DIY a dying breed

[BobRip]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( As fas as working on Cars I agree due to the computerization of them there are less home mech. )</font>

I would like to disagree on the computerized cars being difficult to diagnosis. You can buy the computer to read these codes from your car for less than $150 dollars. That is less than one trip to the shop. Quite often it is a sensor that can be fairly easy to replace. On the other side of that, I always buy the sevice manual to help find these sensors. They can be another $100 to $200. With the computer it can tell you which spark plug or spark plug wire is bad. A lot easier than the old way to find a miss. This narrows it down quite a bit.

Bob Rip

 

[BobRip]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( As fas as working on Cars I agree due to the computerization of them there are less home mech. )</font>

I would like to disagree on the computerized cars being difficult to diagnosis. You can buy the computer to read these codes from your car for less than $150 dollars. That is less than one trip to the shop. Quite often it is a sensor that can be fairly easy to replace. On the other side of that, I always buy the sevice manual to help find these sensors. They can be another $100 to $200. With the computer it can tell you which spark plug or spark plug wire is bad. A lot easier than the old way to find a miss. This narrows it down quite a bit.

Bob Rip

 

[PineRidge]

Bob I may be mistaken here but I have heard that certain makes like Toyota won't divuldge what the codes mean. Dunno if there is any truth to that.

 

[PineRidge]

Bob I may be mistaken here but I have heard that certain makes like Toyota won't divuldge what the codes mean. Dunno if there is any truth to that.

 

[robison]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Bob I may be mistaken here but I have heard that certain makes like Toyota won't divuldge what the codes mean. Dunno if there is any truth to that. )</font>

MIke, all theh car manufacturers are required to explain what ALL codes for their vehicles mean and how to diagnose them.

Any car manufacturer selling cars in the USA has to have a web site that provides all the service material available to dealership technicians in a reasonably priced, accessible format.

Here is the link to the index of manufacturer sites:
http://www.oemaudit.com/Links.cfm

In addition to the web sites the manufacturers are also required to sell anyone who asks the dealer diagnostic tools and software, so if you are really serious about DIY you can do anything a dealer tech can.

I myself have supported this initiative by auditing web sites for the EPA group overseeing this. You can read more at the main oemaudit link I gave you.

 

[robison]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Bob I may be mistaken here but I have heard that certain makes like Toyota won't divuldge what the codes mean. Dunno if there is any truth to that. )</font>

MIke, all theh car manufacturers are required to explain what ALL codes for their vehicles mean and how to diagnose them.

Any car manufacturer selling cars in the USA has to have a web site that provides all the service material available to dealership technicians in a reasonably priced, accessible format.

Here is the link to the index of manufacturer sites:
http://www.oemaudit.com/Links.cfm

In addition to the web sites the manufacturers are also required to sell anyone who asks the dealer diagnostic tools and software, so if you are really serious about DIY you can do anything a dealer tech can.

I myself have supported this initiative by auditing web sites for the EPA group overseeing this. You can read more at the main oemaudit link I gave you.

 

[Iowachild]

<font color="blue"> ....the powers that be decided to eliminate those courses because, and I must paraphrase since it's been so long, "every child had a right to go to college and all of them must be prepared for the entrance exams." Trade-type skills, it was decided by those well-meaning educators, should not be taught lest our children be shortchanged. </font>

Trouble is our youth have been short changed. We now have a bona fide shortage of skilled trades persons. Milwaukee tools started an ad campaign designed to convince young people that being a skilled trades person actually requires more talent than many "white collar" jobs. One of my favorites shows a carpenter holding a saw and says, "No one ever got a blister building a web site". College isn't for everyone. Besides, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education". Mark Twain /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Iowachild]

<font color="blue"> ....the powers that be decided to eliminate those courses because, and I must paraphrase since it's been so long, "every child had a right to go to college and all of them must be prepared for the entrance exams." Trade-type skills, it was decided by those well-meaning educators, should not be taught lest our children be shortchanged. </font>

Trouble is our youth have been short changed. We now have a bona fide shortage of skilled trades persons. Milwaukee tools started an ad campaign designed to convince young people that being a skilled trades person actually requires more talent than many "white collar" jobs. One of my favorites shows a carpenter holding a saw and says, "No one ever got a blister building a web site". College isn't for everyone. Besides, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education". Mark Twain /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Highbeam]

I still work on my own cars as much as possible. The computer has changed how you diagnose things but not the basic priniples. My 1998 truck has a 350 gas GM engine, the same one that came out in the 50s. A computer tells it what to do now so all of the doodads that needed tuning and maintenance are essentialy gone. No points, carburetor, or timing to adjust. Heck I still have a distributor but if I loosen the retainer and turn it, the computer readjusts the timing by itself. The typical work of changing brakes, oil, ignition parts, and other things on schedule is all that's left. The good news is that after 145000 miles this old school GM350 burns no oil.

It takes a village to raise a kid and if the village doesn't include any hands on DIY type people then our youth will suffer.

Next time, change your own oil. Teach a kid how. I've had to teach all of my brother inlaws these types of things. I've had great fun getting each one of them to get over the fear of electricity by touching both terminals of the car battery, they thought they would be killed!!

 

[Highbeam]

I still work on my own cars as much as possible. The computer has changed how you diagnose things but not the basic priniples. My 1998 truck has a 350 gas GM engine, the same one that came out in the 50s. A computer tells it what to do now so all of the doodads that needed tuning and maintenance are essentialy gone. No points, carburetor, or timing to adjust. Heck I still have a distributor but if I loosen the retainer and turn it, the computer readjusts the timing by itself. The typical work of changing brakes, oil, ignition parts, and other things on schedule is all that's left. The good news is that after 145000 miles this old school GM350 burns no oil.

It takes a village to raise a kid and if the village doesn't include any hands on DIY type people then our youth will suffer.

Next time, change your own oil. Teach a kid how. I've had to teach all of my brother inlaws these types of things. I've had great fun getting each one of them to get over the fear of electricity by touching both terminals of the car battery, they thought they would be killed!!