Best way to learn to fix cars?

[Monkeyleg]

The best way to learn how valves work is to tear the engine apart, and then put it back together, but not use a degree wheel to set the valve timing. When that first valve buries itself in a piston, you realize what valves are for.

[tackleberry]

The absolute best way to learn.........start racing!!!!!!!!!


more experience than even I wanted

[Silver Bullet]

I use shop manuals, too.  I prefer Haynes.

Thirty years ago I bought a Mustang repair manual that was published by a British publisher.  It was full of British terms, and required some interpretation.

My favorite was the term "road wheel attachments".  I had to consider the context to figure out they were talking about lug nuts.   

[Nick1911]

I use shop manuals, too.  I prefer Haynes.

Thirty years ago I bought a Mustang repair manual that was published by a British publisher.  It was full of British terms, and required some interpretation.

My favorite was the term "road wheel attachments".  I had to consider the context to figure out they were talking about lug nuts.   

The only thing that bothered me about British manuals was "tyre's" and "renew" instead of "replace"...

[ilbob]

There are some thing you can learn pretty easily out of a book and that can be done with a minimal expenditure on tools and equipment.

- oil changes
- lubrication (if needed - not all cars need it)
- changing other fluids such as coolant
- filter changes (air, fuel, PCV valve, etc.)
- spark plugs and wires
- belts and hoses
- light bulbs (and fuses)

Most of these things are pretty straightforward. Things like changing transmission fluid are a little more complicated because they are often not designed around allowing you to do this very easily, especially when 4WD. Plus you really want a lift or a pit to work in for this. Laying on the dirt is not a lot of fun, and there is not much room under the car. It can be done, but it is not pleasant.

You can also learn to do brake repair and maintenance. Those are pretty straightforward and the tools needed are not so expensive as to make it not worth the effort.

Charging system and batteries is something else that is not all that difficult to learn, but the test equipment can be pricey.

You can rotate your own tires, even mount and balance them. But again, the equipment for balancing and mounting tires is not real cheap, and since you can usually get it done by someone else for almost nothing, its usually not worth the expense, unless you just want to do it.

A/C systems need a license just to be able to buy the freon, so these are normally outside the home mechanics province.

You can even change the various sensors. But finding out what is wrong is not always that easy. You can get a fairly cheap reader that will interrogate your car's computer and tell you what it thinks is wrong, and this could be helpful.

Once you get past this level of work, you need some expensive diagnostic equipment, and the skill level needed goes way up.

I have gotten to the point where I no longer even change my own oil.

[Tallpine]

I have gotten to the point where I no longer even change my own oil.

Me too.  By the time I buy the oil and filter at the store, it just doesn't cost that much more to pay someone else rather than crawl around in the dirt with a wrench and a hand-pump grease gun.  Plus if something needs adding like gear lube, then they have it right on hand.

But I use a local area shop that is family owned and has been around for a long time to do it, not one of those quick lubes that couldn't care less if they ever see me again.

I used to do all my own work, mostly because I had to.  I've rebuilt a diesel bulldozer engine, and I've had to stop on a trip and pull an engine head and replace a valve.

[mtnbkr]

A/C systems need a license just to be able to buy the freon, so these are normally outside the home mechanics province

All cars since 1993ish (IIRC) use a "Freon" that can be purchased over the counter, no license needed to work on those systems.  If you want to work on the older systems that use the ozone killing R12, you'll need a license to get the freon.

Chris

[Nick1911]

A/C systems need a license just to be able to buy the freon, so these are normally outside the home mechanics province

All cars since 1993ish (IIRC) use a "Freon" that can be purchased over the counter, no license needed to work on those systems.  If you want to work on the older systems that use the ozone killing R12, you'll need a license to get the freon.

Chris

Additionally, Old-school R12 Freon will cost you A LOT of money.  R134a isn't dirt cheap, but it's pretty reasonable compared to R12...

[mtnbkr]

$50/can for R12 as of 2001.  I haven't needed it since then, so I have no clue what it is these days.  The car I had at the time needed less than a full can.

Chris

[mtnbkr]

BTW, back when they were getting ready to make R12 a licensing thing, I told my dad we should stock up at wal-mart when it was a few bucks per can.  Needless to say, a few years later he wished he had listened to me.

Chris

[tackleberry]

R12 is now going from anywhere from $800-1000 a keg (30lbs)

[Phyphor]

I'm a self learner so I tear into everything.  Started when the lawnmower died back when I was 12.  Since then I've been fixing everything.  If I don't know how to do it I grab a manual and get to work. 

Newer cars are a pain in the back side for me though.  I'm used to an engine, distributor, carb and fuel.  Nowadays the motor looks like a ball of spaghetti with all the wires, hoses and *expletive deleted*it under the hood. 

As far as I'm concerned, there's only 1 way to learn. 

You mean you can actually *FIND* the gahdamned motor under all that plastic *expletive deleted*it?? Better man than me.....

[lupinus]

get in good with a mechanic, sometimes it can be a trade off.  Teach me how to do some basic car stuff and I'll teach you how to....well whatever it is you are good at that he isnt but has an interest in.

If you can swing it buy an old beater for like five hundred and the right info books on it and tear the sucker apart and put it back together agian.  Brakes?  Ok, take them off and put them back on.  Do it a few times with the beater and just put the existing pads and shoes back on.  Water pump?  Ok, pull the pullys off and the pump and put it back together agian. Just try and stay from anything with really strong springs that you might have to compress first and you don't have the capability to. Friend had an old beat down jeep pickup he up and gave to me because he was just going to junk it anyway and in the area everyplace actually charged you to take it off your hands.  You wont learn how to be a master mechanic but it'll get you going to learn how to do the basics rather cheaply.  And even on the most complex cars theres still plenty of regular maint. like brakes you can still do yourself...normally.  Tearing the engine apart or tracking down the sensors is another thing sometimes but for the all out basics.....

[mfree]

By necessity... like others say, get a junker, but make a pact with yourself to DRIVE it If it breaks, fix it... if you're in over your head, you still have your good car as "backup", and it's around if you need to take others along or go somewhere nice.

"You mean you can actually *FIND* the gahdamned motor under all that plastic *expletive deleted*it?? Better man than me....."

Yup, first thing I ever worked on seriously was an '84 Thunderbird 3.8V6 with Ford's EEC-IV computer. It was actually pretty simple, the computer generally tells you what it sees. Now, that's not saying the same thing as it telling you what's wrong, it just knows what it sees... but it's a good clue, and usually it'll spot something for you before it becomes evident, like an O2 sensor becoming slow.

I've also worked on a '69 F100... single point distributor, autolite 2100, simple as simple gets. It was satisfyingly simple but still needed constant attention due to age. There are tricks to the old stuff that you've got to keep in mind while you're doing something, like making sure dwell is set right before attempting to fidn the right jets, making sure the carb is nice and clean before adjusting the idle circuit, wondering if the timing advance springs are fresh enough to work properly, what timing chain stretch can do to you and how to find it on the vacuum guage, etc.

Frankly, reading "420: emissions out of spec, running rich" on a code reader works a bit better than driving along not knowing anything's wrong till the exhaust is choked with carbon or you note a whiff of gas vapor in the exhaust at a stop, or noting it takes a few moments longer than usual to warm up, or economy's dropped by 1mpg, etc. etc.

[Hawkmoon]

Don't even THINK about trying to make money at it while you are learning. I think all states are alike in requiring a license to engage in motor vehicle repair as a business. Sure, a lot (probably most) auto techs supplement their income by doing repairs on the side ... but they know what they're doing, and they don't take in moonlight work they're likely to screw up and generate a formal complaint about.

I'm somewhat in agreement with the notion of buying a book and learning by fixing your own car. But ... IMHO Chiltons and Haynes manuals aren't even good toilet paper. Spend the money to buy the actual factory service manual for your vehicle. It'll cost thre to five times as much as Haybes or Chiltons ... but there's a decent chance the photos and wiring diagrams might even look somewhat like what you're going to be working on.

[onions!]

BTW,Helminc.com is the place for factory service manuals.At least for GM vehicles.

[cfabe]

Lots of great suggestions here. I'd suggest ebay as a source for a factory service manual, and they really are quite a bit better than the chiltons/haynes espicially when it comes to electrical diagrams.

I read lots of comments about how newer vehicles are impossible to work on for a shadetree. It's true that diagnosing a problem with one of the computer systems could be difficult or impossible without the proper equipment, but usually the fault is not in the computer system, rather in some other component and the computer has detected the problem. You can get a basic code scanner at most parts stores on a loaner program, it won't get you all the features of the top of the line scantools but it will get you the basic trouble codes. And in the factory service manual, there are usually troubleshooting flowcharts for each error code that you can follow reasonably well without the fancy scantool. Having some knowledge of electrics and electronics helps too.

As far as how to learn, if you have an older vehicle, just start doing the repairs yourself, and don't be afraid to buy what tools you need. If you can find a friend or helper to guide you, that's great. If you have a new vehicle, start doing the routine maintainence yourself so when it get older and start to break you'll be familiar with it.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Frankly, reading "420: emissions out of spec, running rich" on a code reader works a bit better than driving along not knowing anything's wrong till the exhaust is choked with carbon or you note a whiff of gas vapor in the exhaust at a stop, or noting it takes a few moments longer than usual to warm up, or economy's dropped by 1mpg, etc. etc.

Sure, but it's not nearly as much fun.  I miss my old clunkers.  Half the joy of owning them was listening to the way the engine was running, how it smelled, how it felt, and figuring out what was wrong.  The other half was the lack of a car payment, and tiny insurance premiums.

[charby]

Frankly, reading "420: emissions out of spec, running rich" on a code reader works a bit better than driving along not knowing anything's wrong till the exhaust is choked with carbon or you note a whiff of gas vapor in the exhaust at a stop, or noting it takes a few moments longer than usual to warm up, or economy's dropped by 1mpg, etc. etc.

Sure, but it's not nearly as much fun.  I miss my old clunkers.  Half the joy of owning them was listening to the way the engine was running, how it smelled, how it felt, and figuring out what was wrong.  The other half was the lack of a car payment, and tiny insurance premiums.

I miss setting the timming by the sound of the exhaust