I have a degree in fix it myself. Because i either couldnt afford to have somebody else fix it or just didnt want to spend the money. Ive been working on my own vehicles for 30yrs. I have worked on heavy equipment all the way down to small engines. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when i get something fixed.
Winter set in…chainsaw wouldnt start. Pulled the carburetor apart and it had ice in it.
Pulled log skidder literally in half and swapped it with a different half
Back in my drinking days i tortured a 6 cylinder chevy truck with a standard transmission…side stepping the clutch forward reverse forward reverse. It finally lost reverse so i pulled the transmission and only found the corner of a tooth off a gear. put it back together and it worked like new again. That 76 chevy never did die. I gave it to my brother.
I logged for 20 years
I have been sticking to driving big rig and operating heavy equipment
Currently driving to Prudhoe Bay from Fairbanks Ak.
The money is good but its a bit stressful because im a little green but good common sense and 20+yrs of operating heavy equipment helps
This site and you guys that know your stuff have been a big help on some of my fixes
I found JuniorMint’s posts here very interesting. What has always baffled me about this particular thread is that people might question the background of someone posting advice on an internet forum but will drop their actual car off at a service center after speaking only to a service writer and never even speak to the person actually doing the work. The car goes in the back for someone to perform the work while they sit in a waiting room hoping it won’t break the bank. You know even less about this person doing the actual work than you can gleen from discussions with people here and yet, that is somehow more acceptable because there is a building, with a fancy sign and there are people milling about in formal looking work shirts with names on them…What’s more risky, considering free advice given on an automotive forum with dozens of people poised to nail the poster’s hide to the wall if they’re wrong (:-), or plopping down hard earned cash and hoping the guy in the back knows what he’s doing?
As much as I want to believe most mechanics are trustworthy, as a female, I’ve always been suspicious after bad service in the past. I make it a point to ask a lot of questions and ask to be shown area of work and parts, in the hopes they’ll realize I’m not a stereotypical ambivalent female customer. I’ve been blessed to have a great mechanic that was my Dads mechanic for several years before my Dad passed. He was very fond of my Dad, so really takes care of me like family. However, my mechanic is over 70 and I fear he may retire soon… When I need to look for another mechanic, is there any little ‘trick’ I can use to test a mechanic’s trustworthiness? Like some problem I can report with an easy,cheap fix, just to see if they try to steer me to something more expensive? I’ve had bad experiences with big chain auto repair mechanics, and even had a teen-aged worker at a quick lube place put oil in where transmission fluid goes in a car I had several years ago, costing hundreds in repairs that lube place denied…so I’ve usually preferred independent mechanics, as I feel they are more loyal to their customer base… Any thoughts?
“as a female, … stereotypical ambivalent female …”
Irrelevant - unless you would like to elaborate.
Kimcruiser wrote:
“I make it a point to ask a lot of questions”
highly relevant
Kimcruiser wrote:
“ask to be shown area of work and parts”
you do know that shops need to be insured, and that having customers in hazardous areas are - well, hazardous, do you? after you saw the parts, how did that help?
Kimcruiser wrote:
“When I need to look for another mechanic, is there any little ‘trick’ I can use to test a mechanic’s trustworthiness?”
so you are proposing that a user write a “litmus test” question and its answer here, perhaps of the variety that can be found in fairy tales - publicly - then apply that test question - publicly - and get a meaningful result, yes?
I have a few years in the fire department and am really good at cutting a car to bits with Hurst tools. If you want to know how to break stuff I have answers but I am pretty much here because I have zero idea how to put things back together.
@analbumcover, there has been an uptick in the number of phallically and anally preoccupied usernames in the last couple of months. I can’t prove you were the illustrious Poopyhead McGee, but if your posts go in that direction, we will have to ban you. I’ll be happy to clarify your username with underscores if you really meant an album cover.
I only know a bit about cars because everything has gone wrong with mine! So I figured out for the most part how to fix it. Except my battery problem I have now. Can’t seem to figure this one out.
I have no creds, I’ve tinkered with things here and there since I was a child, but am no expert or even really amateur, maybe novice. I’ve dropped transmissions, changed clutches (sloppily) helped in changing out cams, changing head gaskets and stuff like that.
18 years as Ford dealer tech. Double Master status through Ford. ASE master. Left car business, last 4 years repairing farm tractors and equipment at a CaseIH dealer.
I don’t have any credentials to speak of; I just like to keep my cars in good shape and fix what breaks, and to help my friends with basic maintenance. I’m better at replacing stuff than telling what needs replacing. But I’ve learned a lot from this forum already, and hope to keep learning more with y’all’s help.
