Right now, The Autopian’s XPEL Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet is in the shop getting a lift kit (!). A technician from Galpin Auto Sports noticed that the oil hadn’t been changed. “Would you like us to do that for you, sir?” the service adviser asked. I — someone with very little time to do pretty much anything these days, as I’m trying to keep both an infant and a media company happy — should have said “yes, please take care of it.” But I said no. And I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
Times are different since this new company and my new family Yoko Ono’d the rust-loving Human Wrench who used to live off Rochester Rd. in Troy, Michigan. I cannot take on multiple wrenching projects at once; I cannot drive across the country in a crap-can and fix it along the way; I cannot get notices from local authorities about my dilapidated cars breaking ordinances. I have, at least somewhat, grown up.
But only somewhat. There are still some things that I don’t see ever changing. For one, I will always own both an “XJ” Jeep Cherokee and a Holy Grail 5-speed Jeep Grand Cherokee “ZJ.” I learned to drive in a ZJ, and the XJ was my first car; these vehicles played major roles in me being where I am today, and I cherish them.
But in addition to always having at least a couple of AMC-designed Jeeps in my stable, there are some things about my wrenching propensities that I just don’t see changing, even if I find myself having to make major adjustments to my overall vehicle maintenance strategy. That’s right: I’ve come to realize that I can no longer do all my wrenching myself. I’m going to have to hand my keys over to a mechanic, and then hand a giant stack of cash to them a few hours later. It’s going to be awful, and a huge hit to my pride.
But there is a line.
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I cannot let someone else change my car’s oil. I just can’t. The job is too easy (especially since I live in a warm climate and have a driveway), lubrication is too important to my vehicles’ longevity, and an oil change is a great way to feel connected to a car without having to break one’s back removing a crankshaft or transmission input shaft or whatever. Fluids in general — engine oil, coolant, diff oil, transmission oil — there’s no reason why I can’t handle them myself, especially if I’m not home alone looking after my infant child (see above; that didn’t go well).
Brake fluid, I’m still trying to decide upon. My BMW i3 has a brake fluid light on, and I can totally do a one-person bleed job. But I won’t lie: It’s going to be a pain in the butt. I have to drive the vehicle up on ramps or take the wheels off and put it on jacks. Then I have to bleed each wheel individually. This is probably at least a few hours’ worth of wrenching, and it’s a dirty job; brake fluid is incredibly corrosive, and the area around brakes is always nasty. Then again, it’s only something I’d do every five years.
Speaking of brakes, there’s another thing I’m never going to farm out: pad and rotor swaps. When I did my now-wife’s Lexus’s rotors and pads, I saved us over $700! Sure, it took me a few hours, but brakes are just too easy, and, at least for me, the job of replacing them is borderline therapeutic at this point, as I’ve done it so many times before.
Aside from fluids and brakes, the other repair I’m never going to farm out is spark plugs. For the most part, this job is painless. Most of my cars are inline-sixes, meaning all the plugs are on one side of the motor; sure, the plug in the back can be a little tough to get to, and the AC compressor can block the front one, but I have 900000 extensions of various lengths, plus socket u-joints — this job just isn’t a big deal, especially since I can order the parts online if I don’t want to run to the store, and especially since I only have to do it every 10 years or so.
There are also quite a few filters that need to be swapped on my cars. The oil filter is, of course, part of the oil change I mentioned before. But there are others; my Jeep Wrangler YJ, for example, has an inline fuel filter underneath, attached to the frame. Plus, all my cars except my BMW i3S have engine air filters that need regular servicing, and my i3 and my wife’s Lexus have cabin air filters near their gloveboxes. These are cheap and, for the most part, easy to do. (The i3’s cabin air filter can be a bit tricky, and the YJ’s fuel filter is a messy and smelly job.)
There are plenty of other regular replacement items that I just don’t think are worth paying someone else to swap. A battery, for example, is something I’d never pay anyone to install. Ditto with a starter motor, as they’re genuinely easy to replace. Yes, they require sliding under the car and getting dirty, but driving onto a pair of ramps, undoing a couple of bolts holding the starter to the bell housing, and disconnecting a connector or two is pretty much all that’s required to remove a starter.
Along with a battery and starter, another thing I’ll try to replace myself is basic electrical connectors and fuses and motors, as these are often fairly trivial to swap, and doing so is usually a rather clean and not very oily job.
One component that’s far easier to replace than perhaps the layperson thinks is the alternator. Obviously, this isn’t true for all cars, but for my Jeeps, loosening the accessory drive belt is simple, and then the alternator usually comes off with a couple of bolts and some jimmying. Other accessory drive parts like power steering pumps are usually an easy swap, AC compressors require a refrigerant recovery that I don’t have any interest in doing, and water pumps … well, on my Jeep, they’re no fun.
I won’t lie; it’s going to be hard to hand off any work to a technician, but I don’t see myself rebuilding a manual transmission again in the near future, nor do I see myself tearing up my Jeeps’ front ends to get to their water pumps. Will I replace the Nissan Murano’s broken CV boot on its front left axle shaft (which the Galpin Auto Sports technician noticed is torn)? No, probably not; I might shove some grease in there, patch it up, and see how long it lasts, but if it goes, a mechanic not named David Tracy is handling that job.
But I’m doing that oil change. I have to, for my own sanity.
I enjoy wrenching on my cars. However I have the luxury of working at a shop, and my techs are skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable. With my employee discount it’s actually cheaper to have certain jobs done than to do them myself, even before factoring in the “what am I paying myself to do this?” hourly rate.
I haven’t done my own oil changes since getting this job (it would literally cost $5-10 more depending on what year it’s been), and I’m allowed to wander into the shop and observe the techs as they work and look for any items of note (if any) while the car is on the lift.
I don’t have to worry about cleaning up, sourcing the parts, disposing of the old oil, or busting my knuckles. It’s a treat. And I get a free car wash if the weather is nice, haha.
I’ll still do certain jobs myself – replacing interior trim pieces particularly, and of course things like wiper blades, the odd bulb here and there, etc. – but the other nice thing is that my cars nowadays are in such better condition than the ones I had before that they don’t need repairs much (knock on wood) and wrenching on them is a choice, rather than a necessity.
I thank the powers that be that I can enjoy such luxuries, and be able to dedicate my free time mostly to other things that I also enjoy, especially those I can share with those close to me.
Water Pumps, especially on those 4.0 sixes are something I would not pay to have done, however if I were dumb enough to own a Ford with the pump buried behind the timing set, I would probably pay someone to do that. Assuming the vehicle is still worth more than the 2K I would be able to pay for a pump and new timing set.
What vehicle and how old it is matters a ton here. Most 1990-2010 vehicles? Most things outside of invasive engine/transmission/suspension systems are rather easy. Even drum brakes aren’t bad provided you buy a proper drum spring tool.
Newer than 2010 can be simple to nightmare. Starters located in the V under the intake, spark plugs tucked under the wiper cowl or right next to the shock tower, or “lifetime” fluids that don’t have a fill port like your i3 for example.
I recently had a job on a 2016 Buick 3.6L, new plugs, coils, and injectors. I had to pull the upper intake manifold for injectors, conveniently the coils were now also accessible. To get a ratchet on the rear spark plugs I had to remove engine torque arms and ratchet strap the engine as far forward as it would rock. At least I didn’t have to pull the wiper cowl and wiper arm assembly as well.
I thought I could help my son change a starter on his ’10 Kia Soul based on my prior experience on a ’73 Dodge Dart. Like you mentioned here, it’s hidden on the back of the engine and required removing the fuel rail and intake. It took us 45 minutes of research just to find the damn thing. Never again.
I mean, some of these jobs seem really intimidating, but they’re not horrible.
I’ve been dicking around with my son’s XC70 for the past few weeks and it’s ailing alternator. Because this car is extra weird, it’s got a transverse mount inline six and the alternator doesn’t ride on a belt, it has a weird rubber cogged thing that plugs into the READ that is gear-driven off of the crank.
The whole shebang is under the intake manifold; first time, it took me a little while to get the manifold off because I refused to put it up on stands so I blindly reached from the top down to get the bottom bolts. After the third failure (OMG I hate reman’d alts) I could get the whole thing apart in like 15 minutes. Not as easy as just reaching in and plucking one off the top, but it’s really not that bad.
It’s just a matter of perspective. I’ve ever worked on old stuff, so I have no idea what it’s like to just stand in the engine bay with the engine and do stuff.
Sad part is that was likely the motor intended for that vehicle and design that way for it. GM made a DOHC 3.4 v6 at one time that I feel like was designed for a completely different application as literally everything was placed in the worst location for repair.
An all too common occurrence. I just had a conversation yesterday where an engineering decision was made due to a specific problem. Later on the problem is fixed, but the engineering decision is too expensive to change now.
So you end up with a stupid solution that addressed a problem that doesn’t exist.
in the 3.6’s design favor though, at least the intake seal is re-usable and the upper plenum is plastic. Try doing this on a 90’s TPI or worse Ford 5.0 with the flop over design. the duratec v6’s had a similar design that ended up flopping the air mixing box towards the firewall. the result was removal when the spark plugs decided to overcome the 2-3 thread design flaw of many fords in the early aughts. Just make sure the hard hose that provides OD vacuum signal to the trans does not bend when removing. they crack along the mold line and you have no idea where the leak is occuring.
“I cannot let someone else change my car’s oil. I just can’t. The job is too easy (especially since I live in a warm climate and have a driveway), lubrication is too important to my vehicles’ longevity, and an oil change is a great way to feel connected to a car without having to break one’s back removing a crankshaft or transmission input shaft or whatever. Fluids in general — engine oil, coolant, diff oil, transmission oil — there’s no reason why I can’t handle them myself”
I agree wholeheartedly, David. And for 5 out of the 6 vehicles in our home fleet I have almost always done all the oil changes at home. (except for one time in the wife’s Cruze when it was -25º in January and we were leaving on a trip before it was supposed to warm up so I brought it to Wal-Mart – but I watched them closely while they were working on it and made sure I checked the drain plug before we drove the 5 hours to the airport)
As far as the 6th vehicle? We bought a 2024 Chevrolet Trax last year and the stealership included the WarrantyForever™ lifetime powertrain warranty in the MSRP. It includes pretty much everything mechanical in the engine and transmission from the turbo down to the CV joints and the wheel bearings. (but not seals or gaskets, unless those need to be replaced during a warranty claim for some other covered part)
The only caveat? They require all service be approved in advance by the warranty provider and documented by an ASE certified shop. I am not allowed to change the oil on it – that would void the warranty. They recommend bringing it to the original stealership where the vehicle was purchased, as then they will make sure all the repair work is documented per the warranty requirements and pre-notification is not required.
As the Trax is our retirement road-trip vehicle, and only gets driven around 3K miles a year so far, I’ll have to just bring it in once a year for its oil changes as much as it pains me to do so.
And I still have the other 5 vehicles to keep me busy in retirement.
A dealer service advisor tried to argue an engine replacement wasn’t covered because oil changes need to be done by a licensed tech. Instead of arguing that obvious bullshit claim, I just pulled out my trade license and informed him that I’ve done all the oil changes on the car.
He stopped arguing after that. Thankfully, he didn’t look too close as my license is for Truck & Coach, not Automotive. Hah.
I see you never plan on owning a Subaru.
I’ve changed them on the two engine families (EJ25 and FB25) and neither was overly difficult. Sliding the coolant overflow tank off a post was the hardest part on one, and using a couple of different length extensions rather than one long one made it a snap.
The FB25 was hard because you’ve got no space near the back ones. On the Outback, the coolant overflow isn’t an issue. It’s the battery, the air box, and the strut towers.
Model dependant I guess. My FB was in a 2012 Forester. EJ was an 04 Impreza.
I also did whatever engine was on an ’08 Impreza my wife owned at the time. I remember it being easier than my Outback, but I did that a good decade or more ago.
My wife’s 19 Crosstrek EJ20 plugs are on my dreaded to do list. One Dealer wanted $600, other $400!
I’m paranoid that they would do the easy ones and skip the hard ones and call it done.
Subaru ownership is generally best avoided.
So knowing David it’ll be his next purchase.
With two kids commuting to college, one commuting to trade school, (plus one in high school but not driving yet) plus my wife’s Odyssey, plus my Miata plus an old GMC 1500 kicking around just because, I pretty much have something that needs fixing every weekend. Over the years I’ve gotten competent enough that I tackle pretty much everything I can. All oil changes, brakes, suspension work, AC work, timing belts, valve adjustments, and an engine swap when my daughter’s corolla ate a valve.
About the only thing I don’t bother to tackle is major body work because I have no skill at it and tires because I don’t have the equipment. Also occasionally exhaust work because I don’t have torches and quite frankly it can be just friggin miserable, especially without a lift. (New Englander here, think rust and lots of it)
Aside from those really the only time anything goes to the shop is if I just can’t figure out what the issue is which is typically with an electrical/sensor issue that’s beyond by OBD reader and/or youtube/online forum search to diagnose but that hasn’t happened in several years.
Oil is one of the things I almost always have someone else do. It’s usually cheaper than doing it myself, and it’s not something I enjoy doing. (If I had a lift, I might feel differently.)
How you’re set up to do it changes things. I have a heated garage with a TV, and a set of ramps. Oil changes are almost therapeutic in my little zen space I’ve created.
My next step is to put Fumoto valves on all the cars to make it even easier.
Yeah, see, then I’d almost be into it… but… I’m getting too old to want to crawl under a car. I’d need some kind of lift.
I want a lift, but I’d have to re-do the concrete unless I went 4-post, then space becomes an issue in a 24′ wide by 26′ deep garage.
Fair. You might consider one of those portable lift systems they have, though…. those look kinda cool.
A quickjack would be awesome, but I need the extended version. I tried my buddy’s and it was about 16″ short of grabbing the pickup points of my long body Benz, hah.
Yeah I did my Si a few weeks ago, made a small mess (first time doing it on this car) and now I still have to dispose of the oil. There’s a fairly new rent a lift place about a half hour away from me, and if they’ll take the waste oil it might be worth it for me,
This is why I’m glad my family’s trucking company uses a waste oil burner in their shop. Once or twice a year I drive the hour to the shop and dump all my waste oil.
I’d do them myself, but my garage floor is big gravel rocks (don’t ask) and there’s no way I’m crawling under a low-riding car on that.
Sure, but real talk David; what if they’re drum brakes?
Personally I’ve had my fill of trying to remove stuck drums, and springs pinging off into inaccessible places. Someone else can deal with that nonsense.
I agree on that….. drums that haven’t been maintained can be a royal PITA. Found that out on an ex-girlfriend’s car… took me two days, AND an annoyed girlfriend. No good deed goes unpunished, and all that.
Automotive drum brakes are godawful to deal with.
I much prefer commercial drum air brakes. It’s all held in with 3 springs or less, depending on configuration.
If I’m doing the effort of changing conventional brake drums, then I’m converting that axle to discs.
Speaking of cabin air filters, have you seen what it takes to change the one in the ID Buzz? Someone should be tarred and feathered.
Ooh, is it worse than a 2013-2022 Pathfinder/QX60/JX35 and 2013-2020 Ford Escape?
Mitchell Pro-Demand doesn’t have the buzz on it yet, but it looks very simple on the id.4. I’m also surprised a buzz has accumulated enough miles to need a cabin filter already.
Hear ya on the Escape…basically have to crush it to get it in.
On the ID Buzz you have to remove the side panels near the mirrors, disconnect the electrical lead to windshield water pump, and the line to the reservoir. Then a large panel has to be removed to access the filter. All of these panels are secured with screws. I don’t own one so I’m willing to listen to anyone who says it’s not that bad. But it sounds awful.
I hate making phone calls. I actually dread them. I’ve no idea why. But I only get a garage to fix something when the grief of doing the work outweighs the dread of having to make a phone call.
My 86 needs a new wheel bearing, but it seems like a nightmare to remove the rusty old one, so I’m driving around with the whining while I build up to calling someone.
My MOT inspection place takes on-line bookings.
Yeah, same. For jobs I can’t do, I go to a mechanic who is way more expensive and inconvenient to get to because they do appointments online and I don’t have to call. If it’s something that requires a phone call, I’m likely just not going to do it.
The phone call thing might be linked to my mild dyslexia. I can read well, and write slowly, but if you spell something out to me, or tell me a number, or worse an alfa-numeric code (like all highways/main roads in the UK) it means nothing to me. So that makes booking a date and time extremely stressful.
I book haircuts by going in the week before and having them write the time and date on a card for me. I’d do that for car servicing if there was a local place I trusted, but there isn’t.
I’ve dropped my car off at the local (great) shop with a note saying what is wrong. They call me when it is done, I pay over the phone and pick it up that evening when they are closed. Great times.
Gave up on oil changes years ago. An oil change is $60-70 CDN at Costco’s in Quebec. That’s about the same price as just the oil and filter. Make an appointment online, do the shopping and the truck is ready once I’ve cleared the cash.
Interesting, Costco doesn’t do oil changes at the US stores, well at least those on the west coast.
Even oil changes are often in the “if I wait until I get around to it, it won’t get done in time” category, so I grumble and pay the nice person, and make a note in the calendar to stop by in a couple months for a free top-up.
Now say I severely mangled the front suspension on my spousal unit’s car with a bad reading of road conditions on a Sunday and it is a long weekend with a holiday Monday. )-=
So facing a dilemma of having it towed to my house to block the driveway and be a project or a friendly repair shop. I chose the later. I should add that it is my wife’s car and she needs an automatic. So I went to the shop on Tuesday when they opened and they already had their laugh for the morning, anyway they called me back let me know the estimate and it was worse damage than I imagined.
I got a call this morning to come pick it up. Fixed.
Sure it cost me money, but it is an honest shop and their parts prices are close to what I’d pay as a DIY and I would have had to deal with them for the tire and alignment.
If it had landed in my driveway I’d still be sucking wind parts shopping, I don’t have a parts network at a my finger tips and I’d be driving my wife places in my rough riding, smelly, stick shift Fiesta, a car she hates with a passion.
I also don’t have a garage these days I work on my bikes in a shed and cars in the drive way, I also lack some tools and modern knowledge.
Sometimes there is no choice and if you find a good shop better pray it lasts and support it with work at least some of the time.
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Not all starters are easy to replace. Take, for example, my 1998 4WD Mazda MPV van. Originally designed as RWD, shoehorning the front drive components resulting in requiring the mother of all flexible extensions to reach the starter bolts, and on a lift. I had a shop do it to the tune of six hours in labor. I’ve heard that Toyota V8 truck engines have the starter buried under everything else in the valley between the cylinder heads.
I basically try to do any job that saves me an inordinate amount of money. So brakes is pretty much always a home job.
But I have paid to change my oil. I was fresh out of surgery and I figured paying someone to change the oil instead of tearing all the staples out of my abdomen trying to do it myself was the way to go.
Also, if you’re dedicated to certain jobs, especially fluid changes, with your current life, take some of that money you’re saving and invest tools to save you time and headaches.
The top 3 I’ll recommend are related to fluids.
-Pressure bleeder, for brakes. Saves you boatloads of time and is a great way to flush a system fast.
-Vacuum filler, for coolant. Guarantees no air pockets or mess. Can also be used to keep the coolant from draining out when changing temp sensors.
-Fluid extractor, for pulling any and all fluids to avoid mess
Last thing I’ll add, for the oil changes, is put Fumoto valves on everything you can, the ones with a nipple you can attach a hose to.
Boom. You’ve just justified a whole lot more jobs at home by severely reducing time commitments and mess.
I have my oil done when it’s already in for something. Inspection, tires, whatever, it’s always something. It’s not often significantly cheaper to DIY with synthetic oil and high quality OEM filters.
My cars never go in for anything other than alignments or other jobs that require specialized equipment that doesn’t make financial or spatial sense for me to own. I even do my own A/C cause I have gauges and a vacuum pump.
I’m doing about 4 oil changes a year, times two cars. Local quick lube is about $120(CAD) for a synthetic change with filter. I can do each car for less than half that.
Plus, I have a heated garage with a TV, couch, and beer fridge in it. I find oil changes an easy relaxing job, and I check/top all the other fluids, grease things, etc.
I also service the brakes twice a year at tire changes.
Same here. In the not-too-distant future, I’ll have my a 2 post lift in my barn as well. I wish I was only doing 4 oil changes a year, my current commute is ~700mi per week. I’m swapping oil every 5 weeks on average on one car in addition to twice yearly on the other 4.
That is an absurd commute, unless driving is your actual job.
an hour commute each way at highway speeds, 5 days a week.
I lived that life and it sucked. I’m now 15-20mins from work.
100 years ago and you may have never visited that town in your life due to the distance. Now you gotta drive there every day to pump out widgets and put cover sheets on TPS reports. Crazy stuff.
I remember a study a while back that said even today, the number of Americans who never travel further than 50 miles from where they were born is shockingly high.
I just did it to fix trucks and buses to keep those widgets and TPS report makers moving.
Did that for 10yrs. Hope to never have to do it again. The 2 hours of commuting on top of 10-12hr days is rough. Plus, you burn through cars. Pay wasnt that good, but best option at the time.
Remote work ended 3 months after I bought my house 100mi away. 3 commute days plus roughly 100mi of other driving.
Still worth it to not live in metro Detroit.
I used to do that. Thankfully, my current commute is a whopping 40km and my current position is partial WFH. But I usually average about 20k/yr.
When I bought my Genesis Coupe, I was doing 60k/yr.
This is also how I judge if a used vehicle is worth it for me. Every 100k km is 5 years of me driving it. so is it worth saving 15k off the sticker of a truck to get something that’s already traveled 5 years worth of me driving? Or am I better to just buy new and keep it 5 years longer? Possibly more, as who knows how hard those early miles were driven.
My current daily is at 253k miles. At current rate I’m doing roughly 27.5k miles a year. 2 year ago I bought the car with 213k for $3000. It’s cost me about $1500 in parts since then. Not too shabby. Hoping I can hit 500k since roughly 90% of my commute is steady state highway speeds.
Always figure if can get below $0.10/mi long term, doing good.
This is roughly my strategy too. If the price delta between the shop and myself is relatively small, I’ll pay, but if I know what the problem is and it’ll save me a lot of money, I’ll do it myself. This means that oil changes are almost always done at a lube shop, but I just changed the timing belt on my Sequoia to save $1200. The large amount of money I save is what lets me justify the cost of owning and tracking race cars (those are different – I work on them for fun).
I used to do oil changes, but the local garage next door to my work storage space is just too convenient. I know I can do it, but I value my time more. At this point, the only car maintenance I do is air/cabin filters and snow tire swaps (separate rims). I recently had to replace a garage door opener, and I was going to do it myself, but saw the big box hardware store had an install price of $150. The contractor was here for 2.5 hrs. Time that I was able to do other things.
I’m struggling with this for different reasons. I’m 53 with a recently developed random-ass health problem that causes fatigue, heat intolerance, and exertion intolerance. I would think nothing about sweating my balls off outdoors all day working hard until not so very long ago at all, where now I might wreck myself for two or three days if I try that – and it doesn’t take long at all to get me to that point on the wrong day.
There are lots of small jobs that I know how to do, that I can’t do. I’ve had a new set of rear brake pads for my wife’s SUV for weeks now, but they’re still in the box. Why? It’s not because I don’t know how to change brake pads. It’s because I live in Florida, it’s been in the 90s every single day for weeks and weeks and weeks now, I don’t own a garage or a carport, and the only time it’s gotten cool enough for me to safely take on such a job has been after dark – when I not only can’t see to do it, but am also much more likely to be completely wiped out. And don’t get me started on the yardwork I have to let slip. Jesus.
This condition has made my life more challenging in countless ways, but when it comes to the driveway, it has even made it more expensive. You don’t think of your health having an impact on your car repair bills until something breaks that you can’t fix yourself anymore. The sick Autopian part of me would actually look forward to sliding under a greasy car on my back. Now? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Feel your pain man.
Same sort of situation here, different toilet…
I’m 57 and yeah, I feel it too. Ever since I had COVID I feel like I need more breaks, and under-the-car stuff if getting really hard.
Don’t push it, be smart.
You have to push it a bit and be smart about it.
If you don’t push it you will have less and less you can do and believe me it is hard to recover from that, worse the older you are.
I don’t think you understand legitimate fatigue. When you’re tired, even exhausted, you can dig deep and push through. With fatigue, there’s nowhere to dig and nothing to push.
My favorite metaphor for what it feels like is appropriately Autopian: ever try to jumpstart a car with a dead battery, then try to crank it too soon, and you drain whatever juice you just put in the battery and you have to start over? That’s what “pushing it” with fatigue feels like.
I’ve worked doubles in sweltering restaurant kitchens. Fourteen-hour days on my feet in retail. I’ve dug deep and pushed it countless times. That was before. This is different. Very different. “Post-exertional malaise,” they call it, and not the fun kind of malaise with velour upholstery and landau tops.
Maybe I don’t, I can’t walk in your shoes and I haven’t lived your life. I’m 70 years old and had a heart condition 20 years ago that stopped me from walking a couple of hundred yards, there is no pushing through that. It hit me like a rock, I thought I was healthy. most days I would ride my pedal bike 20 to 30km a day and then I was running out of breath on easy tasks and getting chest pains. A stent, some life style moderation and six months of cardiac rehab and I recovered more or less.
What I have noticed for me about an hour of basic exercise 3 or 4 days a week, just repetitive stuff like walking or a bit of gardening makes a difference. There are things I can’t do as I have become older. Nothing strenuous, though If I stop for a few weeks I can notice.
I lost a good friend who got sick and got well but never recovered, who didn’t push that little bit and sat and laid and ate ’til he died, he gave up.
I am in Canada and our health care is different than the US which you may be from. At 3:00pm today I got a CT scan at the Hospital as requested by my new family doctor, my only cost was parking. Hoping for no surprises.
Hey, I was trying not to assume too much. It sounds like you know more about it than your first comment made it sound like. I’m glad you were able to get something fixed that allowed you to get on a path to recovery. I’m still looking for that fix.
(I’ve done my best to not send this discussion off on a tangent about exactly what happened to me, but let’s just say “safe and effective” was very much a pack of lies that I bought. Scientific research on what to do for people who found “safe and effective” to be unsafe and crippling instead is in its infancy, because questioning its safety and efficacy automatically means that you are a dangerous quack who is to be denounced and canceled, even if you are a dean of medicine at Stanford University or the owner of many of the patents on the treatment itself.)
Good luck with identifying a path and your recovery.
Being sick sucks.
It is not really a tangent to the discussion, but a branch, examples.
A reality that the variable condition of the “Y” in the “DIY” may make the “Never” in the original article’s title a youthful boast.
> the variable condition of the “Y” in the “DIY”
Boy, did YOU just say a mouthful.
That sucks. Hopefully it gets better.
Sounds like it’s easier (maybe faster) to change a Subaru’s timing belt and water pump as it is to change a Jeep’s water pump. Then fresh, new timing components, no worries about worn timing chain guides, etc. for another 105,000 miles.
But, but, but, it’s a timing belt! That makes it unreliable by default, regardless of how easy it is to change!!
(If it’s at all like my wife’s 2.5 outback, that was definitely the simplest timing belt job I’ve done)
Subaru get a lot of unfounded knocks about being difficult to work on. On the EJ family of engines with a belt everything was right at the front with minimal stuff to remove for access. Same with the alternator, AC compressor etc. Changing the tension pully that was squeaking was a 20 minute job on my EJ.
Granted, my only experience with Subarus is with my Baja, but that car is the one of the easiest to work on of all the cars I’ve ever had.
You would think replacing a cabin air filter would be a no-brainer; in most cars it is. But not in a P1 Volvo (V50 /S40 / C30 / C70). To do it right, you basically have to plank upside down and even take the accelerator off just to get to the door (that, of course, has three screws attaching it, for no reason). You can get away with not removing the accelerator, but what a massive P.I.A.!!!!!
I’ll cheerfully do stuff like brakes, air filters, bulbs, etc. I did the plugs on my Hyundai last year, and plan to do the belts tomorrow or Friday. I had a repair this winter that needed doing. I could have done it, but snowy driveways are not a great place to work. I paid a shop. If it were spring, I probably would’ve tried it.
I do not.plan on doing the plugs on my wife’s van. The upper intake has to come off, along with a bunch of other parts to get to the rear plugs. As well, it needs other stuff that may determine whether we keep it or trade it. Personally, I want to keep it, so we’ll see what happens.
As much as I want to change my own oil…by the time I get a shop to do it, it’s close enough to even price-wise that I don’t want the hassle.
Heh. In Florida, winter is exactly when you get all your outdoor chores done. August ain’t the month for that crap.
I start sweating when I think about Florida.
It depends. If it’s me wanting something kind of custom, I’m absolutely doing it. Sometimes I’ll farm it out like if it’s a major pain. Otherwise I have generally sufficient tools and persistence to make things work.
I’m definitely in agreement with you here David. When the kids come, we have to let go of some of those things we swore we never would.
Regarding the CV boot, I would get it done sooner than later. The only thing that will cause the joint to wear is contamination through a torn boot.
I misread the title as “repairs that I will never do”, and now I’m wondering what that list looks like for Mr. Tracy.
Same!
Lol me too
Yep… Got to the end, was thinking to myself “well I’m glad to know David loves changing his oil, but when is he going to tell us about how he’ll never do a window motor replacement himself?”
It looks like this:
I don’t mess with tires wheels and major AC work because I lack the tools. I’m willing to take on a timing belt if access isn’t to bad. The key determinants are special tools, expensive equipment, and time
Most AC work can be done with a vacuum pump and manifold gauge set, neither of which is particularly expensive. They’ll pay for themselves on the first job, especially if it’s something like a compressor replacement.
I have gauges, but need a vacuum pump, the old Buick needs a compressor so buying or renting may be in the cards
If I need specialized tools and knowledge, like a dial indicator, I will not. I am not going to re-gear and install a locker in my axles with nothing but Youtube videos.
I ended up adding a TruTrac and regearing my truck not because it was easy, but because I thought it would be. I had a kit that came with the new ring and pinion, new bearings and shims. This was before I really knew what all was involved. Ended up buying a cheap Amazon dial indicator and painting the gears to see the mesh pattern. It was a pain but I got it done in a weekend and after several thousand miles, no issues so far.