How'd you learn to take care of your vehicle?

[Rachmaninoff]

I'm looking to drastically boost my ability to take care of a vehicle. I have a hand-me-down minivan in my possession, and my budget is low. But, I'm more or less looking to learn the general basics.

So, how'd you all get your start? And, what advice could you offer me in terms of what resources to use in terms of learning to maintain a vehicle? I view this as a life skill that I'm willing to put a decent amount of effort into to get that fluid skill level. Books, ways of getting mentored, etc. would all be appreciated.

 

[anickode]

I got my start with a Haynes manual and a craftsman tool set. Replace things as they break. Stay away from brakes, suspension, and major electrical for the time being.

 

[OffGridCamper]

The advice I'll give is get with a group or some folks who are regular wrenchers (and know what they're doing)... get on the forums and read, read and read, do a lot of listening and ask questions when you get confused or don't understand why something is being done or in such a way. I grew up in a family full of mechanics so it came natural with me, but I'm 28 now and I've collected tools since I was about 12 and it only keeps going, the best tools in my box are the ones I've modified to work for ME that you can't pick up at the store. Don't go out and think that you have to have the best of the best in tools and equipment because there's more options than you can shake a stick at out there and plenty that are budget friendly. I prefer Craftsman, they're not the cheapest, but they stand behind their tools and they're budget friendly. I've self taught myself how to do a lot by reading, researching and paying attention to what the mechanics were doing when my truck was in the shop. If you have questions about stuff and post on here and I see it I'll help you to the best of my ability.

Edit: As stated before and after my post - yes, a good shop manual is a very good investment and a vehicle specific manual for whatever you're working on.

 

[BPD53]

My dad is a mechanic/truck driver. When I was a kid I would hold the light for my dad while he worked on our vehicles. I literally grew up working on everything from trucks to tractors. Best advice I can give you is pay attention to others and ask a lot of questions.

Also, don't be afraid to take something apart. If it is already broken you can't break it, so don't worry about it. As far as tools go I have found that no single company makes the best. My tools are made up from several different brands. I own Craftsman, Snap On, Mac, Klein, Kobalt, and yes Harbor Freight.

I think a good way to learn vehicle maintenance is to drive a hunk of junk. I learned more about my first Jeep because I always needed to fix something. The older vehicles are easier to work on because they were very basic.

I do recommend you purchase some type of shop manual for your vehicle.

Start with oil changes and tire rotations.

While you are under your vehicle changing the oil look at the undercarriage and stare. Look at how it works!

While you are rotating tires look at how it is all held together and you will learn a lot from just looking.

All you really need is the desire to learn, you will learn quickly if you are truly interested. Good luck. There are WAY better mechanics on this forum than me. This place is chopped full of knowledge. Never be afraid to ask a question.

 

[zelatore]

As noted by OffGridCamper, I too grew up with it; my father taught me most of the basics when I was a kid and I learned much of it just watching and listening when he was doing something to the family car. I started by wrenching on my bicycle, then when I turned 16 I started wrenching on my car because as a family we simply didn't take things to a mechanic. I do recall a few times when Dad had one of his buddies over to help with a job, but like most men in the 70s (at least all the men I knew back then in rural Indiana) he did all his own work.

Hanyes and Chilton manuals are a great way to start. Even better is to go help a buddy or neighbor when they're doing something on one of their vehicles. You don't have to be able to much more than hand tools to the guy when you start, even that will help get you familiar with what's going on under the hood and de-mystify some of the systems. Of course today you have YouTube and forums for most models where you can discuss specific questions. Always be a little wary about the forums - you can usually spot the guys who actually know what they are saying vs the ones who are just blathering on but when your new it might be harder.

Then just get out there and start. You don't need $1000's of dollars in tools, but do buy a few decent quality things to begin with. Craftsman isn't anything like what it was 20 years ago but it's still a decent home-owner brand and generally a safe bet. The cheapest way to get started will be to pick up one of their 'xxx piece mechanic's tool sets' which will have all the common 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets plus wrenches, allen wrenches, screwdrivers, etc in both metric and standard. With Father's Day approaching they usually have some decent sales going so it's a good time to look. Used is fine as well but harder to pick out a full set and sometimes it seems CraigsList sellers want nearly new prices anyway. I do tend to stay away from the hardware store stuff as like Lowes or HD as they don't really serve the mechanic very well and their stuff usually seems poorly designed to me. Beyond that you'll want to add a good floor jack and a pair of jack stands and also a basic DVM with Volts, Ohms, and continuity check. You don't need super precision for basic stuff; even the freebies they give away at Harbor Freight will do to start.

Speaking of Harbor Freight, some of their stuff is decent and some is absolute crap. They get better every year but you still have to go in knowing what you're looking at. Once upon a time everything they had was crap but they've been steadily pushing up-market and these days I'm willing to buy some things from them like jacks, stands, a shop press, and probably their single best item, the 44" cabinet. But I don't generally buy any actual hand tools from them (again, getting better every year so maybe one day) and I never buy any sort of power tools from them. With experience you'll learn where they're strong and where they're to be avoided.

With any modern car there is one more tool you'll need that we didn't have when i was growing up - a good OBDII scanner. I use a model specific one for my Land Rover that's pretty expensive as it can do more than just read and clear codes, but the generic ones can be had fairly inexpensively.

Like any skill, it's practice, practice, practice. The first time you do something it will take 3x longer than it should. The next time 2x. Before long you'll get to know the in's and out's of your vehicle and be able to handle most of the routine maintenance. Then you'll start installing your own accessories. Then you'll want more tools. Then you'll start doing major jobs. Then you'll want more tools. Then you'll be ready to rebuild your first engine. Then you'll want more tools....

Hey, at least tool addiction isn't the worst thing in the world.

 

[Jeffrey_A]

Poverty. Great motivator.

Had access to older guys who were willing to help, but not do. By in large people are very willing to help them that help themselves. Be gracious. Be thankful.

It is not as tough as you might think. Besides, if it is broken, chances are you will not break it more. As stated above, start small, work to bigger things. It all builds on itself. Learn as much as you can - interwebs makes it easy to look up, videos, etc.

 

[ExplorerTom]

YouTube probably has a video (or dozen) of someone replacing whatever you're trying to replace.

Internet forums are good too.

Get a Haynes manual.

Troubleshooting is a little more difficult, but forums can help.

 

[7echo]

Some good advice so far. One thing I would suggest is to get the factory service manual if you can afford one. The Haynes are OK but the FSM is better.

And try to find a good forum specific to your vehicle. If the van is an Odyssey then check out odyclub.com

 

[Stitebunny]

Lots of good advice here. Like others, I grew up holding the light. Usually pointing it in the wrong place!
Hang out with people that do what you are interested in and want to learn.
Take things apart and see how they work. Not necessarily your car though. A broken fan, toaster, bike, anything. Look and see and try to understand how it works. Practice tightening things properly. Not too tight. Not too loose. That's a big one for cars. Buy a torque wrench and know when to use it.
Don't rush through repairs if possible. Don't get distracted while doing repairs. Follow the manual if you aren't sure what you are doing.
Buy decent tools if you think you will keep at it. They will end up paying for themselves many times over throughout your lifetime of working on things. If you can fix a car, you can save a lot of money fixing other things too.

 

[calicamper]

My dad didnt teach me. But youtube and forums have proven indespensible to trouble shoot, ID issues and best approach for a fix. The amount of shared knowedge today is awesome!!! My professional and formal College background is Corporate training with distance learning / technology. Today Youtube is one of the most amazing ondemand learning tool resource ever!!

Its also changing the face of formal learning.

Forums give you the shared skill set and trouble shooting community that is very impressive at finding issues and solutions. Youtube is your how to execute it resource.

 

[rayra]

Hell, OP has it easy, these days. It's ALL on the internet. And there's videos for just about all of it too.

The technical aspects aren't as hard as they seem, it's just accumulated knowledge. The feel of it mostly comes thru practice and time. Start with maintaining your vehicle and doing some basic work. Look up the recommended service items and intervals and start figuring out what you need to work on proactively. Do what you can afford, in order to forestall expensive unplanned breakdowns.

 

[LocoCoyote]

I think a good way to learn vehicle maintenance is to drive a hunk of junk. .

Amen to that! If you can't get the skills you need that way, then you will never get them!

 

[Dake21]

I was raised by my mother so I have no mechanical background. Google was my teacher along with youtube. It took me a year of that before I could feel confident about it thought, mostly because I'm a slow learner. I also have a factory service manual (makes all teh difference.) for my vehicle and I did a brake job and put my lift kit on myself without assistance. It's easy to learn these days with all the available material. There's nothing more satisfying than doing a job yourself, doing it right and saving money in the process. My dealership was also cutting around the corners so now I can tell the job is done right, or to my liking at least.

 

[PGW]

Thankfully my dad used to be a mechanic and so he taught me the basics when I was in my teens. After that I have accumulated a lot of info from reading various forums. For me, I can learn a lot just by looking at pictures of disassembled components. I drive a ~216,000 mile ZJ so I am always tinkering with something or something is getting old/worn out enough for me to want to replace it. One thing I've found is important is to really understand why you are doing what you are doing rather than arbitrarily replacing parts. If you can understand how everything works then chances are you can find a way to fix it. Sometimes I have to really study something for a while and then get an aha! moment and can finally wrap my head around what is going on. Like anything else, you have to put time in to get good at it.

 

[eggman918]

Trial and error In 1977 at 15 i bought a 1950 CJ-3 that "needed some work" by the time I turned 16 I had learned a lot by the time I was 26 I was beginning to understand that I had sooo much more to learn....this whole time i was accumulating the knowledge to become a machinist so wrenching is an associated skill I just turned 54 and am still learning.....but I'm starting to get pretty good at it
I can usually make book time on a job that I've never done before and my troubleshooting skills have improved with time and experience.The big thing is as stated before research is KING also if you need a special tool buy it you will need it again and it's still cheaper than paying labor if you are gonna keep a vehicle long term get a FACTORY service manual even with the internet it's worth it's weight in gold.
Both of my adult daughters can wrench on their own vehicles......being able to change oil monitor all fluids and change a tire was required before you could get a drivers license and after that when your vehicle broke you had to fix it yourself....they did all the work while I gave them advice/hints as well as troubleshooting help,Both of my girls do the vehicle maintenance with their spouse's helping them but both boys are learning fast as they never had the chance to learn as kids.
Having two girls went that during their high school years I had boys around all the time and many of them learned skills in my garage.
You might try running an ad in craigslist looking for a mentor I'm looking for a "kid" to help me on my projects after all these years doing heavy work I'm all stove up and need a strong back to help me around the shop this has worked out well before I get the help I need and someone else gets to learn from my mistakes/experience it's a win/win and it's just more fun to have some company when doing this kind of stuff. One more important thing don't beat yourself up over making mistakes they come with the territory mistakes are part of the learning curve.........just don't repeat them and you will do well in the longrun.