Question of the Day: Do You do Your Own Maintenance?
Aside from the great new or used debate, having maintenance performed is one of the biggest questions for gearheads. Many enthusiasts refuse to trust the livelihood of a beloved ride to the hands of a stranger. Others simply don’t have an interest in doing any maintenance or repair work by themselves. I tend to do my own work, mostly because I tend to buy $500 vehicles that frequently need work and having someone else do the work would cost more than I spent on the entire vehicle.
Who does the maintainence on your vehicles? Let us know in comments.
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Comments
Shiv
I install everything on my car and do all of my own maintenance on all the cars I have ever owned.
VMMVMMM
Outside of the warranty period, I try to do everything myself, but inside warranty, the dealer does it all.
b
If the dealer is doing it for free, then they do it, otherwise I'll try anything that doesn't require lots of specialized tools. Example last weekend I did air filter, brake pads, and a serpentine belt, while I paid somebody else to rebuild the ball joints and steering rack.
Son of a Beach
The one word I see being used a lot by used car buyers is REGRET, as in “I just got it and I don’t regret it yet.
Wes
Though I grew up around race tracks, I did not grow up learning about fixing cars, but I did learn about the business side of race tracks. I have no clue on how to fix anything on my car, I take the car in for maintenance at my Dad's friend's shop. I get the oil changed at the Jiffy Lube, and I stopped going to the dealership for repairs because I don't trust them anymore.
hwyhobo
Maintenance as in what? Oil change? When you can do it at a corner gas station for $20 + the cost of the filter, why would you ever spend the time to do it yourself, then to degunk yourself, your clothes, and dispose of the used oil?
As for other maintenance, how much can you do on modern cars? Unless you already have a well-equipped shop, would it make financial sense to start from scratch?
Unless messing around with cars is your passion, I don't really see much justification in the "do-it-yourself" approach.
Gianni
For the 35 year old Alfa I do most of the work myself. For the daily drivers, I farm that out. New cars are a pain in the @#$% to work on.
FPF422
The only thing I do is cleaning my Green(air)filters... and without the MB computer, it's almost the only thing I can do on the car
Pocky Is God
Brakes, Oil, Tranny flush, Air box are all doable in an afternoon. So I do it.
Paul In Jersey
It's almost as entertaining as stealing the car! So yeah, I do my own maintenance.
Steven in CO
No question few newer cars are DIY-friendly. For the gearhead who wants a car that's fun to drive *and* maintain, the golden age ended, when, 20 years ago? Luckily some 20-something cars are still practical daily drivers, a blast on winding roads, and reasonable and easy to maintain. Mid-80's BMWs, for example. But when BMW builds "free" maintenance into the purchase of a new car, even a weekend grease-warrior like me wouldn't change the oil in a new car. Well, since BMW deleted the oil dipstick on newer models, I couldn't check the oil let alone change it.
Still, for new BMW money, I'd buy 20 of those old BMWs, with change left for cases of oil, shop rags, and new coveralls.
JPos
I turn my own wrenches and bust my own knuckles!
Jaymez
I'm doing a complete restoration on my dad's truck. Frame off. Yet, I won't do my own oil changes. It's not particle when someone else can do it for 10 minutes and $25. If I did it, it'd take half an afternoon after gathering the supplies.
I haven't messed with computers in cars. I want to delete the ones in my current cars.
Mark M
Depends. But I'm the opposite of people thesedays, if they even work on their own cars at all.
Oil changes, tire changes, strut changes, etc -- I'll take those to the appropriate shop to get done. I'd rather spend a relatively small amount of money rather than spend my own time and effort on something as menial but still dirty/time-consuming/etc as that. I do however thoroughly inspect the work to ensure it was done properly.
More complicated stuff I'll do myself. Though both my cars are newer models, I do have the expensive equipment required to access your car's computer (which goes FAR beyond a simple OBDII scanner thesedays) which goes a long way towards fixing your own problems. Other items that don't require any technical know-how are still usually FAR cheaper to do on your own -- like clutch changes for instance. It's not worth it for me to go through the trouble of changing my own oil to save $10, but I'll sure in the world do it to save $500-$1000.
Jeb
I usually have shops I trust do the maintenance work, but for some efforts, I've gone in and done the work myself. I've swapped out headlight assemblies, removed and cleaned the dual-stage intake manifolds on the V6 Contour, I've done brakes, car stereo and accessory installations (did some of that just this past weekend), replaced horns...I've been lucky enough to have factory service manuals on a couple of cars that I owned, and the stuff you can find online these days can be VERY comprehensive. But generally speaking, I don't want to do anything that spills oil or coolant in my driveway (I have two little kids and a dog and don't want to bury any of them), and my wife doesn't like me rooting underneath a car on jackstands. But me talking about doing something like that makes it easier for her to say "Pay someone to do it." :)
02Chuck
It depends on which car I am working on. The older ones on the fleet I do most stuff (suspension, water pumps, oil changes, easy but time consuming), I pay for the clutch work as I no longer want to flat back the tranny on to my chest. Wifes newer Bimmer I change the oil, do the brakes and suspension, if an electrical glitch comes up it goes to my mechanic to sort out. That is just the way it is now days. I just cannot pay (to cheap) someone to do what I still have the skills for. I will some day get the OBDII tool to research the electrical glitches. There is still the personal satisfaction in sorting out a problem.
Dave
NO ONE touches my cars but me. I reluctantly take cars in for warranty work, but that's about it.
To respond to hwyhobo (and other similar comments): The time it takes to do an oil change is MY time, my tools. Consider the alternative:
Fast oil change shops can do it in 10 minutes (not counting the wait in line). For that time, you too can take a risk that the minimum wage tech(?) won't cross a thread and/or strip the oil pan bolt. Or worse, put on the wrong filter that *feels* like it fits, until you hit 100 psi one cold morning and the filter is ejected from the block. It happens. A lot!
The dealer: sure, wait in line for the service writer, fill out paperwork, get a ride to work. Reverse the process to pick up the car (plus a wait for the cashier). Far more time is spent here than just doing it yourself, including cleanup. And similar risks apply as in the quick lube places.
By the second oil change or so, you should know enough about the quirks in your particular car, so even a difficult change shouldn't take more that 1/2 hour or so. And it's on my time - midnight, 5am, or 3pm on a Sunday. Can't beat that advantage anywhere!
Last, for (generally) less cost to have someone else do it, I can put in a good synthetic oil to give the engine some extra life.
Zelman
if the warranty you have pays for stuff, why do it yourself?
i'll take every advantage the dealer gives me, but i don't see why you should have to pay forty bucks for an oil change. it takes 15 minutes. and any man that can't do that by themselves needs to rethink their man-status.
Russ Bellinis
I do my own oil changes. I do most of the work on my Trans Am. I have a friend with a shop where I can put it up on a lift if necessary. Ialso help him if we need to do a job that is beyond what I can do in my garage, like the headers and exhaust system we recently put in. I do as little as possible on my wife's Saturn. Basically oil changes is about it. I suppose when it is due for a tune up, I'll replace the plugs, wires, and coil packs. I just don't like workingf on front wheel drive at all.
Leo H
Older cars one can try, but with the new cars let the dealers do it. Depends on warranty or service plans.Why change oil yourself, the station around the corner charges $20 to do it ???????????
chuck goolsbee
Service Departments are the revenue generators of the modern dealership... they extract more money from customers than their sales dept! I would NEVER bring a non-warranty/non-recall service item to a dealer. It would just be a chance for them to suck my wallet dry. No thanks.
I do as much as the work I can on my own cars. Like others have said, on my old car, as much as humanly possible, and on my new cars, as much as I can without specialty tools.
As for the folks who pay bottom bucks for oil changes, I think they are getting exactly the value of that cheap service. Barely literate, minimum wage, careless kids trained to work fast, not good, trusted with one of the most expensive and important bits of machinery you own?? WTF are you thinking?! I bet you a sushi lunch the work order you sign when you buy their "service" has plenty of weasel words in the fine print that absolves them of any damage they inflict on your car. Why risk it?
Oil is a car's lifeblood. Changing it is more than just a dirty chore, it is a chance to inspect the condition of things. It is a ritual bonding with one's beloved machine. It is not an annoyance, it is a religious experience. To lie prostrate and worship at the altar of internal combustion. A fine way to pass a Sunday. ;)
Besides, when I change oil I do my best to let ALL the old oil drain out. Can't do that in a "quick change"... so it baffles me why people value these half-assed quick jobs so much. It is like comparing a drive thru fast food lunch to a nice home-cooked holiday feast. There is great satisfaction, pleasure, and joy to be found in doing things yourself, without the pressure of time and trivial, external things. Lots of Zen in Maintenance. Seek it out, and you may find the way to inner peace.
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Sam F.
I change my own oil & filters from the beginning on every vehicle we buy. In the 40 + years since I started, I've not stripped or cross threaded a pan plug, but I've seen numerous ones done by garages, quick lubes, & dealers. As for repairs, I do as much as possible, but it seems to be better for me to go to the dealer when experiencing OBD11
trbl codes on the newer vehicles. My family drives lots of vehicles lots of miles, so I spend a lot of time in the garage working on them. It gives me great satisfaction when I can fix something myself and save several hundred dollars on labor.
Darren
I used to manage a quick oil change shop. I saw the monkey's being hired for $7.50 and hour and decided to do my own from then on out.
I ended up quiting when my owners wanted me to force my most experienced, longest hired (ie: highest paid) employee and replace him with a minnimum wage teenager. There was just no way I was going to do that. Admittedly, this was the 'final straw', but it sure showed where the focus was. Profits, not superior service.
Funny, the are not in business any more....
Evan Brom
It depends on the cost, and effort and ability to get the part. On my Camaro I do almost everything. On my hybrid the 0w10 oil is hard to find and with coupons its cheaper to use the dealer plus I get a free wash and dough nut and that is just priceless.
William Patrick
Yes.
Bob
Yes - I felt like a little bitch when I took a company owned vehicle in for an oil change. My five personal cars are all done by me. Its part of the responsibility of owning the car(s). Just like cutting grass is for homeowners.
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