Teach your kids two wrench

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

More and more....cars being made with the intent being that only dealerships can fix a problem. Now they make even a simple battery replacement complicated. Stinks to high heaven.

Yea, not just Porsche, but BMW and Mercedes have the same thing with registering the battery to the car. Most high end cars do that. Supposedly it is to tell the computer how much to charge the battery. The Macan we have has the auto stop start engine management. I turned that "feature" off after it did it just once.

My wife had a 1999 Mercedes E 320. When I changed the battery in it long ago we had to take it to the dealer to reset the windows, sunroof, and clear a host of errors. They charged a couple of hundred bucks to plug it into the computer and reset everything.

I bought the Autel MX808 to be able to do oil changes. To change the rear brake pads, (we are many years from needed that) I have to plug in the Autel and have it tell the computer to retract the rear brake pads. The vehicle has automatic hill hold. It is handy to stop on a hill and the car will not roll backwards. It uses the same electric motors as the parking brake.

[pwd72s]

Gee...seems to me that a simple voltage regulator has been keeping cars charged properly for decades. Now the battery needs to be registered with a computer to maintain a charge?

Pure BS! Simply a money milking scam...

[kyngfish]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

He comes back, we take the glove box out and notice that the blend door actuator isn't even plugged in. Those things don't just come unplugged, someone was looking for some fast money.

The system was a little overcharged, I corrected that, and sent him on his way.

To say he was happy would be an understatement.

That’s nuts! I wonder how it got unplugged since he was having the problem before the mechanic.

I think mechanics in general are needed and a lot are business owners just trying to make things happen. That said I’ve rarely run into a situation where it was worth my money to get a mechanic to do something. 400-700 bucks for new pads and rotors for low end cars when the job just takes a half hour to an hour at worst. 300-400 bucks for diagnostics before you even get to the work. Fluid flushes…

So much of the stuff in the middle ranges of difficulty seem like they are more expensive than they need to be. If general maintenance wasn’t so overpriced - I might use them more. It feels like some of them make their money by not doing work and overcharging for frequent things. Just my take.

[jhynesrockmtn]

I think my son would tell you the best academic experience he has had (including college) was spending his senior year in high school at the local voc tech in their 1st year mechanics course. He isn't afraid to take most anything apart. He had a very hard to find big oil leak on his 7.3 Excursion several weeks ago and tore into that thing, had the turbo off, etc. Finally found it. Scares the crap out of his wife when a bunch of the car is laying on the shop floor :-)

[McLovin]

I changed the battery in my 07 328i, they said you have to “register” it, to the car, but I didn’t do anything.

8 years later, still going strong.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Gee...seems to me that a simple voltage regulator has been keeping cars charged properly for decades. Now the battery needs to be registered with a computer to maintain a charge?

Pure BS! Simply a money milking scam...

Modern cars have a TON of electrics. Computers everywhere monitoring components older cars don't have. The Auto Stop Start of the engine has to use a lot of power to constantly use the starter. The system needs to know more precisely the charge level and when to disable some components to go into limp mode to get you home.

Modern cars are insane complex rolling computers. No doubt some of it is making more money for a dealership.

Image the power draw for the large display, adaptive cruise control, lane departure, full 360 camera systems with radar, tire pressure monitors, computers monitoring the engine as there is no analog dipstick, an the multiple computers systems to run the GPS navigation, XM radio, air conditioned seats, heated seats and heated steering wheels, seat massage, and the endless features cars designers of the 80s could not dream up.

[hcoles]

Many (most?) of us here started out slow. Fixing bicycles, mini-bikes, go-karts, etc. and building some sort of contraption. There was not much else to do - no internet, iPhone and two channels on the TV. Slowly over time you gather tools and experience. You get your first car and tinker with that as needed and you find out many maintenance procedures are not that complicated and can be completed with standard tools without a using an instruction manual. We didn't know to use an instruction manual. The point is we developed abilities and interest over a long period of time. Kids today not so much - it's like boom here's your BMW.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by hcoles

Many (most?) of us here started out slow. Fixing bicycles, mini-bikes, go-karts, etc. and building some sort of contraption. There was not much else to do - no internet, iPhone and two channels on the TV. Slowly over time you gather tools and experience. You get your first car and tinker with that as needed and you find out many maintenance procedures are not that complicated and can be completed with standard tools without a using an instruction manual. We didn't know to use an instruction manual. The point is we developed abilities and interest over a long period of time. Kids today not so much - it's like boom here's your BMW.

Yep, no doubt, most of us started by fixing a bike or go-cart, and learned it is easy.

Long long ago when I was dating a chick, her car had worn out brake pads, and her mechanic told her they needed to be replaced soon. She was broke, like most chicks I seemed to date. I told her if she bought the pads I would put them on. The pads were cheap, like 25 bucks back then. She asked if I needed a manual or instructions, or if I had ever worked on a car like hers. Nope to all that. I replaced the pads, and changed the really dark brake fluid, and did it in an hour. Her mechanic was going to charge several hundred bucks. I was paid with a nice dinner and other side benefits.

She was just astonished I would take on a brake pad replacement with no manual. I fixed her toilet, and changed an electrical outlet in her kitchen. She thought I was amazing. I have little doubt most of the guys on the site could have done the same tasks. It just seemed easy.

[911 Rod]

Most of us inherited our mechanical abilities from our fathers.
Unfortunately my boys did not from me, although they try.

[LWJ]

My grandma gave a 63 Impala to my brother and I. It was 1983 or so.

Six tail-lights. There was ALWAYS one or two with poor grounds and not working. So I got pulled over a lot.

And, of the 8 cylinders on the 283? Typically one was missing.

It was fix up during the week to drive on the weekend. And repeat.

Learned tons from that car.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Most of us inherited our mechanical abilities from our fathers.
Unfortunately my boys did not from me, although they try.

My dad saw cars as just an large expensive appliance to park outside. I don't think I ever saw him working on his cars. He never helped me do anything on mine. He gave me an interest free loan on my fist car, but I paid 100% of all costs except insurance. As a high school student with a part time job I did all the maintenance on it myself. 1960 VW bugs are little more than a lawn mower in complexity, but it was all I could afford.

I started hanging out at Sears tool department all the time drooling on tools, and only buying what I had to have. Birthday and Christmas wish lists for presents were almost all tools. Dad's tools were all SAE, and he did not have much.

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Most of us inherited our mechanical abilities from our fathers.
Unfortunately my boys did not from me, although they try.

My grandfather was a machinist at the Navy base in Charleston during the war and into the late 60s. My dad wasn’t a car guy, but worked at the Navy Yard during the summers with school out at Clemson. They gave him all the lousy jobs, like welding inside a hull that nobody wanted to do. He was 6‘4“ and a string bean.

They say I got my mechanical abilities from them.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

i dont think you have to teach your kids to wrench, you need to teach them they are perfectly capable of doing anything a professional does, if they do enough research and try.

i learned basically everything i know about wrenching from youtube. and i build and maintain road race cars, ice racing cars, im probably one of only a handful of people worldwide who knows about everything there is to know about studded tires.

all from the internet and personal experience.

same with home repair and remodel. its all on the youtubes. all of it.

but you gotta convince your children they are capable of taking on these things and winning.

You don't have to teach your kids to do stuff, but if you have knowledge and experience, it's probably a good idea to share as much of your knowledge and experience with your kids as possible. There's tons of info online about almost everything. Unfortunately, for all of the good info there's probably 200% - 2000% bad info on the same subject. I've done a lot of wrenching and was taught by my dad who had been a major gearhead. I don't know everything, and I'm sure there are some tricks and tips out there that I don't know. But NOT sharing your knowledge and experience and leaving the learning up to them and facebook is not a good idea.

And then there's the fact that people are individuals, and some folks have an easy time with mechanical stuff and some folks have a hard time with mechanical stuff. The folks that have a hard time could probably use some assistance at least initially.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

there is a very short list of mechanics i trust. VERY.

some of the more re-noun performance shops around here are not on that list too.

Agreed, trying to find a trustworthy mechanic is like panning for gold. A lot of work and you probably won't find anything worthwhile.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

More and more....cars being made with the intent being that only dealerships can fix a problem. Now they make even a simple battery replacement complicated. Stinks to high heaven.

I don't even think there's intention for dealerships to be able to fix the issue. I think the goal is for assembly to be as quick and cheap as possible, and repair folks be damned.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Most of us inherited our mechanical abilities from our fathers.
Unfortunately my boys did not from me, although they try.

Yep. Dad was always handy, mostly car stuff, but was willing to tackle anything around the house. My daughter is handy, could work on cars, but doesn't because she doesn't have to, but it happy to use saws, drills, etc... and work on stuff around the house. Our son is NOT mechanically inclined. He's got other talents, but mechanical stuff is not his thing.

[GH85Carrera]

When I was learning to fix things the internet was something Isaac Asimov wrote science fictions stories about in his Multivac universe. My dad was an Air Force officer, and often worked 12 and 14 hour days or was gone on a TDY mission as a pilot. When he was home, working on cars was not even a consideration.

My older brother and I built a VW based dune buggy when I was just 14 and 15. We bought a 65 bug that had been rolled, for $100 and took the body off, cut two feet of of the middle so the axle to axle distance was 6 feet. We welded a tubing "body" using old pipe we scavenged from a demolished old prison. The pipes were mostly the hand rails and fence posts, and were heavy walled pipe. We used coat hangars as welding rods. We did most of the work at the base hobby shop which had a great facility to work at.

That dune buggy was ugly as sin, but with dual rear tires, it would go through a lot of mud other vehicles could not. I learned to drive with it. Alabama had no inspections and it was 100% street legal. Built by two teenagers with a torch, and coat hangars. It was very stout, and industrial and we could not break it with lot of jumps and abuse.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

That dune buggy was ugly as sin, but with dual rear tires, it would go through a lot of mud other vehicles could not. I learned to drive with it. Alabama had no inspections and it was 100% street legal. Built by two teenagers with a torch, and coat hangars. It was very stout, and industrial and we could not break it with lot of jumps and abuse.

That sounds like a blast for a couple of kids looking to get into just the right amount of trouble! Got any pix?

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Kudos on the fix.

I get perturbed when mechanics tell people something is wrong and it's going to be expensive, especially when they can't afford it.

Last week there was a guy on the next door app looking for some help with his air conditioning on his car. I messaged him and we talk, then the next day he brings the car by my house.

This guy is down on his luck. His wife hadn't paid the mortgage in 4 years and ran off, etc... just in a hard spot . A friend of his recommended a mechanic who told him it needed a complete new system. We're talking a repair that exceeds the value of the vehicle. Another friend who looked at it said the compressor is fine but he didn't know what was wrong, it must have a leak.

I spend a little time, run some traps, compressor is fine, pressure switch, etc.. I find the lines are getting cold but there's no cold air inside. I Google where the blend door actuator is on his car and send him to the store.

He comes back, we take the glove box out and notice that the blend door actuator isn't even plugged in. Those things don't just come unplugged, someone was looking for some fast money.

The system was a little overcharged, I corrected that, and sent him on his way.

To say he was happy would be an understatement.

That is awesome. Some people just don't give a chitterling about doing a good job or just generally being a good person.
When I was trying to locate the oil leaks coming from the engine in our Nissan Quest, one of the common areas for leaks is at the oil cooler which is right behind the oil filter and that area was actually very grimey on our particular engine. I was also changing the oil and oil filter also. When I went to take the old grimey oil filter off I found that it was barely tight, I mean it was so loose that I spun it off without having to really grip it much at all. I thought, well, that was a big cause of a leak right there. From now on I will change my own oil again.

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[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

i dont think you have to teach your kids to wrench, you need to teach them they are perfectly capable of doing anything a professional does, if they do enough research and try.

i learned basically everything i know about wrenching from youtube. and i build and maintain road race cars, ice racing cars, im probably one of only a handful of people worldwide who knows about everything there is to know about studded tires.

all from the internet and personal experience.

same with home repair and remodel. its all on the youtubes. all of it.

but you gotta convince your children they are capable of taking on these things and winning.

Exactly. I do this for anything that I don't know how to do. I research how to do it and then just do it and I have shown my son how to fix numerous things this way.
This is the way!!!

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