English Paper Help, HELP HELP!! :)
 

For those who don't know, I am now a college student! Yay me!

I have a paper due TOMORROW, an informative essay. The title of my essay is 'Learn to do a few small fixes on your car and save lots of cash!'

I need outside resources, i.e. YOU! For this essay (7 pages) I can use blogs, forums, even Wiki to get my info. I'm choosing you all.

I need a few things from you. . .

Why do you feel it's IMPORTANT to a. do the work on your own vehicle and b. know about your car even if you choose to not get your hands dirty.

What are the POSITIVES of doing the fixes and learning about the systems of your vehicle and the NEGATIVES of these?

Lastly, what kinds of things does one need to do the fixes, or learn about the systems of their cars? I am thinking of things past the tools, more like mechanical talent, confidence in yourself etc.

I don't need your to answer all the questions, if you only have an opinion about one thing, bring it on. I will need REAL NAMES and CITY. Like
"Ginny in Denver says. . ."

Thanks for the help!

Is Jaime your English teacher? If so, say hi from me.

My advanced education is of the mind, not the hands. A few years ago I crunched some numbers on how much money I had made in life. Despite the fact that my full-time employment is with my mind, I had actually earned more money with my hands than with my mind, and this did not even include the tens of thousands of dollars I have saved in mechanics bills and car payments by working on my own car.

From a theological point of view, God obviously mucked about with matter creating the material world, so if we are created in the image of God, we should be doing likewise. To put it another way, there's no evidence that I am aware of that God can read, but God can certainly act in the world.

a. save tons of money and know exactly what's done and what condition the car is in

b. it's good to know anyway like condition, therefore reliability, and if something goes wrong on the road, you might be able to fix it easily instead of getting towed.

the only negative is that it takes up a lot of time, but I enjoy, so that doesn't really apply to me

you need to be able to just dive into it and not beat around the bush. you just gotta do it. you might need some natural mechanical feel to do the big stuff, but anyone can do the basics with simple instructions.

Josef in Boston, MA

John Lyons in my Eng Comp Prof. Cool guy though I'm sure he's ready for the end for the semester so he can get rid of me and my mouth. I'm a bit chatty, ya know.

"Joe" in Columbus, OH says:

I don't think it's important for one to do the work on one's car. It is important for one to have an understanding of how the machine works for a few reasons. First, one has a better understanding of the machine's capabilities. Second, one has some awareness of potential problems before they become damaging or expensive problems. Third, one has some knowledge to prevent being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous mechanic.

The positives of learning about the systems, aside from the above, are:

Confidence. You lose the fear of the unknown when something breaks. The car is not a mystery, to be examined by a mechanical shaman.

Better understanding leads to better preparedness and better driving. If you understand your tires, suspension, and brake systems, you are more aware of them as a driver, and can practically apply concepts such as the traction circle and threshhold braking to avoid accidents.

Savings. I replaced the water pump in my old Benz. The part from here was ~$70. Repair shop wanted $500 for the job. I did it on a Saturday.
You can save money even if you don't do the work. For example, let's say you slide into a curb, and you start to hear a noise coming from the wheel when driving. If you do not know what that noise is, perhaps you have the CV joint replaced and the noise continues. Then you have the wheel bearing replaced and it goes away. If you knew what noise a bad wheel bearing makes, you save the money spent on the CV joint.

General mechanical knowledge. Once you learn how systems work, you can apply that knowledge to other mechanical things. You learn engineering concepts that help you with other machines. I'd never repaired a dishwasher or clothes dryer - and never would've considered trying - before I learned about my car. And now I've done both.

Negatives are:
You think you can fix anything, which piles more work on you.
You want more tools, which are costly.
Some things are difficult to do without those expensive tools.
You can ruin your jacket by having oil pour all over it because you didn't drain the oil filter before taking it off.

Aside from tools and desire for knowledge, I don't think you need anything. Mechanical talent is a blind for people to excuse their unwillingness to learn. Rather than say they don't want to spend the time, they say they have no talent. Mechanical talent just makes it easier or quicker, but anyone can learn and then do. Confidence in yourself isn't required. In fact, I acquired it after. When you fix one simple thing, you are more confident in taking on others. When you are armed with knowledge, it is easier to fix something.

Thank You Joe.
Got another two pages and my paper is done! LOL!

So you acquired the confidence after you started fixing? Interesting.
Without the confidence to at least try (I told myself that if I screwed it up I could always tow it to an expert) I wouldn't have even touched a tool. Good to know that others can acquire it after.

'mechanical shaman' GREAT ONE!

Much thanks,

I'm probably too late to help with your paper but I totally agree with the vibe that if you don't give it a go you'll never know! You will never get anything done - car mechanics or other things in life - if you don't give it a go. The trick or art is to know when to go and ask for help - though I must say "the fear" is quite a strong motivator to getting it done / learning how to do it better next time.

Nope, not too late. I will be working on it until about 10:00pm MT so if you have anything to chime in, feel free! :)

You're right though, you never know until you put wrench to metal and twist!

I was raised in a curious family. Not curious weird but curious as in how does it work. I was also raised in a family that did not take a dollar for granted. My father and brother always took things apart and tried to fix them. Home improvements were done in house, not contracted out for the most part. My father was in the auto industry ever since i can remember and long before that. He worked in nearly every dealer in Miami as body shop managers and mechanical shop managers. Owns his own shop for quite a while as well.

I never got a lot of hands on training as a kid (to young) but I watched and paid attention. When I moved out on my own, I guess that always stayed with me. If something broke, I took it apart to see what was inside. Sometimes I fixed it, others times I called and above mentioned Shaman an paid them to fix it.

I gain a little more confidence in my ability each time i push the envelope. My wife's E300D had a bad glow plug. Only way to get to it is to pull the Intake manifold. Never done that and when I looked un the hood it looked scary. Did some searches and found a step by step, asked some questions here and figured the worst that can happen is I blow up the car and have to buy a new one so what the hell right? Took me a day but the plug came out smooth (only replaced one as I did not want to push my luck) and put everything back together. Car runs, wife is happy and the earth continued to spin on it's axis. The Mash house hold was once again at one with the MB world. I will be replacing my rear lower control arm bushings on the 21st of Nov at a tech session. Never did that but it looks simple enough (famous last words before all hell breaks loose) so we will see what happens.

I think you need to be curious, you need to know what questions to ask and be able to identify what your limits are. Organization in some manner helps (at least me) so that I know what goes back where and I don't end up with left over parts like when I was building models as a kid. Never a good thing when you are working on brakes and you see a bolt laying on the floor when you think you are all done. OOpps:eek: I need good directions and pictures. When i was doing the glow plug repair, I had my digital camera and took lots of pictures so I know how things went back together in case I something did not work out.

I treat my house repairs and remodeling the same way. Never laid tile before but I saw people do it and I read up on it. Did not sound to hard so I laid 800 sq ft of slate. Came out damn good. I get compliments on it all the time. I ripped out my dbl vanity in the bathroom, ripped the wall down to studs, redid the pluming and installed 2 pedestal sinks, split the light out let in two for two lights, added two GFI's, dry walled it, and texture coated it with knock down. Never did any of that before. Brother in law helped quite a bit with the dry wall but i did the rest of the work.

As mentioned above, most of the work is not hard once you have done it. Just looks/sounds scary to the person who has never done it.

I know for me, I look at my car or the things I have done on the house and I am proud of it. I can look at it and say I did it. I saved a butt load of money but whats more, I have a sense of satisfaction that I did it and a part of me will always be with this house (that slate floor is not ever coming up, at least not with out one hell of a fight) and that means a great deal to me. I almost have an emotional attachment. My wife wants to move at some point and she wants me to sell my car due to the maint costs. As for the house I know we will move eventually but it will be hard because of the work I have done. Don;t want to give it up. Same for the car. My Cossy is a PIA and costly to maint but a big part of me is in that car.

I think I'll go in the garage and look at her for a bit :):o

I do not know that it is necessarily important to do the work your self but as mentioned above, I do get a certain amount of satisfaction knowing I did it my self. I saved a butt load of money doing it my self and I know it was done right. I have a good mechanic who does excellent work but it costs money to have quality work done.

OK indepth answer then
 

If I'm still in time then I'll say that I think it is important for me to do my own work on my car because I do need to save money - the cost of employing someone to do something here in Holland is about three times of the cost in the US, the UK, and France. Also if I have done it myself I know that the job has been done properly and I also have the opportunity to gain additional information about the car and its condition as I go...

I don't actually think it is important for everyone to know how their car works - sorry! Some people are just not interested and if they choose to be dis-interested and get someone else to sort it out for them, well what is wrong with that?

Positives of working on your own car - knowing that you've done a good job, a sense of pride in your achievements, and the satisfaction of keeping an old car in good condition on the road

Negatives of working on your own car - you usually have to fix it in the rain, and it often takes more time than you first thought...

Talents needed other than tools equipment and spare parts(!) :- An ability to follow instructions, an understanding of procedure (Have you seen the old film "My Cousin Vinny"? There is a court room scene where he talks about taking a part a carburetor and dropping a screw in the cylinder because you haven't done it in the right order), patience, sensitive strength (feedback control - don't go snapping those threads!), the willingness to give it a go, and knowing when to stop and ask for help.

I hope this helps - remember you will probably have to write something yourself - just cutting and pasting probably won't get you a good grade!!!!

Its important to understand your vehicle, it makes it harder for a shop tech to make you white knuckle your own ankles.

I do my work myself because it is about money and I have always liked working on cars/trucks/bikes.

Save money, make sure its done right, Understand your car can help you out of a roadside breakdown. I never understood paying someone else to perform a service or make an item that one can make for onesself. It's a great feeling to be mostly self-sufficient.

Army, what's your name?

Can you explain why this is the case and the hourly labor rate. Around here $60-90 per hr is usual.

To bad you wern't doing a paper on Walmart, GM or gun control. They are all 7-10 pages and B-A material. $100 each.:D

Oh I got an A on my WalMart paper!
I've got a solid A in the class. And we do a paper per week.