templar1984

what i want to do, well start to learn to do my own oil changes... cant afford to pay mr.lube anymore. also i want to gain more dexterity and to know my car better. learn how to do a brake job or do more complicated things as time progress.

budget well, i aim for $500 MOST. i have been saving some money so i can get some stuff installed on my car installed. ive been buying parts here and there and i have most of the parts but no knowledge to put them in. i figure why not just use the $500 (that i was going to use for labor to install my parts) and buy tools to f.u.b.a.r. around with my car ha ha ha (7lb hammer is first tool on the list)

besides from that i agree with chris_si98 that experience is key. So any good places to gain that experience besides college? maybe a part time job at mr.lube, watch someone at crappy screw something up and make sure not to make their mistakes etc...

what would you do if you need to gain experience and how would you go about to get it, and if it comes from a textbook/manual what book would you use to begin with?

regards
David

imported_janz3n

oh man..you went to mr.lube? worst place to go. they over charge and do crappy jobs. its better to go to a small time garage .. i know one that does oil changes for like 20 bucks. as long as you like cars, know somestuff about them you can gain experience by yourself. oil change is easy. go to crappy tire and pick up one of those helms manuals. im sure you can do an oil change by just reading a book.. its not that hard.

imported_Team Rukus

first and foremost. if you cant afford to pay mr.lube to get an oil change done you shouldnt be driving a car because it seems to me that a car is an expense you cant afford.
secondly learning how to do an oil change to save 2-5 dollars is not worth the time being spent to do the oil change unless you life is worth 2-5 dollars for about an hour (for a beginner that is).

think about it logically.
oil plus filter will cost you about 20 bucks at the cheapest.
honda does express lube for 25-28 dollars and thats with oem filter and a good oil.

now if you want to learn how to install other things on your car again its the same deal the question comes down to time and money being saved when doing it yourself compared to letting someone else do it. the only time i would do anything myself is if it takes less than an hour to do and i know a shop would charge me waaaay to much or if it will take several hours to do ie. engine swap. every other time i would just have a shop do it.

to answer your question about how to learn thats easy. go to canadian tire and pick up a haynes manual for your car. and read it this will give you basic knowledge on your car and how to do basic maintenance and how to check for wear and tear on mechanical components. then when you wanna do something on your car go and check out that page for referane and then go and try it on your car. simple as that.

Do not listen to the guys that are telling you to go and buy a helms manual and all that other bull**** because you are not doing this for the rest of your life and you wont be needing about 98 percent of the things it will say in the helms manual which by the way costs 100 dollars and up compared to a 18.00 dollar haynes manual.

chris_si98

noticed you're in sauga. What major intersection? I'd gladly drop by one day and show you whatever you'd want to know for a wendys meal or coffee or something.

kwasley

i do my own oil changes for like 13$
Canadian tire special right now is penzoil for 12$ plus a free oil filter.

DumbasSi

templar1984 I thought you had a new Si.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

experience only comes from doing stuff... so get a good floor jack and jack stands... get an oil pan, and a Craftsman or Mastercraft 200+ tool set. if you just work on Hondas, get all metric stuff as much as you can. you will need precision screwdrivers and precision pliers, in addition to normal pliers, and also at least 3 diff't types of vise grips. that will get you started... from there, you can build your tool collection. also a multimeter and at least a chilton/haynes manual at minimum. the right tool goes a long way towards completing a job!!! tap and die set and a torch... and like others said a mini sledge will really make things go smoothly.

VTEC_Thunder

Once you learn to do the work on your won car....you'll never want to take it anywhere else.

Been doing my own oil changes and anyother repairs to my own cars for several years now. If there is something major to fix, I take it to my buddies house (he has a hoist) and he shows me how to do it and I do the work. (he's an A1+ mechanic, used to build his own race cars back in the day has many many years of experience).

Thats the key: "experience"

The more work I do to my car, the more confidence I gain to do more complicated tasks.

Good for you for wanting to get into it. Roll up your sleeves and dive in. But you may want someone their to help you out time to time who knows what they're doing. The best way to learn is by doing it yourself.

You can buy tool chests that are loaded with most of the tools you need, void of some specialty tools you may need. If there is a princess auto near by....thats a good place to get tools etc... for cheap.

good luck man!

imported_janz3n

i ment to say get the haynes manual not the helms.

templar1984

regarding the price of oil change, i can understand that saving 2-5 dollars is a small price to pay for a professional to replenish my engine with new oil but the feeling of doing my first oil change with some help from either a book/tcc/whatever is a feeling that i cant buy (Mastercard moment; Priceless) Also regarding installing parts, i can understand that large jobs like a timing belt job is out of the question but i would like to know where the timing belt is to begin with and that brings me the my next point, the heynes manual. i bought a heynes manual for my car recently and i am currently studying it as i release fecal matter in my washroom ha ha.

Chris, by any chance do you hang around miss rd and qew by a tim hortons? if you do then we have met and we have talked about cars before. if not dont worry about it.

regarding crappy, i dont go there, i have a friend that works at a crappy far from my home and i will not, WILL NOT GO THERE, had really bad experiance there with my dads car and never again. but thanks for the price update.

experiance... well i gotta start somewhere. i guess this year i will try to do my first oil change... i will d.i.y. on tcc and you can all see me screw up ha ha ha.

thanks again

Regards
David

imported_janz3n

i dont think you need to do a diy on an oil change.. you honestly have nothing to worry about when doing an oil change. if you read your haynes manual word for word you cant screw it up.

imported_alwaysoverkill

and check the canadiantire.ca website for sales every week or two. I got all my tools at atleast 50% off with some near 85% off.

Screw driver set
sockets including some deep
torque wrench
beer fridge
and some **** like anti-seize, release all, etc

VTEC_Thunder

Honestly, oil changes are probably one of the easiest maintenance proceedures you'll ever do on your car besides checking your tire pressure.

Just make sure the old oil filter gasket didn't stick to the engine block, make sure the new filter is good and snug, and don't forget to put the oil pan drain plug back in...(yes, saddly this has happened to me.....but I never did it again...LOL). Double check everything.

If you ever need a hand or have a question, do a search or post up in the performance/suspension section. We're happy to help.

VTEC_Thunder

oops....double post...