4. Do-It-Yourself Auto Repair
Although car repair can be done at home, there are unexpected problems that can crop up, which are described in detail. You also learn how to do a very basic car repair project.
General Car Repair Problems
Auto repair doesn't require great physical strength or detailed technical information. Although you'll use your brain much more than your biceps, you don't need a master's degree in engineering to work on your car. Most problems yield to common sense, preparation, and a cool head. The true difficulty in car repair is in solving unexpected problems.
Most car books don't discuss the exceptions, problems, and complications that can happen. Car work is uncomfortable. Things do go wrong: bolts break or lose their threads, parts don't fit, and things get stuck. Before starting to work on your car, beware of what might happen. This lesson discusses a few problems you may face.
The Problem of Dirt
Car repair is messy, no question about it. Here are some things you can do to keep yourself clean.
- Car clothes: If you intend to do any car work you should get car clothes. A pair of old sweatpants and a ratty long-sleeved shirt will work well.
- Gloves: Buy a box of nonsterile disposable latex gloves at a drugstore. They are inexpensive and offer terrific protection from dirt, without sacrificing finger freedom. Soft leather garden gloves also work well and give better protection, but they don't provide the tactile sensation of latex.
- Hand cleaner: Buy one of the special jelly hand cleaners at your local parts store. These cleaners work great for getting grease off your hands.
- Rags: You really can't have too many rags or paper towels when working on a car.
I keep car clothes that I can pull over my regular clothes in my trunk. They are handy for unexpected problems and for helping others with car trouble.
I use a hospital brush to get this jelly under my fingernails and to scrub my skin vigorously.
The Problem of Time
Car repair is often more a time problem than a money problem. Your first thought after a breakdown might be "I'll be late for work" or "I'll never get this fixed in time for . . . ." Part of the delay comes from the fact that most mechanics have a backlog; it might take days or weeks to get around to your car. Often, it's just quicker to try a job yourself, even if it might take you longer than a mechanic.
When you know what you're doing, do-it-yourself repair is often the fastest way to get a job done.
The Problem of Workspace
If you're thinking about doing work yourself, you must consider the availability of workspace. Doing car work in your driveway or parked on the street can be unbearable. Exposure to the elements is not conducive to mechanical problem-solving. You need good light, a clean surface, and shelter. If you're lucky enough to have a garage, clean it out and use it as a work nest for your car and as a place to store your tools and other car stuff.
The Problem of Strength
The best mechanics don't use excessive force to remove stuck car parts. They proceed with care and delicacy, using leverage and mechanical advantage without grunting or straining. They're professional, detached, and cool. Often, the delicate handling of a jeweler is necessary in car work; other times, a hammer is needed. Always, a great mechanic has the attitude of a surgeon. You must be careful and delicate rather than sloppy and bullish. People struggling as they work on their cars probably don't know what they're doing.
If you become frustrated, stop working and rest before you hurt yourself and your car.
The Problem of Pain and Discomfort
Pain, both physical and psychological, is part of car repair. If you intend to get your hands dirty, you can expect to be cut and banged up a little, too. A common injury is to have a wrench slip off its nut, sending your hand smashing into metal. Minor cuts and burns can also occur.
A doctor told me that treating such wounds immediately by rinsing with water and antiseptic helps them to heal fast. A liquid called New Skin? works well to seal these kinds of wounds.
Discomfort is inevitable, but I hope the suggestions above – gloves, having a good workspace, wearing car clothes – will help make working on your car a more tolerable experience. That's enough warning. Let's look at a beginning maintenance job: changing your oil.
Change Engine Oil and the Oil Filter
You can certainly change your oil and oil filter yourself after you learn how. To do this, follow these steps: It's a good idea to have someone who has done it before help you with this job the first time. After that, you'll find it easy to change your oil.
- Locate the oil drain plug underneath the engine. The lowest bolt under the engine should be the oil drain plug. Find a wrench that fits this rather large bolt.
- Find the oil dipstick and check the oil level and the color of the old oil before you drain the oil.
- Purchase the recommended oil, an oil filter, a plastic oil collection container, and a funnel at the local parts store. If you don't have one, buy an oil filter wrench.
- Warm up the car, which helps suspend tiny unwanted particles in the oil.
- Loosen the oil drain plug carefully – especially when it's almost out). Use gloves and a rag when you make the last few turns on this plug because when it lets go, hot oil comes gushing out. Better have that oil container handy and extra rags for cleaning up spills.
- While waiting for the oil to drain, it's time to switch the oil filter.
- Fit the oil filter wrench around the old filter and unscrew it from the engine block. Twist it counterclockwise. You need the wrench only to loosen the filter; after that, it will unscrew easily by hand. You may have to get under the car to do this job, depending on the location of your oil filter.
- Screw on the new filter and tighten it by hand. Smear a drop of oil on the rubber gasket to help seal it.
- After the oil has drained, clean the threads of the plug and the threads of the hole with a rag or disposable toothbrush. If there's a gasket for the drain plug, inspect it for damage. Screw the drain plug back in and tighten it with the wrench.
- Unscrew the oil filler cap used for adding engine oil, which is located on top of the valve cover of your engine. Put a funnel in the hole, twist off the caps to the plastic oil bottles, and pour the fresh oil into your engine. Wait a few minutes, and then check the oil level on the dipstick.
- Start your engine and let it run for a minute or two while you check for leaks at the filter or the drain plug. Then wait five minutes and check the oil level with the dipstick again. Notice the clean fresh oil on the dipstick. It's so clean that it's hard to see on the metal of the dipstick.
- Drive around the block a few times and check for leaks again. Lay some newspaper down to help you spot stray drops.
- Finally, the modern environmental caveat: Dispose of the oil and filter properly by taking it to a friendly service station. Kragen's advertises that it accepts used oil at its retail parts stores.
Can you slide under the car enough to reach the oil drain plug bolt or do you have to jack the car up?
It's also a good idea to spread newspaper over the area where you'll be working to help contain spills.
The oil filter is easy to find, especially when you know what it looks like. Study the one you just bought.
Use plenty of rags because the old oil filter is still full of oil. Be careful not to turn it over or lay it flat on the driveway because the oil will run out.
That's the standard description, anyway. Let's take another look at the oil change.
Many cars books describe maintenance and repair job procedures much as in the first list. Reading through one of these maintenance manuals will help you decide the type of jobs you're willing to try first. Keep in mind that the actual job will be more like the paragraph above. I don't write this to scare you, but to help you understand the difficulties and realities of auto repair.
Oil Change: Another Perspective
It all starts with you flat on your back under the car, loosening the oil drain plug. The cement is cold and the engine is hot. Tiny rocks dig into your back. (On a hot day, this gives me a rash.) You worry that maybe the jack stands might slip as you carefully slide under the jacked-up car. As you twist the drain plug out, the first few drops of oil make their way down the wrench, your finger, under your leather watchband, and directly to your elbow, where they collect. You can't wipe the oil off because both hands are busy with the wrench, and you don't want to lose the grip or the rhythm of the twisting. As the plug loosens, you can finally turn it by hand. When it's almost out, you position the bucket under the plug and continue to twist it off slowly. Then it lets go suddenly. The hot oil surprises you, so you drop the plug and soak your hand and sleeve in hot engine oil. Reflexes cause you to jump, and you bump your head and burn your arm on the muffler at the same time. Oil has spilled everywhere, and when you to try to slide the nearly full oil bucket from under your car, it spills even more. It takes all your rags to soak it up. When you change the oil filter, you worry that you haven't tightened it enough; you followed the instructions, but that just doesn't seem like enough tightening. When you pour in the new oil, two quarts run out the crankcase hole before you notice that you forgot to replace the plug. Where did that plug go, anyway? (When I was 18, I thought this was fun.)
Moving On
In this lesson, you found out how to change your own oil. In Lesson 5, you find out what tools you need to work on your car.