Welcome to the Automotive Section of the HUB.

This space contains information largely on my own car, but also some others. The main purpose of this space is to encourage you to take control of your own car's maintenence and repairs.

Even with standard hand tools and a decent jack, there are only really 4 (3.5) jobs that are impossible to DIY:

• MOTs (or any applicable Government mandated testing).
• Tyres. You can't fit a balancer in a toolbox just yet.
• Extensive chassis refurbs. You need fabrication facilities and a lift really.
• In a lot of cases, severe crash damage. Some cars like the MK3 MR2 do easily allow you to swap body parts.

As well as mechanics, this area will contain infromation about cars in general, driving, and motorsports. Although I am not a professional in anything automotive so you should take what I say with a pinch of salt.

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There are many jobs your car will require that you can easily do yourself with basic tools. I find the first time I do a job that requires tools I don't own, it costs almost as much as taking it to a Garage, but of course next time it doesn't cost anywhere near as much since I have the tools already. If you're not sure how to get started, get a decent torque wrench, a decent normal wrench, a set of deep sockets, a handful of normal sockets, some pliers, parts cleaner, and most importantly - jackstands.

Despite what people who get attacked by their snap on man daily will tell you, you don't need high end tools at home. I'm not telling you to cheap out, don't do that either unless you're only planning on using something once - NOT INCLUDING JACKSTANDS! Get Halfords advanced at the minimum, if that goes wrong, it could kill you - get something that can carry significantly more weight than your car.

Generally, spending about 50% more than the cheapest options will get you 90% of the value of the higher end options - actually, I've never encountered a tool that isn't capable of doing its job. The issue is durability - a cheap tool won't last as long, so if you really want to do this, you should spend that little bit more to get tools that will last.

It will probably cost you about 300 quid to get a comprehensive set of tools, like wrenches and torque wrenches, sockets, open ended wrenches, jackstands, various tapes, greases and sprays, etc. I will make a detailed list of my curernt tool kit - which is capable of almost any DIY job, including some internal engine work.

But WHY?

The obvious reason is money. Even if you spent a grand on tools, a standard service costs about 100 quid, but oil and a filter cost about 50. After 20 years of nothing but oil changes, you'll make your money back - and of course, we do far more than that. New brakes will easily cost 300 quid and more, but disks and pads tend to cost about 100 for a set. Engine sensors will cost you about an hours worth of labour to have fitted, costing you 70-120 quid on top of the part. Exhaust parts often cost 2 hours of labour, allowing you to save twice that amount.

However, you could have all of the money in the world and still benifit from doing it youself. Here's how:

Part cannons

A parts cannon is when a mechanic/garage tries to diagnose an issue by just replacing a part that might be the cause, and seeing if that fixes it. This is like a doctor removing your appendix because your stomach hurts, without checking if your right side hurts, if your appendix is inflamed, or if maybe, you're reacting badly to the taco bell you've been eating everyday. As a result, your appendix is removed, but the problem (daily tacobell consumption) remains. A parts cannon has the same effect - time and money is wasted when the part in question isn't the culprit.

Why does this happen? Well, if the part believed to be faulty is in fact faulty, the garage saves a lot of time on diagnostics. If this is starting to sound like gambling - that's because it is in fact gambling! Except it's not their money they're gambling with - it's yours. I don't think most garages like the idea of gambling your money (although, I have no doubt some DO) - rather, their workload is likely higher than they want it to be and that gamble isn't considerd an unacceptable risk. In my opinion though, it is unacceptable. Most car work is measured in hundreds, and that simply isn't money most of us are able to throw at shiny new parts that have no actual effect on a car, becuase the old ones were fine.

You working on your own car prevents this by giving you the skills and tools requried to properly check and test parts. For example, if you're told one of your oxygen sensors is not functioning correctly, you can check the sensors readings in certain scenarios to see if that's likely. You can also check other sensors to see if the O2 sensor is actually malfucntioning, or it it's simply reacting to a fault with another part. This isn't perfect, and it's not always possible to get an accurate diagnosis, but it's far better than doing nothing.

Lies

Although I don't think this is as common as sometimes made out, it does happen, and it goes without saying that it's avoided if there's no one involved to lie to you.

Time/Location convinience

I think we can agree that you largely lose convienience when you work on your own car - because it's now you who's making their back go at 32 by lying on the road under a car, yanking and swearing at that one bolt that just won't come off.

However, you do gain some convienience. For one, you can do repairs exactly when you want to. You don't have to make plans on how you'll get to work if you do the job yourself over the weekend. You don't have to worry about the school run if you do the oil change in the evening. Instead of fitting into a garages scedule, you only have to fit it into yours.

The second thing is the place - you don't have to take the car somewhere to do the work. This is especially good for those in rural areas. You just walk out to the car - or better yet into your garage or onto your drive - and start working.

Parts choice

In my experience, most garages do pick decent quality parts for their jobs. However, if you want something that goes beyond OEM specifications, good luck finding a Garage that'll do it, especially in the UK. You'll almost certainly have to go to a performance specialist, and that'll empty your wallet real fast. If you do the work yourself, nothing is stopping you from getting uprated pads instead of normal ones, or a different oil viscosity, or adjustable shocks, etc. You'll actually find that for the price of work at a garage, you're often able to fit a significantly higher performance part. For many people, that won't matter much - but if you take your car on track, it's immensely useful.

Notes

• 03/10/2024 - Page populated.