Wrenching

[onlinebiker]

If you work on your own vehicles - how much will you try?

I specialize in one basic platform ( s series Saturn) and have been through everything except the transaxles. I' m comfortable pulling an engine, or dropping the whole drive train out the bottom. I know what all the sensors are, what they do - and am pretty good at swapping parts between years. I have no formal schooling in auto mechanics, but learned it all by just doing it.

It' s nice - because it allows my SO and I to drive nice, clean, dependable cars - which are easy ( for me) to diagnose and fix.

I started working on 60' s and 70's vintage cars. If back then you told me I would use computers to diagnose and fix fuel injected, multi- valve DOHC, front wheel drive vehicles - I would have said you were nuts.

Today I had to change out a faulty CKP sensor - which is a blind job - it hides behind the starter motor - and has to be done by feel. A half hour job.

[Minimalist]

I find replacing a light bulb challenging.

[Brian37]

Labels aside, working on even old cars can be a bitch. New cars you have to be a fucking neurosurgeon. But having once replaced the break pads on an old 1970s Dodge Dart, don't ask me how fucked up my knuckles got bloodied trying to remove and put back on the springs.

[Angrboda]

I no longer have a car, but the last time I did, I was slowly becoming less interested in doing my own work. When I did, I didn't have any problems with simple things, like replacing an alternator. More significant stuff, such as the transmission, never came up, and if it had, I would have left it to the professionals, although I did assist my father with such when I was younger.

[Crossless2.0]

I've never done anything more challenging than replace an alternator, a fuel pump, and a few sensors.

For most problems, I'm happy to pay someone else to handle them.

[onlinebiker]

Labels aside, working on even old cars can be a bitch. New cars you have to be a fucking neurosurgeon. But having once replaced the break pads on an old 1970s Dodge Dart, don't ask me how fucked up my knuckles got bloodied trying to remove and put back on the springs.

I disagree.

The old cars depended entirely on the skill and intuition of the mechanic. Things were diagnosed by sound and feel.

New cars will send you a fucking email telling you what to do.

[Joods]

For me, if I wanted my license at age 16, I had to learn how to do all basic maintenance on my car. There is no worse feeling then being stranded on the side of the road with no idea of how to change a tire.
I was 19 when I rebuilt a double barrel carburetor. 6 years ago I rebuilt the engine of a 1987 Jeep Cherokee for a friend. Not bad for a girl.

[onlinebiker]

For me, if I wanted my license at age 16, I had to learn how to do all basic maintenance on my car. There is no worse feeling then being stranded on the side of the road with no idea of how to change a tire.  
I was 19 when I rebuilt a double barrel carburetor. 6 years ago I rebuilt the engine of a 1987 Jeep Cherokee for a friend. Not bad for a girl.

Testicles don't twist wrenches..

Talented hands do.

[Joods]

For me, if I wanted my license at age 16, I had to learn how to do all basic maintenance on my car. There is no worse feeling then being stranded on the side of the road with no idea of how to change a tire.  
I was 19 when I rebuilt a double barrel carburetor. 6 years ago I rebuilt the engine of a 1987 Jeep Cherokee for a friend. Not bad for a girl.

Testicles don't twist wrenches..

Talented hands do.

I am aware of that. But one really can't ignore the ratio of males to females in the auto mechanic industry. So, yeah, especially back in the 80's - this was a rare thing.

[Fireball]

Learned all my mechanical skills as OJT. By the time I stopped working as a mechanic (graduated university) I was ASE certified for engine tune-up and repair, air conditioning and brakes, and held state licenses for brakes, lamps and SMOG repair. I can overhaul everything from the engine cooling fan to the differential* on cars made before all the sophisticated stuff came out, but could probably do them with a manual- I'm more than a little rusty. Back in the day I used to drag race (street- that was stupid) and road race (mountains- that was even stupider). I have dead friends to prove how stupid those activities are. Raging hormones, what can I say? I'll be pulling the engine out of my '70 Chevy truck soon to overhaul it. Still waiting for my hands to heal enough from surgeries done last year.

*I don't bother to overhaul automatic transmissions or air conditioning compressors- they take too many one-use specialty tools.