagnostics are for fuel injection/electrical/ECU issues but it does mean
the days of stripping/rebuliding are largely over as the parts in question are sealed or so fiddly small they are nearly impossible to work on. If it breaks, replace it is the new mantra!

Mike.

mmenarry

Ernie Ball wrote:

Where do you do such work? Do you have a pit in your garage?

I live in an apartment in Dublin with a gated car park. I do put the car up on jackstands for various maintenance tasks and mods (chassis bracing recently for example). But my neighbours would go mental if I had the car up on jackstands overnight...

I too live in an apartment in Dublin. No pit, so some stuff is awkward (but 4 good quality axle stands greatly improve this).

Stuff I've done:
Changed roofs
Timing Belt
Accessory belts
Changed radiator
"Normal" servicing - oil, filters, plugs
Changed body panels
Replaced the cat with a nice shiny pipe
Replaced exhaust
Various electrical stuff
Fitted style bars
Replaced door seals / weatherstrips
Changed brake pads / discs / bled & changed fluid
Replaced fuel filters (the worst job by far, right underneath the centre of the car)
Changed head units / speakers
Replaced bulbs / headlamps / rear lamps
Fitted front splitters
Fitted handsfree kit
Changed seatbelt warning buzzer to "lights on" buzzer
Fixed locks / handles
Changed gearbox oil / LSD oil
Changed batteries
Replaced aerials
Fitted chassis / shock tower braces

Obviously, not all of that was to my own car

Only thing that really needs a pit is clutch/gearbox work. Those two are sufficiently expensive when they go wrong to give the job to someone else. Saved a fortune in garage bills over the last few years (although this is offset slightly by a big bag of tools!)

M.

colm_mcm

I draw the line at brakes, will have a go at anything else. company car means free services now though

mmenarry

Slightly off-topic I know, but:

mike65 wrote:

Diagnostics are for fuel injection/electrical/ECU issues but it does mean
the days of stripping/rebuliding are largely over as the parts in question are sealed or so fiddly small they are nearly impossible to work on. If it breaks, replace it is the new mantra!

Mike.

I my experience Mike, it's got much worse than that.
Current dealers seem to do the following:
1. Connect car to diagnostics
2. Replace whatever part is giving a "fault"

No actual "diagnostics" at all. For example, a mate recently had trobule with the car running rich/misfiring. Many trips to the garage, and they never found the one part that had an intermittent fault (turned out to be one of the coil units).

The garage would have happily kept replacing the O2 sensor and CAT until the cows came home. On-board diagnostics do not tell you what part is at the root of the trouble, just the bits that are suffering because of it.

M.

peasant

I'm a mechanics nightmare

I have fairly good knowledge on how things should work, look, sound and smell if and when they were done properly.
But I only do the very basics myself anymore ...tyres, water, bulbs, wiggle a few cables, that kind of thing.
Used to do pretty much everything on my Renault 4 ...but that was a very simple car and Daddy had a well equipped garage.

Now I only have the driveway and few tools ...works out cheaper for me to let a mechanic do it (because getting the half stripped car to a mechanics to finish off my botch job isn't really an option pricewise )

But I still know enough to tell straight away when a garage wants to pull a fast one.

mike65

The garage would have happily kept replacing the O2 sensor and CAT until the cows came home

Garages have always expolited the innocent/ignorant, that why owners clubs/message boards are so valuable. Someone else will already have had your woes and figured it out!

Mike.

colm_mcm

Not all garages are con jobs.

mike65

Not all naturally.

Mike.

BrianD3

I do basic servicing myself. I don't particularly like doing spark plugs as I have a fear of cross threading one, dropping something down the hole etc. Other stuff I've done is work on the cooling system (flush, replaced a radiator and a themostat) replaced gearbox oil, changed a battery. I've treated some body rust with POR-15 products, the rust treatment went very well but i didn't get a good final finish after topcoating. I think bodywork and spraying is something that really needs a lot of training/practice.

Also I have watched my mate change ball joints, wheel bearings, brake shoes, timing belts and water pumps. But I wouldn't take on these jobs myself due to lack of skill and lack of tools.

mmenarry

mike65 wrote:

Garages have always expolited the innocent/ignorant, that why owners clubs/message boards are so valuable. Someone else will already have had your woes and figured it out!

Mike.

Nope, that's not what I'm saying (although I agree with you on many of them taking the pi$$).

These days they can't be bothered to find the fault. A car running rich will knacker the CAT & O2 sensor in jig time, but won't flag the diagnostics (usually). Garage won't take the time to find the fault, and just replace whatever's suffering as a result. Spend 5 minutes with the diagnostics computer, hand the part to the nearest 1st year apprentice and tell them to change it.

It's like if you ran out of petrol, they'd replace the tank to cure the problem (exaggeration I know, but I wouldn't put it past some dealers!)

M.

colm_mcm

If a garage does take the time and find the fault, people complain about the size of the bill!

AMurphy

Generally do everything myself, except mount and balance tyres, alignment and Smog checks.
And bodywork. no good at panel beating, painting roof liners and that sort of stuff.

Engine rebuilds, never needed, clutch/gearbox rebuilds accomplished, brakes and electrics, no problem.
I rent heavy tools when necessary, or remove busings and bearings myself, but have a garage/workshop drive in the new ones, then attach the parts to the car myself.

How to remove a wheel bearing race with an arc welder.
Remove all the bearing bits you can. Then run a bead of weld on the inside of the bearing race, this causes it to shrink and fall out, neat?.

junkyard

I can do everything myself, I even designed and built a hearse. I've rebuilt crashed cars and restored wrecks and everything in between,including upholstry and timberwork.:)

greglo23

in reference to the earlier quotes about modern garage and diagnostic equipment ; the vast majority of garages these days are sadly lacking in the most important of all diagnostic tools eg. experience !! the amount of badly repaired vehicles i see on a regular basis is crazy. one i came across was a recently serviced Punto which was drinking petrol. a small vacuum pipe from the throttle body was split and drawing air which was easily audible. the air entering the system was confusing the lambda sensor and making the car run rich to the extent that it blew clouds of black soot out of the exhaust when revved. i cut off the split end, refitted the pipe and hunky dory. it took 2 minutes. whin i ws serving my time all work was checked by the foreman and the vehicle had to be right or you got a right bollicking !!

commited

I do everything except welding, spraying and windscreen replacement

SouperComputer

Prettymuch anything. I stayed away from cars for a long time, settling back in now.

Not a great welder, so I try and avoid that. Brakes, bearings, suspension, engine top and bottom end, clutch etc. The only thing I would say way from is the internals of a gearbox, tight tolerances and a lack to equipment to fix em.

AMurphy

A machine shop or a friend with a machine shop or metal cutting machines is a great asset. You can make tools out of other tools, Z shaped spanners for getting around valve stems, piping, other car parts...etc.

Mr Magnolia

I do nearly all of it myself, it's the only way you know the work is getiing done. I do a lot of miles and service the car after 6k so I also save a lot of money, service only costs €35-40(parts). Which reminds me - must service the car at the weekend.

Interceptor

I do everything myself, I have several scrapped cars dumped behind my house for spare parts and my neighbours hate me. I am currently rebuilding a Punto engine in my kitchen and spraying a motorbike in my shed. My wife hates me too.

I am an avid collector of other peoples junk and have nine sets of alloy wheels in my attic along with most of an X1/9 and the best bits of three Minis.

'cptr

alias no.9

I do what I can on a driveway/carpark with limited tools. Oil (engine and gearbox), filters (oil, air and fuel), brakes (fluid, pads and flexible lines), auxilliary belts (a little afraid to try a cam belt on an interfernace engine), and I'm going to be doing some suspension bushings at the weekend to prep for the NCT.

MercMad

Thankfully I can do everything myself !

I removed,stripped and rebuilt engines, manual transmissions, power steering boxes, suspensions, brake calipers, basically anything that can be removed stripped and repaired I'll tackle !

I prefer working on older cars though, couldn't be bothered with modern stuff, I bowed out of the Motor trade in 1997 and usually get my CLK dealer serviced to keep the book stamped, though I did some gearbox seals recently and saved €200 !

I have done minor body repairs in the past but honestly I am not good at it so having stripped my '64 Merc down to a rolling shell, I have left the panelwork to the pro's. However I intend to buy the relevant bits to enable me to do some spraying and welding. Basically the 1960's fuel injection Mercs are complex, but I understand and love them, so I like fixing them properly !

This month I have repaired a '94 C-Class head gasket, water pump on my '68 280SE, serviced, greased the suspension plus some repairs to the transmission and the aforementioned fuel injection settings, and also set up a disused mechanical injector pump !

I have offered to do a head gasket on a Pontiac, though the car may be sold as is !!

crosstownk

I do pretty much everything - or at least I used to. While I don't have all the heavy gear I do have access to it so if the engine in the wifes Bora needs to come out - I'll do it. I prefer my cosy office and the luxury of farming all the work out to the dealers around the country. But there is no way I'd pay any of them for work to my car when I'm capable of doing it myself.

Kersh

I will go as far as rebuilding engines. Can strip and rebuild my race engines, but I leave most of the 'performance' machining to the engine builder. I have rebuilt gearboxes, and a 3.0 v6 mitsubishi gto engine. Love doing it, and with most big jappy cars I wouldnt trust a garage, so for peace of mind and price I do it myself.

franksm

Can do any mechanical work except that which requries removal of gearbox or engine. Have timing belt changes down to 2.5 hrs now.

Have been changing oil for umpteen years but still haven't mastered the knack of not spilling any - either it drips out of the old filter when it's removed, or when dribbling out of the sump, the wind will blow the drips everywhere :rolleyes:

alias no.9

franksm wrote:

Can do any mechanical work except that which requries removal of gearbox or engine. Have timing belt changes down to 2.5 hrs now.

Have been changing oil for umpteen years but still haven't mastered the knack of not spilling any - either it drips out of the old filter when it's removed, or when dribbling out of the sump, the wind will blow the drips everywhere :rolleyes:

I used have a nightmare with the oil filter on my last car, a primera. It was mounted at the rear of the block, really difficult to access and next to impossible to catch any spillage. The best cure was to leave the car sitting over night and gravity took care of any oil in the filter, taking it back down to the sump and the filter could be removed, virtually dry. I was a little concerned about the design which allowed the oil to drain, potentially backflushing some/much of the contamination back down to the sump however the existance of many of these engines with mega miles probably means nissan weren't as worried as me.
My current car, an alfa 156, is a dream in comparrison, the oil filter isn't mounted on the block at all, it's mounted on a housing between the engine block and the radiator with the cannister tilted down so that any drips run down the canister and not around the engine and are easy to catch. It's the first time I've seen an oil filter mounted like this, i.e. not on the side of the block, maybe it's to do with cooling the oil?

maidhc

alias no.9 wrote:

I used have a nightmare with the oil filter on my last car, a primera.

You should see the mondeo diesel. You have to go stripping to get at the fuel filter, and the wheel and a big splash panel must come off before you can do the oil and filter.

Fords also seems to have at least 10x as many tubes and wires in the engine bay as Toyotas, which are a dream to work on from my experience.

jayo99

everything.. engine change.. tb change.. rather do the work meself and know its done ;-)

Kersh

everything.. engine change.. tb change.. rather do the work meself and know its done ;-)

Seems to be the general consensus from anyone who likes cars.

MercMad

Have been changing oil for umpteen years but still haven't mastered the knack of not spilling any - either it drips out of the old filter when it's removed, or when dribbling out of the sump, the wind will blow the drips everywhere

.........well if its the driveway you are concerned about just place a large flatted box i.e a big piece of cardboard, underneath the oil drain tray and any splashes will land on the cardboard not the cobbles !!

Most of the modern Mercs are handy as they still use the cartridge type filter and you take it off from the top, not too far from the oil filler car, none spills !!

blastman

I'm a medium mechanic, can do plugs, filters, brake pads and other bits and bobs, but I won't be whipping out the engine anytime soon, I think.

mike65

Most of the modern Mercs are handy as they still use the cartridge type filter and you take it off from the top, not too far from the oil filler car, none spills!!

Indeed a joy, once you actually got the bloody thing loosened (they forgot to provide much space to turn the wrench). That said the fuel filter was needlesly awkward under the body by the rear passenger wheel. On Audi A6 its located over the suspension turret rather too near the exhaust manifold! Easy to change,easy to turn into a ball of flame! :eek:

Mike.

Darando

Some the more popular cars should be ok. I suppose the biggest help would be something like a Haynes manual- walk you through most things.

I find its the same as most things. People are afraid they will break it so dont try. But when they do try they realise how simple some things can be. It would be nice just to have a mess around with an old banger and she how it works - cant do any harm!

Recently just fixing a motorbike and seeing how easy things like jets on carbs - brake pads etc are to change opened my eyes.

ToxicPaddy

I'm a bit like that. Would love to be able to give me car a service but terrified I'd make a complete mess of it and end up forking out a small fortune to a mechanic to fix.

However in saying that I'm not afraid to investigate and sometimes fix interior electrics, changing bulbs/fuses, basic stuff really when it comes down to it. So methinks I might start looking under the bonnet a bit more, got a haynes manual so might start reading up and see what I can do..

maidhc

Ford drivers should do a search around online for a copy of the TIS DVD. The last version came out in 2004 before they switched to an online system. You can print out step-by-step instructions to do most stuff.

MercMad

Indeed a joy, once you actually got the bloody thing loosened (they forgot to provide much space to turn the wrench).

.........but there is a stool avaialble at dealers, motor factors and most tool shops for about €10 which grips it easily. Thats what I use, it takes 10 seconds !

Haynes are better than nothing, but by no means gospel, they normally take you the long way 'round !

Darando

MercMad wrote:

......Haynes are better than nothing, but by no means
gospel, they normally take you the long way 'round !

But for a beginner isnt the long way round the best? at least that way you actually know what you are doing and probably learn/understand more than a quick - "just do it this way because it works" method.

After a few times then the short cuts kick in!!!