Great time for DIY

fred246

I've just finished servicing my cars. Really enjoyed it. This time I've had all the time in the world so everything has been to total perfection. Weather's been great. Just been doing a job a day. I did have to drive to warm my oil up but I took some empty shopping bags with me in case I saw any bizzies. Keep reading about people who got their cars stuck in the garage and can't get them back. Mine only go in for 30 mins each year for the MOT.  Surely more people could DIY to get the job done properly. Very money saving too.

tacpot12

It is a great time to be working on cars. Many jobs can be done by car owner and the cost savings are substantial.

As an example, the Ford dealer wanted £300 to fix the fact that my reversing lights were not working on my 2005 Mondeo. The part, the Reversing Light Switch, was £25 from another Ford dealer, and took 10minutes to install - five minutes of which was spent searching for it on the gearbox!

However the issue was only spotted because I sent the car to the dealers to have the brake fluid changed. The fluid can't be changed by the home mechanic because it needs the ABS pump to be exercised and you need Ford diagnostic equipment to do this. Ford were doing a fixed price for the brake fluid change of £40 (two years ago)  and this included a "free" safety check, that is clearly designed to find problems that the dealer can then charge you to fix. They found the problem with the reversing lights and told me that the issue was likely to be the reversing light switch - I was grateful for them finding the issue. The brake fluid needs changing every four years, so the cost of sending it to the main dealers to get this done is only really £10/yr and it means I get a main dealer to look over the car every four years. 

I change the brake disks and pads myself; tyres and MOT are done at local suppliers who I have used for years.   I have a Bluetooth OBDII scanner and FORscan (great software if you run a FORD) so I can check for diagnostic error codes, and have even programmed key fobs to the ECU with it.
But I guess the trick is knowing what sort of jobs not to tackle as a DIYer. Old cars can have very stubborn bolts, and mechanics tend to know the best ways of "persuading"  bolts to move - e.g. using heat. I have a local mechanic who does the bigger jobs that I can't tackle, e.g. changing cambelts.

It is definitely worth learning to do stuff on your own car - you can start with simple jobs like changing air filters, oil filters and sparkplugs and move onto more advanced stuff as you feel able to. There is a lot more guidance available on doing work at home on YouTube and via the owners forums on the internet. 

fred246

Youtube is brilliant. Superior to a Haynes manual normally. Depends on the video maker I suppose. My current car I have changed the cambelt 3 times. The first time I was using Ford TIS disc. 2nd and 3rd time I had youtube videos to watch. People don't like me doing my own cambelts or here becasue there is a risk of engine damage. That risk makes me want to do my own even more. You want it done properly - I won't take the risk of taking it to a garage.
Servcing I would go on carparts4less and order the parts. Normally about £30 for a service with the best parts you can buy. Wait for a nice Sunday afternoon and service it. Only took a couple of hours. Colleagues at work used to say "can't be bothered, too much trouble". Then they would ask me to pick them up from the garage at 7:30 in the morning after getting the nanny to come early and drop their kids off at school at 7am. Used to make all sorts of arrangements to get the car to a garage for a service. Then I would drop them off after work to pick it up and they would pay £300 and I would be thinking "I wonder whether the garage has actually done anything?" Seemed to cause far more disruption to their life than a service for me.
With modern technology working on your own car has never been easier. So many tricky jobs have been eliminated. In the old days parts suppliers would often give you the wrong part. Youtube videos to guide you.
I remember on one forum a woman servicing her own car with help from the other members. Hilarious and a little bit scary too.

mcpitman

fred246 said:

I remember on one forum a woman servicing her own car with help from the other members. Hilarious and a little bit scary too.

I dare you tell my mum in her 60's of her comedy value when servicing her own car. You may end up with things where they weren't intended! 

fred246

I thought it was great that this woman was servicing her own car with help from the forum. She had no idea what anything was so it got quite funny. After years of doing your own servicing you forget that some people have no idea what anything is. She didn't know how to open the bonnet. She couldn't make the bonnet stay up. She didn't know if the engine was at the back or front of the car. I think you probably need someone who knows what they are doing teaching you. It was a step too far really but very entertaining.

Mercdriver

It is only moneysavng if you know how to do it.  

Brewer20

Sometimes it's when you start doing your own servicing that you find problems that the garage have caused. 
I have recently had screws missing from my air filter box, untouched cabin filter when it was absolutely filthy. An extra sealing washer found in the oil filter housing, there should only be one but they left the old one in there when fitting the new. I also suspect they hadn't even removed the wheels to strip/clean the brakes and grease the slide pins.
I know all this stuff myself, I just wanted to keep the warranty valid on my car so had the local garage do it. In  its 4th year I started servicing it myself after the brake stuff above. I have always done my other car, that's 13 years old this year and in tip top condition, never failed an MOT.
All car stuff to do yet, saving it for later, need to order oils, filter etc.

fred246

Garages can cause so much damage to cars. I try and buy cars that are new enough to have never been taken in for a service. I just service them myself and keep them away from garages. I keep them a long time so service record doesn't matter. Luckily I have never had a warranty issue. When I sell them I put in the advert that I won't let garages mess with my car. I suppose it may put some people off but there are plenty of people that understand and I've never had a problem selling. I used to dream up all sorts of plans like going in and offering to pay for the stamp as long as they agreed not to touch my car or letting them service it and do it myself when I got home but I can't be bothered now.

Mercdriver

I thought you were using garages for your latest purchase?  
In this post you thought about committing fraud?
If you had credibility, it would be shot now.

fred246

Call the fraud squad. Guilty of making sure his car is serviced correctly. Imagine if garage owners got prosecuted for not servicing cars correctly. There wouldn't be many garages left.

motorguy

I got a new (second hand) wiper motor fitted to our 2006 BMW the day before lockdown and a drivers door lock the week before.  Both jobs done by our local indy as both jobs looked like they had scope for user error and broken clips along the way.  We're fortunate enough to have found a good BMW indy literally a mile from us and he doesnt charge a fortune.

Both our cars were serviced in January so all good there.

Touched up a few stone chips yesterday and plan on giving it a coat of polish this evening, otherwise its sitting pretty in the garage.  Could do with the wheels balanced as getting a bit of vibration at speed but that'll wait to post lockdown.

Our other car is up to date with its maintenance too.  Will de-tar it sometime this week or next, and give it a coat of polish.

Both cars sitting as close to perfection as i can get them (within reason!!) so no maintenance currently needed.

Ebay is handy for getting parts from - both used and new - and saves breaking lockdown for non essential travel.