Can you do basic car maintenance? Or do you find it anxiety inducing lol/too technical/ too challenging?

[mysteriousNicholas]

Especially as the old wives tale goes 'especially if you have no idea what you're doing lol'

Lol I hear too many horror stories lol of battery electrocutions, rookie mistakes, car's falling off or coming down on failed Jack's, etc etc lol even hell a malfunctioning gas station tyre pressure filler

Updates

7 mo

Or do you leave it all to your mechanic, every few months lol? 🚗 🧰

[OneViewpoint]

Can I do it? Yes. Do I mind it it? No, it's fun. But... manufacturers have begun (last 15 years) to purposely make their cars all but impossible for the average shade tree mechanic to work on any more.

Something as simple as an oil and filter change requires a lift as the entire underside of some cars is now covered by a plastic shield that requires 20 plastic fasteners to be removed and destroyed in the process and then reinstalled using new fasteners.

Headlights used to be a 5 min job. Now, HID systems are using 50,000 volts and legitimately dangerous. LED headlamps are cheap and easy to install but they have been designed to be all but impossible to replace without special tools or literally taking the entire front end off the car and reinstalling it to get at the headlamp assembly.

A simple cabin air filter which should be a 30 second job now requires you to literally take the car's dashboard apart to replace a paper filter that costs about $10.

My Mercedes SUV had the battery located inside the passenger cabin under the front passenger seat. I had to disconnect the seat wiring. Unbolt the seat. Take apart some of the HVAC ductwork. Remove the front passenger footwell carpet to get at the main battery and a backup battery. Then reassemble all of it. To make sure it was a pain in the ass to replace your own battery, Mercedes used an arcane 13mm reverse star drive bolt to bolt the 4 corners of the seat frame to the car's chassis. I had to go buy some ridiculous tool I'll never use again to change the fucking battery. Mercedes headlight bulb replacement $250. Mercedes battery replacement $650. Mercedes oil change? $200. Mercedes cabin air filter replacement? $200.

And to clear a "Code" that sets off a dashboard light, you'll need to buy a $1,000 electronic scan tool that can interface with your car's OBDII port and then learn how to sue it. Basic car maintenance has become an incredible scam. Welcome to uncontrolled Capitalism.

[MysticDevice]

I am a certified You Tube mechanic.

I can change oil, tires, (everyone should know that) brake pads and disks, some lights, and slowly figuring out engine components. Its not as tricky as it looks. Just a lot of manual labor.

[purplepoppy]

Change a wheel, top up water and oil, I leave the rest to the pros. I'm not risking an accident at 70mph because I got something wrong.

Do modern cars even need regular maintenance? I think once a year is adequate

[mysteriousNicholas]

@purplepoppy MHO and so long "Poppy" I've finally decided I've had my fill of GAG. Lol. At 31.5, I'm too old for the cool 20s something's of the site and app. Lol. Demographic market lol. Anyways peace out and nope, I leave it all to my mechanic. I'm so clumsy, ha 🤭😋 lol

[mysteriousNicholas]

@purplepoppy what about changing a battery? 🔋 🪫

[purplepoppy]

I could do that but does anyone these days. Its not like the old days when you had to stick a hydrometer in once a week

[mysteriousNicholas]

@purplepoppy hydro water? 🌡️ I could Google that however , I meant more scenarios like "you literally just wanted, as a person, to disconnect your battery and replace it with a fresh one yourself" - or you have the specialist or mechanic do it for you or at the battery shop with or without installation fee at a car shop or whatever. Lol 🪫🔋 do you know how to jump start, ever jump started? Keep in mind lady - all of the above, I no zero and don't ask me. I only ask you, because you own a vehicle. I drive, yet I don't own a vehicle, I use a relatives with their bless when required. Anyways - I don't expect you to the above, I just wondered being nosey 👃🏻 and I'm on the poor working class side , no brand new or even near new cars here. At all. Hence I know of things like "a taught or shown skill of how to remove / install your own car battery" and "or how to jump start someone, without ruining your battery, their car, or your electrocution or there's* lol chuckle 🤭 🌩️⚡

[mysteriousNicholas]

Typo lol "hydro what" I meant to say all witty like @purplepoppy sorry.

[purplepoppy]

A battery hydrometer measures the sg of the electrolytes. If I broke down I'd just call out road assistance or wait until a nice man comes along

[mysteriousNicholas]

@purplepoppy never heard of that. My old man would just use an off the shelf "battery meter" or tester. Lol - and then, if required, or inconclusive, take it (or remove the battery, again, only leave it to folks who know what they are doing or were taught my their wiser or qualified older man") to the local auto workshop aka mechanic - lol 😆

[mysteriousNicholas]

@purplepoppy lol a nice man - a fixed car and a new hot date added to the contact list - lol 😆 you're a funny one Poppy. You take care now - always assume though the worst in all people. Stranger danger y'all 🙏🏻😈

[Amber667]

I can check oil etc but my boyfriend is a mechanic so I don't really have any need to do any maintenance he has shown me the basics like how to jump start a car

[dislikesmath]

I do what I can myself I learned the hard way a few times, good thing my father thought me a lot of important things. No one touches my baby only me. Only transmission maintenance, hard to work on parts that is for a trusted pro.

[Bricealan]

NOW, I have a Tesla, and cannot do anything on it but check the tire pressure. Prior on my ICE car, I could do random misc. maintenance. Brakes, oil/filter change etc

[dudeinohio]

I can do basic maintenance as well as some intermediate level stuff like brakes and such. I've also changed out axle halfshafts and hub assemblies.

[Pterodon]

I can do quite a bit. I was an aircraft mechanic in my career

[Lowiu]

I let my fiancee handle all of that