POLL: What do you look for when having your car serviced ?

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Someone who has a reputation to protect and which cost them untold amounts to build up, that they do not wish diminished by having me wage war against them for screwing the job up.

Weird_Nev

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Rubbish.

Some cars are a PITA to work on whilst others are easy. Yes they mostly work the same but all the parts are designed differently with different bolt positions, hidden nuts, bolts, clips etc.

Tricky,
You appear to have taken it upon yourself to attack any post I make.
With some tools, the internet and a haynes manual/workshop guide, ANYONE can service a car themselves.

Why, even you've managed it.

Tim_Nicholas

Price is a good one. I can't edit now to put back in, but defo some interesting answers coming back...

Tim_Nicholas

More votes needed

TrickyWicky

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Tricky,
You appear to have taken it upon yourself to attack any post I make.

Apologies Nev, until you posted the above, I didn't even realise it was you who had posted what I had replied to. I don't normally look at the posters username just the actual comments and its the comment I reply to regardless of who posted it - unless it becomes a multiquoted/reply conversation then I take note of the username so i know who it is i'm trying to convince.

If you think I'm attacking you personally I'd like to apologise and reassure you that I'm not. My comments in the askMid thread were of my own past experiences and those comments / feelings stay in that thread. Outside of it is a clean slate as far as I'm concerned. You may also remember that I did say that anything non-motoring related I've had nothing but good experiences with the police for.

Back to the point:

Weird_Nev wrote: »

With some tools, the internet and a haynes manual/workshop guide, ANYONE can service a car themselves.

Why, even you've managed it.

I wouldn't agree. We've a Haynes for the OHs car and its not great. It's actually easier to hit google and find out how to fix something as the haynes manual is black and white, pictures are limited and reassembly is always "the reverse of.." which is somewhat frustrating.

To show my point, we also have another car that is not covered by Haynes and barely just by its own manufacturer due to its rarity. Despite that, it's actually an easier car to work on than the OHs car. The OHs car engine is crammed into the tiniest space whereas the other undocumented car is incredibly easy to work on and even remove with the crane. The OHs car goes straight into a mechanic for anything engine bay related other than an oil change. I also did a wishbone and shock absorber on the OHs car.. it was an absolute pain yet on the rare one it was a really straight forward job to do the shocks (although the wishbones are really weird and I've got to do those at some point some how).

My point is that whilst you claim anyone can do it, yes, they can with the correct knowledge, tools, patience and plenty of time but its far from easy as many cars are a pain in the !!! to work on. There may be hidden bolts, inaccessible bolts, rusted bolts, seized bolts and to make matters worse you may well round a few off too. Lets face it, seized and rounded bolts are every car enthusiasts dread and can stall a repair by days if not weeks. I've had it happen to me and I've had to send away large chunks of metal to the machine shop for major surgery due to similar problems. I stopped short of spark erosion for two reasons: The only person in the area who once did it had closed down and the part in question couldn't be sparked easily.

It's touch and go with some cars. Some are a delight to work on and fix, others are as I mentioned earlier a pain.