I have a 110K mile E46 BMW, I just did the cooling system on it since it will need to sit out side most of the weekend while I rebuild the Motor on my track 944. 911 is in the other bay. I was on borrowed time with the BMW as it was. Cost $300 in parts. Very straightforward job. I noticed an oil leak at the pan gasket. It's dripping in the driveway now and making me angry.

The lift is occupied with the 944 at the moment, I hope it can wait till the spring. The repair is similar to the 944. Take the whole damn thing apart. :(. But it's like a $1000 job to get to a $30 part. I think I'm going to h ave to do that job myself. I get like a Zen feeling when I was clean all the tools and put them away.

I make my money selling construction equipment.......other people make money fixing cars......my cars!!!!!!
I will do the fun stuff on the 911, tune ups, new cv axles, brakes and bearings that kind of stuff. Our other cars are 2014, and 2012 and under warranty, I don't touch em!
Body work is beyond my capacity for patience.....you guys doing all this rust repair and paint....hats off to you!!!!SmileWavy

I do all my own work on my 911 (because there is no one else here I can trust).

I do some of the work on my Vanagon and let others do nastier stuff on it (because it's "just a Volkswagen").

I do oil changes myself or let a lube place do it but let the dealer do the other work on my Subaru (because it is still in warranty).

Men are required to do the work on their own cars until they reach the age of 60 (or 70 if they own a lift).

Man up, people!

I have paid people recently. I.e. transmission rebuild on my Sequoia. I also have bought my first new car 2 years ago. I just don't have the time anymore between work, kids and hobbies. Looking forward to being less busy and having more time to fiddle with stuff in the garage ...

G

I evaluate each job in terms of my time, desire, ability and time needed to get a given job done. Some things I farm out, some I do myself. I feel fortunate to have a stable if mechanics I trust for each of my cars.

Yes indeed.
I was a fleet mechanic 10 yrs for my company in my youth. My father fixed everything himself. Everything! My grandfather always said "Do what you do well and delegate your weaknesses or disinterest to others."

I pick and choose the work I want to do and gladly write checks to the guys with more specific experience on work I don't want to dig into. This won't satisfy everyone but it's a system that works for me.

Dave, I hear you. I typically do most of my work and I hate having to bring my car in. That said, while I can do most of my own work, there has been a few times when I have had to bring my car in due to lack of time...like when traveling or a very busy work schedule or something I felt was beyond my abilities. I hate doing it every time.

There has been a few times when I tried to fix something, I got to a good place but then oh crap, I need something i don't have and it is late on saturday to get it or bring it somewhere to get mechined or similar. I cannot take off of work and now i have my DD out of commission so I'll have to drive my old car in some bad weather and it takes a few days and they both leak. Also, my garage is small and cold.

That said, I keep a healthy skepticism with mechanics. Here is a story. I brought my Audi A4 in for a regular service, I had 46k miles on it. There was some warranty repair and while there I thought, eh, let the dealer do an oil change. When I called up, they said the bill estimate was $3200! I asked why an oil change would cost that much. The said, it needed new rotors and pads (probably had about 5000 miles left on them). They said it had an oil leak that was a few hundred (oil leak was extremely mild, but I suppose legitimate). And they said I needed a new clutch that it probably wouldn't make 1000 miles. They said you probably noticed difficulty with the clutch. I said, "no the clutch feels fine. I have driven stick all my life and there is nothing wrong with it." I then said, give me my car right now and cease any work on it. My car now has 166,000 miles on it. Same Clutch. Every 20,000 miles I call up Audi USA to complain about this dealer. It is 6 years later... I get angry when I think about the majority of people who know nothing about cars and would have handed over $3200. So, I'm a little skeptical about mechanics.

Heck, all you guys taking care of your own cars have it easy. After working 55-60 hours a week on other peoples cars, I have to keep both my trucks, the p cars, my ladies two bmw's , my parents 3 cars, my mother in laws car. ,my partners jeep, work truck, and his girlfriends car, and nearly every week, some friend comes out of the woodwork looking for help.
Today was to be the first day I have had off in 6 weeks, I stayed home, and was just starting to get into a groove getting some household projects done, when the phone rings. Mother in law's Saturn doa. I then have to spring into action and do a fuel pump on a Sunday afternoon. I already worked 10 hours yesterday trying to get my beater plow truck ready for the season.
The good thing about the auto biz , is that there is always tons of work.
The bad thing about the auto biz is that there is always tons of work.

I just paid a place 80 bucks to put the snow tires on the 928 today because I had use 2 rims from the tires that were on it. I wasn't able to go to one of the places I normally go to.

As I drove off with the snows I was drifting left right out of the gate. When I got home after the customary lug torque check, I checked the tire pressure.

35, 27, 24 31.

Another place I won't go back to.

My take on this is how much is your free time worth? Forget wanting to tackle it to save money. You really have to put a solid $$ per / free hr of your time to do the math. It really s that simple. This took me years to figure out!

I will say the older I get, the more responsibilities I seem to have; the value of my free time increases substantially

"A man has got to know his limitations"
Some things I hire out, others I dont.
For instance, I have a dodge 1 ton truck- it needs wheel bearing and u joint with seal ( 4WD ) on front axle. (Biotch)
Do I want to spend 2 days on it? NO
Yes I could do it, not going to, I would really rather pay the 200 labor.
My time is more important then 200 bucks

I take my wife's truck to the dealership because it is still under warranty, it drives me nuts. Doesn't help that they are largely incompetent, I am semi looking forward to the warranty running out so we don't have to go back.

While time is precious, I enjoy my garage DIY time. I farm out tires, alignments, and paint/body simply because I don't have the right tools. Everything else done by me for as long as I can remember. I don't trust mechanics because there are so many dishonest bad ones, and it always believe I can do as good or better quality work because I give a damn. Not saying that top notch mechanics don't exist, but they are rare and worth their weight in gold. A lift is in my near future, which should further help my stubborn independence.

One thing I have noticed as I age, I have less tolerance for BS with cars. Cheap and poorly made = gone. Stupidly designed for maintenance = gone. Both reasons why I can't wait to sell my Mini, it's a good reminder of why I hate BMWs.

That is pretty much my mantra, better expressed by your grandfather.

I do all the routine maintenance but farm most everything else out. I do all the work on the farm equipment (except tires) so it evens out.

The one thing I never do is carpentry of any kind: Measure twice and cut it once incorrectly is my gift. That and I hate it.

Paul I have that same "gift" for carpentry. I had to cut some boards this weekend so my wife can display some old jars on top of the kitchen cabinets. They have to be raised up some so they can be seen. My brother worked as a trim carpenter and would laugh his butt of at my 6x12 and 6x7 boards I trimmed from some plywood. Fortunately no one can see the boards unless they are 8 feet tall since they are just for the jars to sit on.

When I was younger I did 100% of the work. Now I even hire out some yard work. I need two huge old bushes removed. The wife wants them gone so away they go. They will a royal pain to get rid of because they are bushes with hundreds of small stems not one big trunk. I am gonna hire it done.

^^^This (***cough except at 56 cough***)

And the Miata is the only car I work on... but it is also my DD so I get that "how am I getting to work Monday anxiety".

And mechanics have to make a living too...

And I'm helping the economy... yeah thats it... I'm helping the economy! ;)

On two occasions I did a clutch job on my 914 all by myself with zero help in the garage from anyone. And it was my only car. If something went wrong I was a pedestrian.

The second time I did have a neighbor drive me one mile to a tool store so I could get some cobalt drill bits. I did not want to ride my bike when I was tired to begin with.

I would not undertake that project now at my age.