Homework 10 home automotive repairs starting from an oil change and ending with engine replacement

I'm taking a night class on auto maintenance in adult school. There is no grade and no tests. Just learning. And fun.

The teacher asked today, the first class, for us to bring next week a list of the 10 things that people can do at home to repair their car, starting with number 1 being an oil change and number 10 being an engine replacement.

Can I run by you my first list?

  1. Oil & filter Change
  2. Engine replacement

  1. Air & cabin air filter replacement

  1. Flush & replace all fluids
  2. Belt & tensioner replacement
  3. Alternator & battery replacement
  4. Brakes & struts overhauled
  5. Cooling system overhaul
  6. Starter replacement
  7. Clutch replacement and/or automatic filter replacement

How does that list look as a first pass?

Reply to
Drago Giambattista Esposito
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Tires. Body work? Lights.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

You have missed the first and most important requirement, a *workshop manual*, even a Haynes. Actually, a Haynes manual is all you're likely to be able to get hold of these days as a lot of the factory manuals come on CD and/or subscription.

An example, a friend decided to service his own car. religiously did all the common stuff, oil, filters, flushes, etc. One day the timing belt snapped. Had he changed the belt according to the service schedule book? What book was the response. The obvious answer then was, no, not according to the factory schedule. And thereby hangs a cautionary tale.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Reply to
Xeno

  1. Purchase manual and *study it* before touching *anything*.
Reply to
Xeno

And along those lines, YouTube. There are quite a few guys showing "How to .............................." on YouTube. Some of the repair guides are pretty good. And they're free.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

Your list is a good as any. IMO, most people could not do any of those due to a lack of knowledge, skill, time, tools, desire, or a place to work.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

Yes, agreed, but some of those are potential disasters. You need to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff with those videos and I'm not sure a tyro could adequately do that.

Reply to
Xeno

True that!

Reply to
Xeno

Not a bad list, but I'm not sure how you got the pairings. #6 combines brakes and struts. They both require taking off a wheel, but are usually not done together.

Clutch and engine replacement are borderline home repair. I know a few people that can do it, but very few.

I see no mention of spark plugs.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

You can do ANYTHING at home if you know what you are doing, but most people should not do anything more than oil changes and tire rotation(if that) If you want to do more MAKE SURE you learn how to do things PROPERLY and SAFELY.

You are working with a "large caliber loaded weapon"

Reply to
Clare Snyder

Ed Pawlowski

I forgot all about spark plugs! Even though they last 100K miles, they need to be replaced.

I think I'll remove the struts because someone said that struts and brakes don't go together (although don't struts need to be replaced as much as spark plugs do?).

I'll definitely add spark plugs to a generic all-purpoe "tune up" even though a "tune up" doesn't seem to exist as a "thing" any more.

That "tune up" will include the filters and spark plugs and wipers and anything "rubbery" like hoses. With that tune up can be the simple stuff with putting air in tires and topping off fluids.

Would that work better?

Reply to
Drago Giambattista Esposito

That helps.

Tune up used to mean plugs, points, set the timing. That was done every

10,000 miles. You may want to look at the owners manual of just about any car for maintenance intervals.
Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

As long as it's not a 5.4 Ford Triton.

Guaranteed a do-it-yourself plug change by an amateur on one of those will get REAL expensive.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

Try to put an alternator in a new Lincoln. I gave up pretty fast and took it to the dealer ($800) That did include recharging the A/C because you have to remove the compressor.

Try a timing belt on a 97 Prelude. The first step in the shop manual is "remove engine". In real life the dealer just takes the motor mounts loose and tilts it up a little. I couldn't even get the balancer nut loose with a 1/2" impact wrench. I even went on the Honda repair BB to be sure it wasn't left hand thread. A breaker bar with a pipe on it was no help either.

Reply to
gfretwell

Spark plugs are a scheduled service item. You could lump that in number one or in whatever number you assign to a tune up.

Struts are only changed when they leak or their damping becomes ineffective. That will depend a lot on the roads travelled.

Just like greasing is no longer part of scheduled servicing on *cars*, though it still exists on 4x4s, trucks and earthmoving equipment.

Some driveshafts may have a grease nipple on the universal joint that has the least amount of angular movement on 2 piece driveshafts. There is a reason for this.

During scheduled servicing, perishable items like wiper blades, rubber hoses, lights, even the POST lamps on the dash at key on, should be inspected. See below for further explanation.

No. Air in tyres, fluid top ups, wiper blade inspection, etc. all come under periodic maintenance servicing and should be included with item 1, oil and filter changes, as should the air and cabin filter. Could even include a brake adjustment if the vehicle is not fitted with self adjusters. Should also include fluid flushing - coolant, brake fluid, auto trans, power steering. Not to forget, there may well be a filter in the power steering that requires regular replacement.

I suggest you look at the service schedule for your vehicle. It will list the scheduled maintenance items and the scheduled period. These may be termed A, B and C services depending on the time interval, A being the most frequent, C being the least frequent.

Reply to
Xeno

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com

A timing belt or chain tensioners & plastic guides is another common maintenance task I forgot to add.

I don't think the timing belt/chain would go with the rest of the belts.

The idea of separating out "scheduled items" from "broken items" is a good one.

I might expand the list to a dozen even though we're supposed to keep it at

  1. I think the main reason for the list is to make us think anyway, as there is no grade or test - it's just something we're supposed to think about seriously.
Reply to
Drago Giambattista Esposito

On most new engines you certainly don't want to wait until the timing belt breaks to replace it. That is "take off the tags and leave it where it broke" time. I know back in the olden days in your Pinto or Sunbird a broken belt was just a tow and a 3 hour fix, On a high performance engine, it is a new engine or a massive rebuild.

Reply to
gfretwell

On a vehicle made prior to 2000 most of these can be done by a DIYer. However on newer vehicles there are quite a few that you need special tools and a good bi-directional scan tool to do. Most DIY folks won't have those.

For instance - Batteries on many newer vehicles need to have the new battery information entered into the vehicles data so the charging system will work. Got an electronic parking brake? You may need a scan tool to retract the calipers to be able to change the pads.

This is especially true on Euro vehicles as they keep adding more electronics.

Even something as simple as changing the spark plugs can cause headaches if you need to remove the intake manifold or deal with things like the plugs in a Ford Triton engine.

The first thing in any of these is going to be finding the correct service information.

Reply to
Steve W.

I know BMW is doing this. Are others out to scam their buyers too? That's all I can see it doing. They are forcing you back to the dealer to buy a battery for $350 instead of $100 at the auto parts store.

Reply to
trader_4

Very true. I put my old timing light and dwell tach meter in the Goodwill bag several years ago.

A few years ago a guy that changed his oil in his Toyota still had the change oil light come on and had to get the dealer to reset it.

Fortunately service intervals get increasingly longer. I use to change or gap spark plugs every 6 months now interval could be 50,000 miles. Same with other services.

At my age I leave all this stuff to the dealer except simple things like cabin air filter that they charge $54 and I can buy one for $15 and do it myself in a few minutes. I do have to reset the computer as dealer wants to make money and calls for service at half the interval that the manual calls for.

Reply to
Frank

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