What are some car-repair jobs you always wished you could do but have never done?

[RS Wood]

I was just pointing out that time isn't the issue for home whereas time is everything for a shop.

That has a HUGE influence on the tools required.

Anyone who doesn't recognize that is a fool (and I've met a *lot* of fools who insist you have to have a shop's equipment to do things like alignment or replacing the clutch or changing tires - but they're just fools and that's that).

Fools forget the tool equation is totally different for a shop.

Especially for a wheel alignment where you can do caster on day one, and then do camber on day two and toe on day three and it won't make a realistic difference from having done all three on day 1.

My point again is that you can do a great oil change at home without the kind of equipment that a shop has.

The tools for a shop are different than the tools for home.

How well the job is done is NOT dependent on the tools. It's the attitude of the person changing the oil that matters.

And their education (e.g., viscosity spread, oil quality, filter quality, new gaskets, sufficient drainage of the old oil, proper tightening of the filter, etc.)

Time isn't the issue. Tools aren't the issue. Quality of results is the issue.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

I don't want to count the number of times I've seen a tradesman do the job wrong. I just don't. I have example after example after example after example.

In no case did he not *know* he was doing the job wrong. He just didn't care to do the job right.

You're paying him to do the job right.

[RS Wood]

I think I got cranky. Apologies.

[Xeno]

Valve clearance adjustment is, well, valve clearance adjustment no matter what type of engine it is on. Done it on all types - including motorcycles and huge diesels. It's no different.

Used to do the same with a test light and rotated the engine around. The difference was that, in most cases, I used timing marks but mm before TDC is really no different. You are still measuring crank angle by another means.

I used to do it for a living. I didn't derive the same exquisite pleasure that you seem to do.

I know about that tool but I have never needed to do ignition timing in that manner. There are usually easier ways.

I did all those jobs and many many more. I wish now I hadn't and instead took up a different career. I did move into auto teaching for the last

20 years of my automotive career and I found that much more satisfying.

[Xeno]

I have fabricated such tools.

[RS Wood]

I think I got cranky. Apologies.

[Xeno]

The chain will give you fair warning - it will rattle before it breaks. A belt will not.

typical belt replacement interval 40-60k miles. For chains, double or triple that without an issue.

[RS Wood]

Makes sense since they are rated for longer than it takes me to wear them out.

I forgot about the garage. Good point. Yes. I garage mine. So UV protection is not for me.

That's more than twice the time I need! :)

It's a little more complex than that (last I spoke to my eye doctor), but you're right, that ordinary glasses "usually" block a lot of UV.

The details are that they recommend a UV coating for *some* of the materials, but they know all that so when I'm buying glasses, that's when I ask (because I don't remember without looking it up).

[Xeno]

The past half dozen cars I've had have been FWD. I don't have a problem with them. My first FWD car was a Morris Mini back in 74 and I have had heaps of them since. Had heaps of RWD cars too. Totals in the hundreds.

[RS Wood]

I think I got cranky. Apologies.

[Xeno]

Pushrod is a false comparison because they can be gear, chain or belt driven.

Just add gear to your list and delete pushrod. We are talking about driving the *camshaft*. gear, chain, belt. There are a few varieties of chain in use; single row, double row, hyvo.

That's because pushrods don't drive camshafts. Pushrods are *driven* by camshafts.

[Xeno]

Cars are cheaper now than they were when I was a boy.

They gain handling as long as they understand it's *different handling*.

FWD works for me.

[Xeno]

Far more than most people realise. Even more complex now that trans operation is integrated with a TCU and the ECU.

[RS Wood]

You *can* measure warp with a dial indicator if you control the centerline precisely, but nobody sane would do it that way.

I'm only speaking logic. If you have a head that you need to know if it's warped, would you use a. a dial gauge or b. a flat benchtop with a feeler gauge?

Pick one.

With a dial gauge? Or a flat bench and feeler gauge?

I'm not saying it's hard to check warp (heck, people do it for heads all the time I suppose). I'm just saying that warp doesn't happen for the most part in street cars (I already have a half dozen references) and yet

*every* idiot out there *thinks* his rotors warped.

Every time I asked anyone to prove it, they *said* all sorts of bullshit, but they can't even tell me *how* they'd prove it. If they use a dial gauge, for example, while the rotor is on the vehicle for example, then I have to wonder how to respond because that just proves my point.

Nobody who ever said their street rotors warped ever supplied proof. They all are bullshit artists.

Measuring it is trivial if you have a bench and a feeler gauge.

But show me a single picture on the entire Internet that shows someone measuring a street rotor for warp.

Just one.

Now show me the bullshit of someone saying they measure warp all the time. (HINT: We don't enough space on the Internet for the bullshit references.)

There has never been a topic more filled with bullshit than rotor warp, and all the "experts" who claim they measure it and yet can't show a single picture of anyone on the planet doing that (not themselves either) for a street rotor.

I give up.

[Xeno]

I did and they agree with me on why rotors are slotted. BTW, I don't agree with cross drilled rotors anytime.

In the old days of asbestos in brakes, brake fade was valid even in street cars. These days asbestos is no longer used so fade is much less a problem on street cars driven normally. Again, your link agrees with me.

The pads on my Toyotas are good for 60k miles so they definitely arent the asbestos pads of old. For sure you don't get the smell of fried Ferodo like you once did.

[Xeno]

The pads on my car(s) have both long life and good braking ability. Did I mention they don't squeal too. They are the OEM Toyota pads that came with the car and that's what they will be replaced with.

[Xeno]

I know but I adjust for the load the driver usually has in the car. For a traveling salesman, for instance, his car might be fully loaded all the time. Adjust wheel alignment in that situation.

[Xeno]

Up to a point, I agree with you. Where I disagree is that most people use them incorrectly (backwards) or size them inappropriately. They are no different to an open end spanner when used correctly and, need it be said, they are of a decent quality. When working on earthmoving equipment, the most common adjustables I used were 15". 18" and 24". You have no idea how many different spanners those three adjustables replaced. In field work you need to cart *all your tools* with you. You always look to minimise that load.

[Xeno]

Fractionally more than you. I watch the news on TV. That's it.

[Xeno]

It does tend to deter people from responding when you do that.

[Xeno]

That is precisely the idea.

You just have ozone issues in the garage. Look that one up, it's very interesting.

That's the allowance for low mileage drivers.

I have worn glasses since I was 8 years old. I know all about it. Lots of my non glasses wearing friends are now suffering from cataracts but, so far so good, I'm not at 65.