Do any of you maintain your own cars?

[spacemonkey]

I've always wished I knew how cars work - but I'm clueless

Do any of you work on your own cars, and if so, how did you learn? Blokey mechanics are so offputting and dp is almost as clueless as I am so it's no use asking him! Are there any good books out there? Surely it can't be that hard?

My friend went to evening classes and learnt basic car maintenance. It might be worth having a look at your local adult education centre.

I have always been careful to make sure that my partners knew all about cars. Never had the money to take mine to a garage.

Seems to have backfired a bit now though and I am stuck with a real revhead.

oo yeah, good idea, i'll check out the adult ed centre, they might have a course starting in september

didn't think of testing dp on his knowledge of cars when selecting the current mr spacemonkey - must be more careful next time!!!

I used to be able to maintain my 1979 Escort but having looked under the bonnet of my 2001 Laguna there's no chance!! I can change a wheel, fill the washer bottle and could, if pushed, check and top it up with oil. I can also dial the AA number on my mobile... what more does a girl need to know?

well this is true on newish cars, but i want to get a beetle and have decided it would be stupid to do so if i didn't understand at least the basics of how it works. Plus I absolutely hate feeling like an idiot when i have to consult mechanics

You're just hoping to attract a surfer dude Spacemonkey admit it!

of course not lou33, what do you take me for!

I certainly think it's possible to maintain an older car - I pretty much took one look under the bonnet of mine and thought "Ah, washer bottle..." and slammed it shut again.

My dad used to insist I helped him maintain my Escort. Oil changes, cleaning spark plugs, adjusting this that and the other... I learnt enough not to sound like an idiot anyway. However, I still make DH deal with garages even though he knows less than me. Except when we want something really stupid done (eg we couldn't work out how to change the time on the clock! As the car was going in for something else, I asked the garage to sort it out LOL!)

The Haynes manuels are pretty good if you can get the right one for the year/make/model of your car.

Ooh Spacemonkey if I said then your true character would be revealed to all on Mumsnet!

I can't bear being patronised by car blokes - it's worth learning how to do it merely in order to put them in their place

think the problem with most cars these days is they have bugger all to do with mechanics and all to do with computing. all sealed units and sucked teeth and "ohh, we'd need to do hook that up to the computer to find out what's wrong" as anyone who has called an AA man out for anything more complex than a flat battery will have discovered.
nice thought though!

The Haynes manuals look a bit scary, although I can see they're very comprehensive. I think perhaps a course covering the basics would be a good start - to demystify the absolute basics enough that I could begin to understand what Haynes is on about

They are a bit scarey but pretty good if you ignore the "How to strip the engine completely" sections and concentrate on the useful ones about bulbs and easily replaceable things They're also pretty good for "what the does that switch do?" type queries.

Agree with PPH about the computing stuff for new cars though. We have 3 safety recalls on our Laguna at the moment, 2 of which involve reprogramming.

I took car mechanics in high school (me and 60 guys... ), so I have a basic idea of how a car works. Way more than dh, but like soupdragon, I let dh do the talking because it makes him feel good. Beetles (if you are talking about an old one) are extra simple because as pph pointed out they don't have all the fancy wiring. I think evening classes would be a great idea. At least then you would know what your mechanic was talking about. By the way, I have a great mechanic in NW london who comes to you and is totally trustworthy.

LOL princesspeahead - my dad's an AA patrolman!

I LOVE AA patrolmen, I HATE car companies that seal up their engines so that you have to pay them to hook it up to a computer to find out what is wrong, and then pay them VASTLY inflated rates to change a sparkplug or something when the lovely AA man in the old days would have done it in 2 seconds!

bet it pisses off your dad too!

My top tip for car maintenance is to have a very capable brother (more permanent than a dp or dh!)

Our garage quoted us £700 to fix the motor of the electric window on the driver side the other day, gulp.

Btw did you know that if you have a blue disabled badge, the RAC are giving the top range response package for only £80? It's £148 otherwise I think. We went with them because of that, the AA didn't seem to do an equivalent.

£700?? that's MAD

Wish I'd checked out DH's mechanic/DIY/chef credentials (or rather lack of them) before tying the knot! (Just kidding !)

Agree about extortionate garage charges tho' - our answer is to leave London and head to Wales for our car to be serviced as it less than half the price it is in London there (DH has family down that way).

Pph I know that's why we are living without the window working at the moment!

Jodee we are going to Wales this weekend maybe we should get it looked at there?!

I'd definately get about 100 quotes.

Or alternatively flog the car and buy a donkey - ds would love it and the maintenance costs would have to be lower!

princesspeahead - too right it does - I'm with the RAC anyway!!!

Now there's an idea Pph!

Lou33, definitely worth looking into if you are going to be that way anyway - DH is there today, in fact; our Primera is having a service prior to our holiday next month (driving the length of France!) and it is costing us just under £100 compared to £250 locally.