I do those repairs that are most cost effective for me to do, especially things like brakes, which I don’t even trust most garages to do - not because brakes are hard to maintain or even overhaul, but I’ve caught too many garages claiming to replace brake parts that aren’t replaced, of if replaced, are replaced with low quality parts.
I have done just about every car repair, like you, also including body work and paint to engine rebuilds.
I’ve never tried to rebuild an automatic or manual transmission, but I have replaced each and rebuilt several clutch assemblies. Any number of exhaust systems, shocks, front-end part replacements, alignments, etc. I’m good at finding the source of a short.
I can usually diagnose my own problems now when the CEL is lit. This has been a learning curve for me, since my first experiences with cars were with very old cars, and really still are. I prefer old cars. I learned on cars with timing chains, not belts (and by the way, even timing chains do fail before most engines).
There are a lot of maintenance items and repairs that just take too long to do myself anymore, that are just more cost effective to have done, or that are probably not that safe for me to do myself or because I lack the equipment (like struts, or changing a tire on a wheel). I used to work on my cars just because I couldn’t afford to have them repaired. Now I do it just because I like doing it.
I set the ignition timing for all those guys that can “rebuild” their engines but can’t seem to figure out how to set the timing (or figure out the reason it does not run right is not related to the timing).
My first car was a piece of junk, and I didn’t have money to pay what mechanics wanted to take care of it. I had to figure it out, and ended up enjoying it. My first car taught me mechanical reasoning, automotive diagnosis, mechanical finesse, and patience.
I’ve never rebuilt an engine, but I would if I thought it would be worthwhile (I’d ask for opinions here first). I might rebuild a manual transmission if I could get the parts and tools and very good instructions, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t attempt an automatic.
I’ve seen the crankshaft bearing caps and valve springs on my car, and replaced its timing chain. I’ve seen the piston tops of a couple of other cars. I’ve never been between the piston tops and bearing caps. I did once replace a camshaft and lifters, though (old V-8, overhead valves). I’ve replaced clutches and drive axles, and most other commonly-replaced parts.
I don’t like electrical work, but, even more, I dislike paying someone else to do something I can do. So I do electrical work when needed. I hate doing interior or body work. I’ll replace a lens, since it’s required, or do awful-looking touch up painting, to prevent rust. My car has are a few dents, but I’d rather just drive an ugly car than fix them.
I do all the PM…and minor repairs…but for the past 20+ years of car ownership…the vehicles we’ve bought have had nothing but minor repairs. Keeping up on the PM will help prevent catastrophic failures in the future. The most complicated service I’ve had to do on my vehicles in the past 20+ years is timing belts.
I have fixed neighbors and relatives vehicles though. And I can’t tell you how many repairs I’ve done to help my kids friends out when they were teenagers (this included 2 engine rebuilds and at least 3 transmission swaps…numerous brake jobs…tuneups…etc…etc).
Ditto to the comments from the others who seem to be getting older along with me. Some jobs are just harder than they need to be, because they require getting up and down, up and down, crawling around, and at 65 that’s really a PITA. I can still do it, I just don’t enjoy it so much any more.
I did buy a gadget that plugs into the data port under the dash, and into the USB port on a laptop computer, so I can read the car’s computer and diagnose the check engine light. That’s helped on a couple of things that lit the CEL. I know that sometimes Autozone or other stores will read it for me, but I’d rather do it myself in my driveway, then try to solve the problem and recheck it. For about $70, I have a useful tool that has saved me a bunch of running around.
When my funds were really limited, I did as much maintenance as I could on my vehicles. I replaced spark plugs and wires, rebuilt a carburetor, replaced fuel pumps and water pumps, generators or alternators. I changed the oil and filter and greased the chassis.
A couple things convinced me to find a good independent shop. I replaced a muffler on one of my cars–bought the replacement at a NAPA store. When that muffler went bad, I went to an independent exhaust system shop. The total cost of replacing the muffler was less than what I paid for the muffler at NAPA. I was replacing a water pump once and was turning the air blue. A friend and neighbor came around and said, “Why are you doing that? You obviously don’t enjoy it. Do what I do: I look at a job and if it is going to take more than 15 minutes, I hire someone to do it”.
I can look at a bolt and the head automatically rounds off. I don’t even have to touch something and it breaks. I found a great independent shop and they do all my vehicle maintenance and repair. This gives me time to give bad advice to all the posters on this board.
I started driving in 1950. Bought my first car then. I have done 95% of my own repairs. A shop tore up a drive shaft for me in 1970 on a '69 Thunderbird, so I let them fix it. The last 5 years I let someone else do the heavy stuff.
I do most repairs if my basic set of tools can do the job. I have been lucky though and had few problems with my vehicles that I typically run 150k-200k. Any they seem to be more trouble prone make (Subaru) for others.
I used to do all the work I could myself. Since I was young and never let weather get in my way I was often in the driveway in freezing temps changing a timing belt or doing brakes in the rain. Now that I have discovered that working in the rain is not as much fun as it used to be and I get labor and parts discounts I only do what I want to do or can still do.
It’s picking my battles, meaning is it cheaper to do it myself or let service do it. I never needed a multimeter and tools like that so if it’s electric related it’s not worth the hassle of me figuring it out.
I used to do a lot of repairs when I was younger, when I had a lot more time to burn than money, and a lot more energy and enthusiasm too. Some memorable repairs were changing a rear end and axle in a car I had, rebuilding an engine, and changing a heater core that required a large amount of dash disassembly.
I still do maintenance and various repairs on my cars, but work and life demand a lot more of my time than when I was younger, so often I’d rather pay someone deemed trustworthy than waste a precious day off changing a brake caliper, for example.
It’s the only way I can afford to drive this thing.
It all started with an ad for a brake job, that was followed by the actual estimate (which was calculated by taking the advertised price, relocating the decimal point and multiplying by 3) and then me sqeaking the heck outta there and then opening a book.
It was very difficult starting on your own, you may be able to look up everything on the web now, but you still need to weed out the bull. This wasn’t so obvious to me 'till I saw someone else trying google their way out of a problem, tmi not the best thing in the world. There is lot to learn to start, most of which is forgotten too soon, a lot to keep up with, not just whats new but whats been wrong with the old, and there is discipline or how to remove that rusty nut you just rounded off that you can barely reach yet alone see.
And then there are the basics, already forgotten…
270,000 miles and countless mistakes later, we’re still together. It took a while, but I got over the “I do everything myself except…” thing.
I like to work on cars, but they are getting too complicated and many parts are to hard to reach for some jobs. I recently replaced rear springs and shocks on my daughters 97 Skylark, replaced a fender on a 98 Wrangler with my son. Replaced a power steering pump on the Wrangler. Replaced brakes and rotors on several cars, replaced broken wheel studs. I had the shop replace the egr valve on a 2005 Town and Country, I could not reach one bolt without moving the alternator and I did not want to get into that, everything was tucked in too tight. I can’t reach the rear bank of spark plugs on the Skylark, 3.1, had the shop replace those too. I work with a guy who has a part time job at Advance and he gets parts for me at a discount, but some jobs are not worth the aggravation or torn flesh. But the jobs I do are good therapy.