Many of us on here have tinkered with our cars for several decades. Partly due to age and the ability to pay others, I tinker much less than I did. But the main reason is that tinkering with 21st-century cars is increasingly difficult, partly due to inaccessibility, or makers' handbooks giving almost no help, or the need for more specialised equipment. More jobs need a hoist rather than ramps or axle stands. So the number of jobs you can easily do is dwindling.

But it's a good idea to try to do as much of the MoT test as you can, for practice in checking your vehicle. Fluid levels, tyre condition, all the regular monthly checks. Find the dipstick instead of relying on the dashboard, and see what the oil looks like. Get to know your car better.

tinyurl.com/z7fax3z

Haynes on cars on Youtube.. free!

It's not quite as easy to learn as it once was, and it has to be said that people appear to have more moeny to spend on newer cars and can afford to have other people fix them, for many of us that simply wasn't the case, we had to buy cars with faults cheaply and fix them ourselves to get any sort of car on the road, we simply did not have the money to get them fixed by others.

Plus scrap yards were places you couold wander round and dismantle to your hearts content for parts for your car, and yes cars were much simpler then.

You can't beat getting down and having a go, we have some younger posters on here who are great fun who get down and dirty and have a bash at fixing their own, one such young fellow, Liam, a poster who pops his head in from time to time, is a breath of fresh air, prepared to do anything and everything to keep his Pug106 running, and these and similar cars are ideal cars to start with.

As said, Youtube is well worth perusing, but its true you have to use common sense, whilst i and others might well slip underneath momentarily on a jack alone, its sitting on a professional quality workshop jack, not the wobbly thing supplied with the car and definately not some £30 Chinese toy trolley jack from a supermarket with an eggcup sized lifting pad and almost uncontrollable release valve.

For anyone serious about working on their own cars that is one tool i suggest you buy as high quality as you can afford, a well made trolley jack, you will know its good if it has a proper infinitely controllable lowering method, not by screwing in the handle.

Even if you use axle stands you'll be in danger till its lowered and you want that lowering to be at your pace not just dropped with a bang.

Starting by doing your own light servicing is good, oil changing, filters etc, remove wheels, check brakes etc, changing your own bulbs etc, start with the small jobs and as you feel more confident get more involved, its also very cost effective but only after a while cos decent tools are not cheap, and you will get filthy.

Edited by gordonbennet on 15/12/2016 at 12:58

Luckily I already change my own bulbs (and tires - in theory!)

I assume you mean wheels and not tires (sic). They're TYRES in the UK.

You can do a lot worse than reading your car owners handbook.

Oh yes, remember lefty-loosy and righty-tighty!..............................;>)

Edited by bathtub tom on 15/12/2016 at 22:50

Most manuals are online:

manuals.co/

Best thing you can do is join a marque specific forum. You'll find loads of hints, tips and repair guides.