Anyone work on there own car/truck?

[Kruel J]

Absolutely! I spent a short time as a mechanic (having gone to school for it but never used it) and it does save a lot of money. Shop labor rates are usually between $89 and 129/hour. That's a LOT of money especially when some of the jobs are frankly pretty darn easy. I did plugs, fuel filter, and cleaned the MAF on my wife's 4Runner not too long ago. Probably would have been $4-600 labor plus parts at a shop. It cost me around $50 in parts and about 2 hours total. I figure I paid myself at least $200/hour for the work.

 

[The Heretic]

To a point yes I do.

Only my trucks though - a '92 and '97 - and even there, for some things I will take them in and have someone who has the equipment do the work.

My SUV car which is a 2014 - no. Just easier and better to take it to a properly equipped shop with a mech who is trained to work on it.

I used to be a prof. mech and I have a EE degree, but without the right equipment and training and experience, for anything non-trivial, it takes me longer to fix something than it does to earn the money and pay someone to do it.

I don't get much enjoyment out of it anymore - indeed, none at all as it is pretty much old hat.

I do enjoy working on my motorcycles a bit - they are a lot easier to work on and if I don't get it done on time, it is no big deal as they are not my means of transportation.

 

[orygun]

Not only do I play a mechanic on TV, I am one in real life...

When I had a newer Jag and a different job that left me no time for most stuff in life, I would drop the car off at Monte Shelton's for service, but I still did the things like brake jobs and such. (or, is that break jobs?)

I rarely pay people to do things for me besides the making the occasional lunch or dinner out.

I have full access to the shop I work at and I have a fairly well stocked shop at home, including some machine shop tools and tire machine n balancer.

 

[CountryGent]

I take care of the general maintenance (e.g., lubricants, filters, plugs, wipers, cleaning, etc.) and small repairs myself on our car, truck, and other mechanical things (e.g., Kawasaki MULE, generators, etc.). But for major surgery or something I really don't know about, we've got a good mechanic that does solid work at a reasonable rate. And there is the balance between time vs money that varies for all of us. So, yes and no, I guess.

 

[clearconscience]

I work with a guy that was a mechanic for a local car dealership. He quit because of how bad they would screw over customers. Whatever they quoted they would charge you, at least.
He said all the time they would do a 4 hour job in an hour or two and then they would have to park the vehicle out back until the time was up.

Either way, if you guys haven't checked out rockauto.com they have great prices, fast shipping, and no hassle returns. I've bought several parts from them and always had a good experience.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

I work with a guy that was a mechanic for a local car dealership. He quit because of how bad they would screw over customers. Whatever they quoted they would charge you, at least.
He said all the time they would do a 4 hour job in an hour or two and then they would have to park the vehicle out back until the time was up.

Either way, if you guys haven't checked out rockauto.com they have great prices, fast shipping, and no hassle returns. I've bought several parts from them and always had a good experience.

its called flat rate pay. thats how im paid. its like commission.there is a national labor time guide that most, if not all shops base their labor times off of. example: if there is a brake job i get paid 2.1 hours to do it. if it takes me 1.2 hours to do, i get paid 2.1 hours. if it takes me 9 hours to do, i get paid 2.1 hours.i do not get paid to be at work. i only get paid when i complete a job. if i stand around all day i get paid nothing. not even an hourly wage. the worst i have ever done is ZERO hours in an 8 hour shift.believe me, some of these brain tumor cars with intermittant concerns bite us in the @$$ as far as getting compensated for the amount work we put into fixing it. our shop minimum for diagnosis is $99. which only pays me .9 hours to figure out the problem. if the issue is legitimately going to take me longer than 54 minutes to figure out then my service advisor will explain everything we have done in order to figure it out to the customer and that more time is needed for diagnosis. its in the customers hands at that point. how bad do you want your car fixed, basically. i will speak for every tech at our shop. we are all good,honest guys. we dont screw anyone over.yes there are "mechanics" that are dishonest, dont get me wrong... they exist... a lot of customers bring their cars to us because "mechanic bob" couldnt figure it out the 1st 2nd or 3rd time out there under his maple tree. when we fix it right the first time, we now have a loyal customer--There's a lot of them.

 

[Medic!]

You tube is a godsend when it comes to cars.

This guy is good.

 

[Jamie6.5]

You tube is a godsend when it comes to cars.

This guy is good.

If you really want to screw with most modern day parts people, especially the young ones, go in and ask one for a water pump for a '73 VW Beetle.

 

[jbett98]

How about "Muffler Bearing Grease"

 

[Medic!]

I just wish the parts counter people would put on a slight show that they are trying to think!

It always fills me with confidence. When I tell the guy at the parts store I need a part for a 2000 Corvette. And he asks ''Is that the V-8 engine?''

When was the last time they had another? 1954?

 

[Ura-Ki]

Try asking for parts for a rig that isn't common like an MG or a Porsche, or god forbid, A Dodge Powerwagon!!! I end up having to do there job for them, and God forbid they have to break out the old school parts book and look up a 64 Plymouth Fury because I need a part Or even worse, A rig that had three different manufactures in the space of 4 years like JEEP! I torture my self, liking non standard rigs, it's a curse!

 

[wired]

I have built dozens if not hundreds of engines, transmissions, rear ends etc over the years. I have never paid anyone to do any form of vehicle maintenance or service for me.

Before I got into my current line of work , many many moons ago I was a dealership mechanic at a Ford shop. One of the industrial mechanics that works for me told me he spent $2500 getting his transmission rebuilt. Simple 700R4 . I asked him to turn in his mechanic card.

 

[STUKA]

Unfortunately,yes,I do.
Used to be a fun hobby,now I'm constantly dealing with the crap that comes with having old cars that I'm too cheap to replace.
And,working as a diesel mechanic all day doesnt motivate me to want me to do anything to my own junk cars.,.

 

[smurf hunter]

In general any potential job has 2 axis I consider:

Money saved vs. mess

Of course if I am completely ill equipped for something, I'm not going to risk it.

Recently I replaced the disc rotors and pads on my Acura in my drive way. The best quote in town wanted $350. I did it for $110 in parts from amazon prime. Took a couple hours, as I had to drill out some stuck set screws, but I'm almost $250 ahead.

Now for the flushing and changing of brake fluid, I plain to pay the $70 for the shop to do it.
1) it's a huge mess
2) dangerous if done wrong
3) my shop actually flushes with pressure (something I can't do at home)

 

[wired]

I look at it the other way. If a shop charges $300 to fix something and the materials and tools to do it cost $295 I'm $5 ahead along with the tools to do it the next time .

Huge messes are for the kids to clean up.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

I just wish the parts counter people would put on a slight show that they are trying to think!

It always fills me with confidence. When I tell the guy at the parts store I need a part for a 2000 Corvette. And he asks ''Is that the V-8 engine?''

When was the last time they had another? 1954?

I'd like to think they'd look at their little oracle before asking that kind of question, otherwise they get answers like, no, the 4.

 

[mike633]

My old corvette doesn't have many miles on it.
But somehow it seams to go through a lot of clutches, breaks, and tires?

Oh well.
Parts are cheep. And labor is free.

 

[mike633]

That's odd, once I go a few of the cars I've owned running the way I wanted them to, I found they needed those same parts pretty regularly also.

 

[mike633]

Changed a few transmissions in my 92' and 2002 Z06.

 

[kilo92]

I drive a '49 Chev PU 3100. Nice that I can work on EVERYTHING vs newer veh. that require replacing EVERYTHING. Plus, when I'm out shooting and something happens to the Ol girl, all it takes is a little baling wire and/or electricians tape.