Good points. One thing about old Detroit Iron, there’re plenty of aftermarket parts available. Old Toyotas, well, not so much.
One bit of advice from a former do-it-yourselfer which I was by necessity: When you purchase tools, buy quality tools. There is nothing more frustrating than tools that don’t work right.
Make a list of tools you think would be useful and post this list on your refrigerator door around Christmas shopping time.
When our son was finishing his seminary degree, he worked in the hardware department at Sears. I received some really handy tools for Christmas presents that he obtained with his employee discount.
My employee discount at Sears helped out a TON. I got a 170-some piece ratchet set for $45. Back in the day, the sets were on display behind plastic. When they changed the display to pictures, we had a set leftover, and the district manager was coming in for a visit the next day. My manager, Bill, starts the story:
Bill: We need to get rid of this. Make a deal with somebody, and just sell it. Use the stock number of 99999 and ring it up for the first person who will take it.
Me: How much of a deal are we willing to take?
Bill: I dunno. $50.
Me: Can I get my employee discount on top of that?
Bill: Yes. I’ll ring it up for you now. It will be at merchandise pick-up for you when your shift is over.
Gotta love Craftsman tools. My tool chest is largely stocked with the tools I bought while working as pump jockey/grease monkey in high school, 35+ years ago…
If you’re mechanically inclined and like doing this type work you can pick up manuals such as Haynes or Chilton’s that give you step by step instructions along with picture illustrations on most repairs. I’ve never had any mechanical training, but by using such manuals and tools I’ve purchased over the last 35-40 years I do 98% of my own automotive repairs. Ebay is a great place to pick up used repair manuals from shops that have closed down or owners that have sold their car, often they’re available for less than $5. each and are often in very good condition.
I had a 1979 Toyota 4X4 for many years. Did a lot and learned a lot. Its frame broke about 5 years ago, fortunately when it was in a shop for tire rotation and not while being driven. Nobody was hurt but I was very sad to have to let it go. Years before the final frame failure (just behind the cabin) I had to have the transverse frame member just forward of the rear wheels replaced - it had rusted through, causing the gas tank to sag. Another near disaster averted. I replaced the rusted-through bed with a home-made wooden one, retaining the tail lights and the topper. Early on I screwed and caulked on a plate of sheet metal to cover a big hole in the passenger side floorboard.
Two books helped a lot: a Haynes manual, and How to Keep Your Toyota Truck Alive. I participated in an excellent Toyota 4X4 discussion group online for several years, too, but its name escapes me now. Kari Toyota dealership in Superior, WI lent me old repair manuals so I could copy needed pages.
I put at least two exhaust manifolds on, found at junkyards. They tended to crack. One was welded fairly successfully by a mechanic at a Harley-Davidson shop. The carb’s AAP (Auxiliary Accelerator Pump) diaphragm rotted out once or twice and I then disabled the AAP system with no negative consequences.
I could go on and on. It was a great experience, driving and fixing that old truck. Do follow all the safety advice that has been offered here by others. I wish you the best.
I suggest starting with maintenance. Get out the owner’s manual. Do all the maintenance that is due. If you are unsure of how to do something, stop back and ask. Some things are likely a little too much for someone without experience.
It also would not be a bad idea to find a friend who has some experience to help you out.
If you don’t know what to do, don’t try it with out help.
Good Luck
Hey there are enough knowledgeable people here to respond to an item by item basis, maybe that is the way to go. IE I am experiencing oil leaks. Look at replacing the valve cover gaskets, determine where the leak is coming from. Prioritize your problems, and post the most important first. Some things are better left to other people, example 1, rusted out exhaust manifold in a 93 f250, the right guy got a used one and $300, INSTALLED. The hole perceived by another shop was actually a bolt that had rusted off entirely, saved 1700 bucks by picking the right guy, and in looking at it I thought I would have to at least pull the fender liners to do the job. Example 2 1990 toyota pickup, total exhaust system replacement needed $1700, the guy welded the catalytic converter split, a bender guy, did the whole system for less than I could have bought parts for (without the converter), and a lifetime warranty, I had to use the warranty as 8 years later the muffler failed, I did not mind giving him $ 13 for clamps that were not covered. Even tom and Ray get it wrong, the newspaper post column today was about a 66 mustang with a 289 2bbl carb, underperforming choke pulloff the diagnosis, They thought you might have to buy a new carb to get the choke pulloff, It is a bimettalic spring that responds to temperature, and it can be adjusted by loosening a few screws and twisting the housing. Complete answer nobody knows everything but find the right answer for what you need.
In the last fifteen years before retirement, here is the system I used. If I could do the job in less time than it would take to take the car to a shop, I did it myself. This included oil changes, replacing an alternator, changing spark plugs, etc. It didn’t pay me to tackle jobs that would take me half a day or more. There is satisfaction in doing a repair yourself and having it come out right.
Auto repair is sort of like being a car doctor. So how does a medical doctor learn how to do an appendix operation? Medical schools use the watch-it, assist-it, do-it learning system. The very first time a new physician-to-be sees an appendix operation, he stands there and watches an experienced surgeon do it. The next time, he’s assisting the surgeon. The third time, he’s doing the operation all by himself. All it takes is three times and you can do it by yourself – well, with a well-trained and experienced supporting staff in the case of a medical procedure.
I think the best way to learn how to do your own auto-repair is the same way. Find someone experienced to watch and ask questions as they fix something wrong with a car, then assist them the nex time, then on the third time do it yourself. Find a once-a-week adult night-school auto-shop class from a local high school or community college. You want one that has a shop with lifts and tools and where you can drive your own car in and work on it, and ask for assistance from the instructors when necessary. They’ll usually give a little lesson at the start, focus on safety-first, then you head into the shop to do your thing on your own car. It is invaluable to have the instructors there to help you when you get stuck.
I guess I lucked out with my 1979 CARBURETED Toyota Celica. Its AISIN carburetor needed nothing in all of these years except for me to replace the AAP diaphragm (took me ten minutes to R/R three screws and a spring). And my car loks like it came of a showroom, so when I do have to take it to a shop, the techs don’t run away. Don’t let people talk you into getting rid of your '83 wimply due to age. BTW I used to fly 25 year old DC8s and 727s for a freight company (Flying Tigers) Guess I took my life in my hands, huh?
It may be more fruitful to get books on psychology so you can convince your wife that this 29 year old truck needs to be recycled into brand new cars, trucks, bicycles or frying pans - you choose the most appropriate use (the psych books will help here) As several posters have mentioned, rust, parts availability and fleeing mechanics will thwart your efforts to keep this “classic” running.
I can understand the mechanic’s aversion to working on a vehicle that has rust issues. On the other hand my experience has been if it is clean, rust free and shows that the owner has taken an interest in regular maintenance they love to get their hands on it. I have my truck oil sprayed once every couple of three years and every mechanic who has been under it has commented on how pristine it looks and how easy the fasteners respond to wrenching. I’ve also found that if you want to keep your mechanic happy do not ask him to get under your car for at least several weeks after you’ve had it sprayed! On the subject of tools I’ve often looked at the cost of a job if the shop does it or the cost if I do it. If I can acquire the necessary tool(s) for less than the shop labor and am confident I can do the work I’ll go ahead and buy the tools and do it myself. I applied this ‘method’ recently with the acquisition of a nice set of ratcheting wrenches and consider it money well spent.
I’m not trying to talk the OP into dumping the truck. The OP states they have a full time job, no mechanical skills and I assume little in the way of tools, and for some reason is being saddled with an aged truck that even a shop won’t touch; and with an emotional attachment to the truck being involved on top of it all.
The difference between the aircraft and the truck is that the aircraft are maintained and not likely to leave the ground while puking oil from every seam on them.
If the wife is patient (good luck with that) and the OP doesn’t mind spending the money and time on a project then have at it and best of luck to them.
The only advice I would give to someone wanting to learn to do their own maintenance is - don’t be terrified of breaking something! If it is a part on an older vehicle, chances are, it needed replacing soon anyway. The total cost of the repair, including replacing what you broke, will rarely exceed what you would have paid to have someone else do the job, and if it does, consider it the cost of education.
I have been a car mechanic, a motorcycle mechanic, and an iron worker. Now I am a mechanical engineer with a lot of practical knowledge gained from skinned knuckles and welder burns. I work only on family cars, and I occasionally break things, but our cars last a long time and we spend less on maintenance than most of the people I know.
It has some rust here and there on the body and frame but about 170K miles on the odometer (it sat in a barn for years until 1998). I think I will invest in some books and tools and start on small jobs while nursing it along. I don’t plan on restoring it to pristine but keeping it as our non-daily-use backup car and an eventual farm truck.
I had a buddy in the 80’s. His first wife had a Mustang, she called it Horsie. Twice it got smashed, she took out a loan and had it rebuilt at great expense, because it was her first car.
After some years, it really got banged up. She rented an inside storage shed, and some years later was still paying storage to keep the tangle, knotted wreck. There are people whose love for a bucket of bolts cannot be called totally logical.
If I didn’t have a father who’s been in the business of doing bodywork and mechanical work for the last 50 years before he retired and can oversee what I do, I would go to night class to learn. While I have an engineering degree, can understand manuals and figure things out via common sense, there is just too much that can go wrong accidentally and injure you if you don’t know exactly what your doing or what things to watch for that aren’t in the manuals.
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@always_fixing-I think after 4 years the OP has made a decision.
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Good point. Somehow I thought this thread was active and that the last posting was August 12, not August 2012.
Still learning the format around here. lol