Clare Snyder posted for all of us...



On Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:50:20 +1100, Xeno
wrote:

On 17/10/18 12:37 pm, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 10/16/18 8:30 PM, Xeno wrote:
On 17/10/18 12:07 pm, Drago Giambattista Esposito wrote:
I'm taking a night class on auto maintenance in adult school.
There is no grade and no tests. Just learning. And fun.

The teacher asked today, the first class, for us to bring next week a
list
of the 10 things that people can do at home to repair their car,
starting
with number 1 being an oil change and number 10 being an engine
replacement.

Can I run by you my first list?

1. Oil & filter Change
10. Engine replacement

2. Air & cabin air filter replacement 3. Flush & replace all fluids
4. Belt & tensioner replacement
5. Alternator & battery replacement
6. Brakes & struts overhauled
7. Cooling system overhaul
8. Starter replacement
9. Clutch replacement and/or automatic filter replacement

How does that list look as a first pass?

You have missed the first and most important requirement, a *workshop
manual*, even a Haynes. Actually, a Haynes manual is all you're likely
to be able to get hold of these days as a lot of the factory manuals
come on CD and/or subscription.

**** And along those lines,* YouTube.** There are quite a few guys showing
"How to .............................."* on YouTube.** Some of the
repair guides are pretty good.
And they're free.

Yes, agreed, but some of those are potential disasters. You need to be
able to sort the wheat from the chaff with those videos and I'm not sure
a tyro could adequately do that.
The problem with the internet is it's like sorting fly**** from
pepper

HAAAAAAA Funny. Or trying to pick up a turd by the clean end.

--
Tekkie

Clare Snyder posted for all of us...



On Wed, 17 Oct 2018 05:22:03 +0200, Drago Giambattista Esposito
wrote:

Ed Pawlowski

I see no mention of spark plugs.

I forgot all about spark plugs!
Even though they last 100K miles, they need to be replaced.

I think I'll remove the struts because someone said that struts and brakes
don't go together (although don't struts need to be replaced as much as
spark plugs do?).

I'll definitely add spark plugs to a generic all-purpoe "tune up" even
though a "tune up" doesn't seem to exist as a "thing" any more.

That "tune up" will include the filters and spark plugs and wipers and
anything "rubbery" like hoses. With that tune up can be the simple stuff
with putting air in tires and topping off fluids.

Would that work better?
As long as it's not a 5.4 Ford Triton.

Guaranteed a do-it-yourself plug change by an amateur on one of those
will get REAL expensive.

Or they will blow themselves right out of the engine - like a generator at
work...

--
Tekkie

Clare Snyder posted for all of us...



On Wed, 17 Oct 2018 23:29:05 +0200, Drago Giambattista Esposito
wrote:

Oren

For me, keep the list simple. Stuff you would check or have done
before a road trip.

Simple DIY @ home is not opening the engine. Is the class on basics or
cars with computers... I'd stay simple making the list, myself.

What can I do with the resources I have on hand!

The first lecture was all about the common fallacies of car repair.

His very first question on the board was "Why isn't your wife here?"
Then he asked everyone in the class that question, and we said why.
(Mine has never touched anything dirty or greasy in her life.)

As he wrote down the answers, an assistant (his kid?) passed out a sheet of
paper which had every one of the reasons we each said, already on it.

He said they're universal whenever someone doesn't want to do any job.

For tools, he said at the price of repairs now the tools always pay for
themselves, often on the first use depending on the tools & tasks.

He said learning is easier now than it ever was before, given the Internet.

He told us that anyone who tells us otherwise just doesn't like doing it
which he said was ok but for us to simply recognize it as an excuse.

I couldn't keep the homework list at 10 given the input.
How does this look, in a general order of easy to hard?

1. Oil & filter change
2. Battery replacement (standard battery setup)
3. Periodic scheduled maintenance (sometimes called a scheduled tune up)
(filters, spark plugs, wipers, hoses, pcv, fluids, tires)
4. Belt & belt tensioner replacement
5. Brake overhaul (rotors, drums, pads, shoes)
6. Cooling system overhaul (radiator, waterpump, thermostat, hoses)
7. Alternator replacement
8. Shock absorber or strut replacement
9. Starter replacement
10. Engine belt, chain guide, or engine chain replacement
11. Clutch replacement and/or automatic filter replacement
12. Remove & replace engine
Lets dump this troll.
I'll bet he's an electrical enineer that has posted here under
numerous names over the last several years about things like aligning
his front end etc.

If not, he' a "brother from another mother"

You mean Arlen?

--
Tekkie

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 10:39:18 PM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 10/17/2018 6:23 PM, Drago Giambattista Esposito wrote:
dpb
Mostly far beyond owner...

The teacher was clear that if the owner does not want to get their hands
dirty, that owner will come up with all sorts of excuses as to why.

His point of asking why our wives were not in the class (it was all men),
was that those who want to learn, will learn.
Those who don't want to learn, will never learn and they may tend to make
up excuses like our wives do as to why they can't learn anything.

I know all I need to know and as farmer I get more than dirty enough --
my time is far more valuable doing other things than routine automotive
maintenance that don't have the facilities to do easily owing primarily
to the excessive complications that have been introduced over the last
30 years and particularly the last 10 or so.

I don't know what the teacher's exact quote was, but if the intent was
that repair is easier than ever, I'd strongly disagree--it may be that
many what used to be common need for repair has disappeared with newer
technology and better-built (in general) vehicles, but doing
_anything_ almost is much more difficult than years ago simply owing
to lack of access if nothing else.

He said a lot of things are easier now than ever before, which in my notes
are that he said that the Internet has videos that didn't exist when he
started out (he is long ago retired), and that cars last longer now than
they did before, and that fluids are a lot better now than they were before
(he showed us old brass radiators with crud inside the openings), and that
maintenance is less now than it was before (he spoke about not needed into
put water in the battery and that spark plugs last longer now than they did
before), and even he joked the "air in tires" is better now (he called it
"green air") than it ever was before.

That would be the N nonsense...which, while there's some reason for it
in aircraft where they fly at high elevations, there's virtually no
benefit of any reality to be gained in passenger vehicles...it was a fad
that's pretty-much run its course as near as I can tell (and for good
reason).

There is great benefit to the guys selling it. I needed to get
some tires mounted here and the local tire shop quoted a lot to
mount them and then another $15 a tire for nitrogen. I got them
mounted at Costco for $15 and Costco even uses nitrogen at no
additional cost. I agree, the N thing is BS, just a way to add
$$ to the bottom line.





Even light bulbs often take an engineering degree to figure out just
what pieces parts are necessary to remove the whole taillight assembly
instead of just being able to remove a lens cover w/ a screwdriver and
replace a bulb.

He talked about light bulbs actually, which I had forgotten about.

He said that long ago the Europeans had bright lights.
But in the USA, they wouldn't let us have bright lights.

He mentioned that it was all about making money (not safety).
He said the government forced them to allow us to have bright lights.

Well, he's mostly wrong there, too...there were DOT mandates but they
were primarily safety-related/motivated. The high-intensity lights of
the time, while a real boon to the vehicle with them were also often
blinding to oncoming traffic and so presented a real danger until the
better aiming and beam control was developed.

I said similar in another post. It also was about DOT insisting on
sealed beams, where the lens and bulb are combined. Even in the
70s European systems had lens and bulbs that were brighter and focused
the light where it should be. Funny thing though, I've seen testing
done in recent years and how good lights are on today's car is all
over the map. Even from the same manufacturer, one car can have great
lights, another one crap ones. And the pictures of it are stunning,
the good ones, for example you can see the side of the road way
ahead where a pedestrian or bicycle could be, the other it's dark.
I think a lot of it is styling at the expense of function.





Then he said LEDs came into the picture where they last longer.
So you just replace the entire light assembly if the bulb ever burns out.

Have you priced one of those recently? May be $200/ea instead of maybe
$9 - 40, depending on just what conventional lighting may have. They
_better_ last but again we're not going to know how good they stand up
until they've been in use in real world situation for a while.

+1

Lab and
bench and some simulated rough-use may or may not actually do well at
predicting actual results.

And if they don't hold up, the dealers will be the winners. That will
be $400 to replace that light, sir. Lights might not be the worst
example. BMW X5 has an electric radiator/AC fan. That's fine, but
those morons also decided that one speed, on/off wasn't good enough.
So, they made it variable speed with the electronics in the fan
motor that sits on top of the radiator, gets exposed to water, salt,
etc. So, of course they don't last. They are $500 plus labor, the
dealer makes good $$$. Even if you DIY, it's another example of big
trouble, you have to pull the whole front shroud to do the repair.
It's not just the motor, it's the whole fan and shutters and framing
that go with it.
Maybe they will cover that it that class on today's repairs that are
so much easier?






He said LEDs might last the entire life of the car nowadays.
I don't know if that's true as my car has no LEDs as far as I know.

The operative word there is "might"...

...