I have a rather large one

[Diver]

Well done!

I thought that I had the last of repairing my own car 25 years ago but the garage prices have got out of all proportion; £40ph for a back street if you are lucky and £100ph for a main dealer not to mention they get it wrong with their diags. Often time for doing a job is doubled On one previous car: garage said that it had a blown turbo, it was in fact lose nuts, there are too many other example to list.

I have found it cheaper to buy the tools and DIY, this includes cam belts, injectors wheel bearings etc. The satisfaction of spending a hour and saving £200 in labour is well worth it


BTW. I found that Haynes can be wrong, go to the forums first.

Diagnostics kits are cheap as chips on ebay too

[wim121]

Simple me me me thread so tune out now if you like.

Bit of a story. The next door neighbour's wife is a bit disenchanted with men in general. They are useless layabouts in her opinion. I sit and listen to them ('er and SY02) belittle her husband and feel a bit sorry for him. Or at least I did.

"What's the hammer for mate?"

"Taking the bearing off, it will be on pretty tight"

And you guessed it, 'er next door is back to all men are useless again.

SY02's car is running like a thoroughbred, and I didn't let the grass grow on this one either. So I am feeling pretty goddamn smug with myself at the minute.

Well done. If you get a kick out of making other men feel inadequate

No problem in feeling pleased at saving a hefty repair bill, well done. As KP said though, why the kicks at making someone else feel inadequate?

There could be something you are completely clueless about, unblocking a drain for example. Would it then be fair for sexist hags to then slag you off, calling you useless this and that, just because you, god forbid, don't know absolutely everything?

If you were treated this way by a horrible modern feminist, then wouldnt you at least take credit for running cleaner through a car, even if it was someone elses suggestion, just so you can have one day of peace?

If he is a bit dim, but willing when it comes to cars, next time you decide to tinker and repair, invite him round, have a beer while you both fix it. He can help with jobs that need two hands like gearboxes or engine hoisting which will help you and he can learn a little, so he has something to do, just to get him out of the house away from his witch.

Have spent over £500 getting shower fixed, and still can't use it for want of a bit of sealant.

If there is a Mr.KP can't he do it or cant you? Very simple job. If you have a tray, find a heavy weight (over 5 stone) and place in, if you have a bath, fill it up with water (both need leaving in for over 24hrs until the sealant is dry) then mask with tape 1cm up on the tiles and out on the tray, put a generous bead of sealant in, then get an old spoon and put a thin film of vaseline/olive oil on the back and run along the edge and you will be left with a perfectly smooth even bead. Leave 24hrs to dry thoroughly before removing the water/weight and job done.

Good for you Suity. Mr C has always done this kind of thing (love the term hero Haynes mechanic! ) and it dismays him to hear people throw money away on even simple things like getting the garage to change the oil and filters.

Guilty as charged. But, in my defense, it seems to be cheaper to do that than buying the oil & filter from Halfords and doing it myself.

I fail to see why Mr.C is dismayed? As Bless said:

Oil changes I always get done at the garage. They charge me £20 for flush, semi-syn and filter. It would cost me north of £25 to do that myself. Brake discs/pads are easier to get done at the garage as it only costs a few quid more than me buying the parts and copper-ease and then they can double check for any imbalance. I dont have a timing gun for example, so this is another simple job a garage can do very cheaply.

However I do things like replacing thermos and sensors, cleaning and draining systems, sorting broken switches, etc.

[wim121]

Diagnostics kits are cheap as chips on ebay too

Sometimes using google is even cheaper than that. On one of my cars before, instead of hooking a diag unit up to the port, you could bridge pins with an led to get an error code. Total cost 61p for a new led and then counting and looking up the flash code.

[OwlHoot]

If there is a Mr.KP can't he do it or cant you? Very simple job. If you have a tray, find a heavy weight (over 5 stone) and place in, if you have a bath, fill it up with water (both need leaving in for over 24hrs until the sealant is dry) then mask with tape 1cm up on the tiles and out on the tray, put a generous bead of sealant in, then get an old spoon and put a thin film of vaseline/olive oil on the back and run along the edge and you will be left with a perfectly smooth even bead. Leave 24hrs to dry thoroughly before removing the water/weight and job done.

I followed most of that, but what on Earth is the benefit of the vaseline / olive oil?

Also, if people shelled out for metal baths and shower trays, instead of vile bendy cheapskate plastic, they wouldn't have any problems.

[Diver]

I followed most of that, but what on Earth is the benefit of the vaseline / olive oil?
.

I don't want to cause any friction but If you don't know the benefits of vaseline you're not the man MF said you were

[wim121]

Also, if people shelled out for metal baths and shower trays, instead of vile bendy cheapskate plastic, they wouldn't have any problems.

Indeed. But plastic is a lot cheaper and much more variation. Some bathrooms are so small, they wont fit older/metal furniture either.

I followed most of that, but what on Earth is the benefit of the vaseline / olive oil?

Well hopefully most will know that the water/weight is to keep the seal in place, otherwise it will become dislodged/split/peel away as soon as one steps in.

The oil/vaseline is to stop the spoon sticking to the sealant. As you smooth along, some sealants will stick a little or leave a rough sealant texture as you smooth along to get it uniform and remove the excess. Some people dip their spoons in water to help it stop sticking but this can make the seal less effective. The oil/vaseline will keep the joint area and sealant dry but leave it baby smooth and a perfect even bed.

I always spring the extra few quid and by mould resistant sealant as well.

[suityou01]

Private message for Wim

Wim,

I understand your confusion, it was not really possible to provide all of the background in the OP. 'Er next door is a "all men are rubbish, ego-centric (may have a point there to be fair), layabout wastes of space kinda gal. 'Im next door is a fraking know-it all. They both wind me right up. As I say I used to feel a bit sorry for him until he started waxing lyrical as the worlds expert motor mechanic. If he'd have said "I really want to change this wheel bearing, and I kind of know what I'm doing and what I'm going to do is this ...." it would have been bearable. To have him lean up against a wall, cock sure, spouting nonsense as if it was fact was amusing at first, then scary and then just downright irritating.

Hope this helps old chum.

Suity

[MarillionFan]

Wim,

I understand your confusion, it was not really possible to provide all of the background in the OP. 'Er next door is a "all men are rubbish, ego-centric (may have a point there to be fair), layabout wastes of space kinda gal. 'Im next door is a fraking know-it all. They both wind me right up. As I say I used to feel a bit sorry for him until he started waxing lyrical as the worlds expert motor mechanic. If he'd have said "I really want to change this wheel bearing, and I kind of know what I'm doing and what I'm going to do is this ...." it would have been bearable. To have him lean up against a wall, cock sure, spouting nonsense as if it was fact was amusing at first, then scary and then just downright irritating.

Hope this helps old chum.

Suity

Pot. Kettle.

[suityou01]

Pot. Kettle.

Get a job you bum.

[MarillionFan]

Get a job you bum.

I'm not benched.