car repairs

[Monty rudge]

HI just a thought how many of us repair our cars these days. Not the yearly service but clutch replacement strut replacement etc would be nice to get your thoughts.

[volvo again]

I do everything on mine...

[ITSv40]

I have always done my own repairs and maintenance since my first car ownership, including last nut and bolt restorations. I like 'nuts and bolts' , not so good on the electronic wizardry, so get my son to assist with that.

[XC90Mk1]

I do everything on mine. I bought it 5 years ago when it was only 5 years old and have done everything other than 1 thing.

The 1 thing was the seals on the connection pipe running from the front to back of the engine. 1 had extruded and the local garage wanted 1 hour Labour (on a ramp) whereas I would have to really really jack the car in the air. At £40.00 it was a no brainier.

I would do all on mine to include engine swap and auto box.

I find it a good car to work on.

[Pidgeonpost]

As a youngster in the 60's I and a few friends relied on one another to help keep mostly clapped out cars and bikes on the road. In general we were too skint to use garage services. We kept this up for many years, but now I'm in my 70's I simply have to rely on the pros for much of the servicing work. The tech complexity of modern cars doesn't help, but there's also a degree of pressure from 'er indoors when it comes to maintenance. Even stuff like discs and pads can be hard graft when it's a hands and knees job on a concrete garage floor.

[GreenBrick]

Yep, pretty much the lot...

Built custom bodywork, resprayed, rebuilt engines, replaced complete drive trains, swapped engines, and the odd cambelt or 12!

The one I am not looking forward to is rebuilding an autobox. That could be the limit.

[CosmicBike]

Do all of it on both Volvo's, love the mechanical side of things even though I'm actually an electrical engineer.
Bodywork, well I'm re-learning my welding skills after a 25 year break to keep my Capri on the road, that's kinda fun.
Since the motorhome is under a 5 year warranty I can't touch that yet, but will do when it expires.

[Dippydog]

Electrics are a black art and I don't have the facilities for welding other than that it's all my own work.

[Martin Cox]

I've gone through phases. When I was young and money was tight I did just about everything myself although I never really got into bodywork to any great extent.

My first decent car was a 1979 245DL which I continued to maintain myself, not that it ever needed anything major. I don't recall it being a difficult car to work on.

By the time I had a 760 GLE estate, I had less time and a bit more money so I did some work myself but much of it was farmed out to various local garages. Although more expensive, the joy at not having to lie underneath the car in puddles in the rain the middle of January was worth the cost.

With the coming of the 1998 V70 Tdi, nearly all the work was done by the local Volvo dealer until the cambelt failed and I repaired it myself. I now do most of the work on it myself if it doesn't need much crawling around underneath.

These days, if I feel happy tackling a job myself I'll do it, otherwise I'll pay somebody else to do it.

Martin

[stevepcar]

I have always carried out as much work as I can myself. From my first car a Moggy thou, Humber Sceptre (all the welding done) to my various 240s (including complete engine rebuilds) and my two 850s have had the auto box changed & the rear crankshaft seal on the manual. All carried out on my drive or in a garage if I had one available. I will probably farm out diagnosing, if not fixing the air-con probs on my T5 or any electronic work. I think if you have any mechanical ability & dont mind getting your hands dirty, then DIY everytime. Its cheaper & the only person to blame is yourself, I once took my XR3 to a "professional" and after screeching down the road and taking the first bend as fast as I could, to test the suspension & steering, I heard a banging noise that turned out to be looses wheel nuts. Never aagain.