Every man needs to be able to work on their cars at a basic level minimum. Basic includes oil, filters, plugs, wires, brakes, rotors, fluids, etc. Also, get a computer for your vehicle and scan your codes. O2 sensors aren’t hard. Alternators aren’t too bad. Changing belts and such... is easier than you think. Head gaskets are doable. The most important part of working on your cars (just like working on your firearms) is it forces you to have a closer relationship with your vehicle. Starters aren’t too bad. Replacing an ignition switch is doable. (If you get stuck there’s a MILLION YT videos) I know this sounds crazy, but the truth is most people just get in their cars and drive and don’t pay attention to what their vehicle is doing. Sounds it’s making. The way it’s acting, etc. Cooked brake rotors will generally make your steering wheel shake side to side when you brake. Your vehicle may also pull to one side or the other when you brake hard. These are signs of a cooked brake system. Car shops charge an ass ton of labor. I used to work at my parent’s car shop during the summer when I was still in school. Most parts are marked up at least 80-100 percent. Labor is roughly whatever the cost of parts is depending on the job. A full brake pad/rotor replacement on a heavy duty truck for instance with labor can EASILY cost $2000. If you do it yourself, you can save a grand. Maybe more. It’s important to grow your tool collection too. Every little job that comes along might need a special tool. I had to buy a breaker bar today for instance. That’s a super handy tool that now I can use for other jobs. I also identified some sockets I needed to purchase deep well versions of. These little gremlins appear. Working on your own stuff forces you to solve problems, think outside the box, and grow your collection of tools, experiences, and know how. 👌🏻show more

Nothing is hard until you strip out a hole or snap a bolt 😂

NOT FUN

I’m a sucker, I got bored of fixing normal cars so for the past couple years I’ve been saving ones most people would consider scrap metal.

Love Beetles! Worked on a lot growing up!

I’ve got 4 right now but they are all parts cars to make this 67 into my little show car. It started off as a rotten $300 car that’s been hit in the front and rear and off the road since 88. I’ve got a built 1776cc engine for it and I’m adding a turbo/nitrous. But I’ve had about 30 bugs in the past 16 years. This is what the car looked like when I bought it last August

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Third generation automotive tech here to say that there are most certainly some people that should not attempt anything on their vehicle. Ive fixed a lot of disasters over the years from people that have no capacity to understand anything mechanical.

"Every man needs to learn basic dentistry, get a mirror and do your own root canals, its not bad. Also some DIY filling kits from Amazon, learn that too. I do, therefor I judge every other human being to my metric, as I cant see past my own nose and everybody must exactly like me" 🤣 Classic. I love it. "Ur not a man if you dont know how to replace the blade of that Stihl out there, boy!" Bro we live in 2026, I can drop my truck off anywhere in town, or literally place an order for a guy to show up at my house to fix it while I sit at my computer and vibe code an app. Your hilariously ignorant statement can be said about any hobby or skillset and have the same amount of weight to it. None.

I used to do all of that stuff. Forty years ago. Now, I’m a busted up OLD ex-soldier and I’m barely ambulatory. I’m heading into my 7th decade. I got too many health issues myself to try any of that stuff.

I'm not opposed, but let's not sugarcoat what working on a car in the rust belt is really like. You will break and strip bolts, get rust in your eyes, bloody all your knuckles, and often break more than what originally needed fixing to begin with. I'm all for doing maintenance, but let's not pretend that even a simple brake job can't turn into a 3-day affair to fix.

Tesla

I came from a different era

Some new cars, you can't even pop the hood.

Rebuilt a power steering pump recently. The dealer quoted $1600 to fix it, I was able to do it for about $200 in parts and that included replacing the bearing assembly which amazingly the dealer wasn't even including in their quote.

Everybody is a mechanic until this happens.

Mechanic here, valid points. Although working with a lot of kids coming into the industry. Most don't have common sense. Teach your kids young how to work through problems and figure things out on their own. Sometimes the hard way, is how you learn to do things the easy way.

Tesla is way ahead of you. The only thing better than being “able to work on” your car is to have a car that doesn’t have all this crap that needs to be worked on. Even brakes. Teslas never use them for normal driving so they never wear. We can easily replace our own cabin air filters. And fill it washer fluid reservoirs.

@Iraqveteran8888 The Slide Pins are Seized on one of those Calipers. One Pad wearing out much sooner. Or the Bracket has Rust-Jacking. Seizing the Pad making it immobile. Pads MUST be free to release. Fix the actual problem.

I suspect corrosion. Lots of saltwater towing of boats. 💀

Ran into the scan tool block to get in to maintenance mode today actually. (Brakes) Bullshit tech. Anyways, hit it with the 12v straight to the motor.

I was raised by a divorced mom. Never taught any Man stuff. About 10 years ago, divorced and barely getting by, I had to start fixing my stuff. I’m now about 80% done restoring a 79 Firebird inside and out. Takes me 3x longer than the pro’s, but I get stuff done.

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I somewhat agree with you, but these "No true Scotsman" type of posts about men are getting annoying. So, as a man, I have to be a professional plumber, carpenter, HVAC technician, roofer, power washer, mechanic, chef, personal trainer, bodyguard, mentor, and entrepreneur.

Better get started. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1989 Jeep YJ with vacuum leak: set it on fire and push it off a cliff.

AI is great for this actually It can read manuals, forums, your list of tools, and give you a game plan to at least get started when you might not know where to start otherwise Supplement with youtube

My only beef is time to fix. I would love to work on my car myself but also I need to drive in to work basically everyday so I can’t go without my car and if I have a mechanic I can trust to turn my car around in a day or two I’ll take that over spending a couple days fixing.

I'm a mechanic by trade but never worked in a garage, I studied because it's my hobby and I enjoy it, I always felt that if I did it for a living I might lose that enjoyment.

Absolutely, but today's auto manufacturers (and the gummint) would like a word.

Yeah and once you get good, teach others. I've got neighbors bringing me cars for diagnostics and repairs. Barter economy.

My buddy and I pulled the original engine and replaced the suspension and working on putting in a new v8.

Just it right. Please? We fixed iver $10,000 in home owner caused blunders last week alone. Improperly serviced brakes. Improperly installed driveshafts leading to complete axle failures.

Yes

I've worked on cars since I was a kid. The new ones are absolutely unrepairable. You need a $800 diag tool, Mercedes put a fuse behind the dash so you have to remove the entire thing to replace it, on purpose. They don't want you fixing your cars anymore

my wife's brake pads every time I replace them

Oh brother you have WAY too much faith in people lmaooo. Most people get into their cars in the morning, change the oil every now and then at best and don't do anything else. No other fluids are changed, spark plugs ignored, list goes on. And then they wonder why their car is cooked 🤣

You should be able to replace water pumps radiators and rebuild turbos too.

Never once brought a vehicle to a mechanic. I just pulled the engine on our Suburban a couple months ago and did a DOD delete. I just hate the idea of spending 4-5x more on something I could do myself. Same goes for home repairs. I never once hired any kind of contractor either.

The part where it is getting challenging is a lot of even "simple" jobs on newer vehicles require technology to complete them. Batteries that require coding Brake calipers that require computer actuation to do pad changes or bleed. That sort of stuff. There are consumer grade scan tools that allow you to do this kind of work but even the cheapies are a few hundred bucks and many require a subscription.

There are a million YT videos out there, done in a weekend…

Thanks to the crackpot engineers of the auto world, now you have to remove whole engines for belts, remove whole tops of motors for starter/solenoid, and other similar idiocy.