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Years ago,I bought an Ex-WD staff car-I found in it the appropriate workshop manual-obviously written fo zero-spanner poeple.Place spanner"A" on nut "B"-pull. was a sample.
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In the past, I rebuilt engines, replaced the clutch in a Peugeot 104ZS (engine out job), overhauled various brake systems, rebuilt all the oily bits on an MG Midget, cured myriad electrical faults on french cars, so lots of spanners.
These days when I open the bonnet I get frightened. So no spanners.
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0.5 car (changing bulbs is about my limit, although have replaced things like speakers and electric window switches in the past), 0.75 motorbike (chain tension and that).
Anything more than that I leave to folks who know what they are doing. I know how all the bits work, just not how to take them to bits and put them back together again properly!
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3, but I loathe Haynes manuals.
"Gently prise" usually equates to "Snap off", followed by a scream of rage when you discover a concealed screw which simply holds the part on, and something whoever wrote the manual completely ignored.
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Having been through the bangernomics stage in my yoof I became self taught. Once I settled into my career path and could afford more reliable machinery I did less and less but more and more on those belonging to penny pinching colleagues.
Started to compete in rallying and built and drove two cars - the ubiquitous Escort Mk II" and an Astra 16V. Maintained and became very good at fixing things in a hurry. Welding, bodywork and painting I can easily cope with.
The only thing that I have not attempted is a complete gearbox rebuild. I've done the strip down!
Now I don't seem to have the time or the inclination but if need must I have a go. Reliability and the requirements of warrantys means occasionally paying for someone else to do a job I could do better myself.
When the manuals suggest when you need a specialist tool that you go and see your dealer I have to laugh. "Can I borrow your widget extractor for the day please?" Some derivative of "Go away." would probably be the reply.
Rating? I still believe a good 4 (%%%%)
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The trouble now is what used to be removable from under the bonnet now has to be dropped out from underneath, and cars seem to have got a lot lower than they used to be. Formerly simple two bolts and a couple of wires gadgets like starters and alternators need half the car removed before you can even see them, and working on concealed bolts while lying on your back in the wet (everything seems to wait till winter to go wrong) gets less attractive when one reaches that comfortable age.
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I don't do much these days.
When I do I'll borrow a car dealer mates garage at the back of his lot. There's two other mechanics in the same yard so when I need a special tool or some advice its close at hand. I can also get them to do work at trade rates so that's a disincentive to do the more complex tasks.
I've never had an engine fail and the only clutch I've ever needed changing was on an Imprezza Turbo and I left that to someone else but I'd happily tackle most jobs.
I'll guess I'm somewhere around four spanners but rarely do much that's beyond two these days.
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cars seem to have got a lot lower than they used to be.
Not always, our Zafira sits high enough up that if I park it half way into the garage (sloping driveway behind it) the front end is tipped up enough to change the oil easily without even jacking the car up!
Not much space under there, I'll admit, but just enough...
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how many spanners does it take to change a headlight bulb?... depends on the car i think, most people use a haynes manual when they get stuck... try reading it first then apply the knowledge instead of getting stuck, in my experience of haynes manuals the grubbiest pages were for brake problems
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A guy on a cycling forum has just related how he took his Toyota Avensis into a main dealer to have a blown headlight bulb replaced. They charged him £282!
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Things change
At 12 I was a one spanner by sixteen I was a three, not much I could not do on a british motor bike with a bit of help from mum's oven. By twenty four was at five spanners and very cocky. Thirty five gone down to four spanners now, twenty odd years on just about one spanner. If only I had half the confidence I had at twenty !
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How many spanners are these worth...
Changing spark plugs, oil, oil filter and air filter,
Taking the door apart to find out why the window winder doesn't work,
Changing the brake pads,
Taking the vents under the windscreen apart to clear out all the leaves which were making water pour into the footwell.
Did all of that on my old Polo but wouldn't dream of doing anything more than checking the oil and water on the Golf, and I'd probably get told off by the leasing company if I did any of that - they even changed the wiper blades in the last service!
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Vulcan has just written my post.
Its more the electrickery that has me in a state of awe i suppose now.
I've tackled massive jobs in the past, full engine rebuilds, diagnose anything eventually.
Thats whats changed, years ago we knew whatever happened we could by the usual logical methods work through the electrical (usually) or fuelling (not so) system until we came upon the likely culprit and repair/replace the broken part.
Most systems could be bodge wired or by passed with a bit of bent coat hanger and jubilee clip to prove our theory before we splashed out on parts.
Now i'm like most here, i'll still maintain my vehicles meticulously, replace brakes and clutches (not on my own they're both auto) etc, and keep things as well as possible, but when my 12 year old MB blows its head gasket, or the hilux needs the cambelt changed, i shall be getting someone who knows what controls what to do those jobs.
I'm now too afraid of causing ignorant damage to the fragile ecu's etc, plus i wouldn't unless blatantly obvious have a clue how to diagnose faults anymore.
Once a confident 4+, now a poor 2-.
I wonder how many under 25's unlikely to have had our years learning on the simpler machines of years ago, by economic necessity mainly, would even qualify for 1 spanner.
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They charged him £282!
A friend of mine had a dip beam go on his top of the range Rover 75 Estate.
They charged him £650.00 !!! Fortunately he got it under warranty. I was chatting to a parts man at a Saab garage and related this to him...he said 'that's about what we charge'.......crazy or what ?
Ted
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And people wonder I like old Ford cars, a head lamp change on this old dog inc labour £10.
This why I am put of by modern cars, the servicing is just too pricey and complicated. When I have grown out of my Fiesta I would love to find a nice old Mondeo with FSH, new clutch with warranty, should be a good car. Also looking for the old 2.0 Primeras when I get some no claims.
However even on my Fiesta MK4 I can't get at anything, on my old MK3 things were so much easier to fix and I fixed several things:-
Temperature gauge sender
Wiring to the throttle position sensor
A great big rust hole in the bodywork - with body filler!
The piston rings - with stop smoke!
I sold it for scrap but I found out on the DVLA website that it was put back on the road for 3 months then scrapped again. Probably when they new onwer tried to use the winscreen wipers and crashed - they were hand tightened as I gave my mate my old arms which he still has.
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> on my old MK3 things were so much easier to fix
A lot of this is down to safety equipment though, making items more difficult to access. The Mk3 Fiesta was poor in this regard, but had more space to work in the engine bay as a result.
An oft-forgotten point that, do you want safety or ease of access -- you won't get both easily. Headlights on the 5-star Megane are a case in point, as an extreme example.
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Yep this is quite evident in the doors, mine are a good 2" thick where my mates mk3 barely reaches 1" My 1.3 engine bay is also extremely crowded, where as my mates MK3 1.1 is empty you can see everything, I could almost feel confident to change a clutch on that you can see all the gearbox moutning bolts and everything. On mine all you see is loads of wiring.
Jase I think a balance is ok, my mechanic told me a nice story about the the new megane. This girl comes in with a cheeky grin asking for the brake pads to be changed he gave her a price and then give him this bulb you could also do this (she had a grin on her face) he said yeah no problem I know it as apart of the job at no extra cost. It took him nearly two hours to do! He said he will never make that mistake again! The girl did apparantly give him £30 extra and said Renault wanted £90 for the job.
There must still be some safe and fairly easy to fix cars out there.
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I've fairly recently dismantled a gearbox and replaced a noisy bearing, and in the past I have dismantled and set up a back axle using engineer's blue to get the crown and pinion engagement correct. I suppose that makes me a 5, but only on old cars.
I'd never want to own a car where you couldn't see the engine because of its plastic cover, or couldn't swap a bulb in under a minute.
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I'd never want to own a car where you couldn't see the engine because of its plastic cover or couldn't swap a bulb in under a minute.
Neither would I. But unfortunately Cliff, unless we give up motoring before the old nails we now drive expire we won't have a choice.
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Indeed RR.
Someone said the plastic covers above and below modern engines were for safety reasons. I don't think they are. They are for silencing and dust-excluding reasons, but have the added advantage that they stop the owner from even seeing the oily bits, let alone 'tampering' with them. The point of this aspect is to stop them from worrying their pretty little heads about why the damn thing isn't working properly and seek so-called professional help. When the professionals have reconnected the disconnected connector and bolted the cover back on they can blandly say whatever they like and send a bill of any size. All right for some, if they can cope with the moral black hole into which they are being tempted.
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I feel a bit more at ease with the plastic cover over the common rail, while I`m under the bonnet with the engine running. But you can reach the fuel and oil filter around the edge of it as well as the serpentine belt. The top of the cover houses the air filter too, so it has a use.
It comes straight off with just two fastenings anyway.
I did remove the under-tray on a previous car and cut big access hatches in it. But If I can`t force my way in to the regular service items the vehicle is not allowed into the `fleet`. ;)
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>>Someone said the plastic covers above and below modern engines were for safety reasons.
It was me - but, I said *partially* for safety reasons. Of course, the safest thing to do would be to lock the bonnets shut, and only issue keys to mechanics!
The odd thing is, modern engines have never been easier to work on, and have never needed less working on.
When they do need working on, they even have the good grace to sometimes store a relevant fault code to guide someone who's awake towards the problem. There was no golden age when cars were easier to fix, they've always needed someone who's technically able to diagnose and repair - the difference is that today, mistakes in diagnosis (which are just as common as they always have been) cost a lot more than they ever used to.
I find it difficult to read Cliff's post - someone who clearly knows his onions having rebuilt crown wheel and pinions, and is cowed by a plastic cover!
Perhaps to end their evil tyranny, the plastic covers should be "responsibly recycled".
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>> I find it difficult to read Cliff's post - someone who clearly knows his onions having rebuilt crown wheel and pinions and is cowed by a plastic cover!
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I didn't really mean I was daunted by the plastic cover itself, more that its existence might be indicative of a general unfriendliness to DIY access.
Haynes manuals of cars I like say things like "use special tool number 12345 to extract the working parts, or make up a simple tool like this using a bit of angle iron and some spacers".
Also I like a car where you can get inside the engine bay for access.
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