The journey began several years back. I became disenchanted with the independent repair shop that had performed numerous repairs on the cars. One day after shooting the breeze with one of the owners, he proceeded to bad mouth one of the other well known HIGHLY RESPECTED german auto mechanics in town. In my book, if you do good work, there is no need to bad mouth the competition. The german auto mechanic that was being bad mouthed has spoke nothing but high words of praise to me concerning HIS competitor. He's a class act and doesn't stoop to mud slinging. If he ever becomes aware that this particular shop is dissing him, I'm sure he will stop singing THEIR praises.

One day the brake pad sensor light went on so I took it to the not so class act facility for an inspection. Both Meineke and Midas perform no charge brake inspections so I felt a little taken back by their offer to charge me a full hour's labor for a brake inspection. Especially since I had previously dropped major $$$$ with them on car repairs. If I were running a repair shop, I would offer a FREE bi-annual or quarterly inspection to both old and new customers. We all know that there is always something in need of repair and an inspection of the car would most likely generate additional business for them. Give 'em something free and the customer will feel obligated to keep coming back. Both Midas and Meineke have built empires using this philosophy.

So after being kicked around by my mechanic and listening to him bad mouth his well respected competitor, I began my journey into the world of DIY auto repair. Fortunately, I test well with respect to mechanical aptitude and am a quick learner. Now, I actually enjoy digging through the forum, reading repair manuals and getting good and greasy while lying on my back staring at the underside of a Mercedes Benz. My friends and neighbors think I'm nuts because they take their cars to repair shops and wouldn't think of getting a little grease on their hands.

To each their own, but I have both the satisfaction of knowing exactly how the repair was done and have learned a great deal along the way. Plus, I've saved major $$$$$ over taking it to the $80 - $100 per labor hour boys.

I have seen bad work from reputable shops before so it MIGHT be true or it might not. Hard to say. Every shop will have a disgruntled customer or two that you can never please, regardless. That guy might have gone over to some other place and *****ed to them. IDK. Can't verify either way, can we?

It depends on what the business model is. Their job might be to lure you in and upsell. I know that is what Jiffy Lube does. A friend who manages a Ford garage mentioned that it cost the shop $3 an oil change after all is said and done. That being the case, if they did only oil changes, it would run them out of business and in debt. How does Jiffy Lube do it? Different business model. Giving free brake inspections might seem nice but it depends on what your business model is.

Yes and no. It depends on what your time is worth. If I worked 15 hrs a day, 6 days a week, it probably isn't worth it. OTOH, if I had a lot of free time with little to do, sure. Do you want to buy the tools to do it? If you do enough vehicles, sure. 1 vehicle, maybe not. In my case, I do mod my vehicles so I generally have to do a lot of the things myself. If you want to install a trans, I probably won't do it. I did an engine and trans before but we had to rent the lift and have a 2nd set of hands for that particular application (modded vehicle). If I don't have a shop I can borrow for a few hours, maybe not. There are many factors that make it worthwhile or not worthwhile. In your friend's situation, it might not be worthwhile and in your case, it might.

I do a repair because I can (ability and tools). Not sure about the satisfaction but it is to save a few bucks or nobody else will be able to do it without a lot of explanation so I might as well do it myself. Barring those, it depends on how my time and energy levels are at the moment.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Exactly. And you know for certain that the repairs were done correctly as well.

I can count on one hand the number of shops, both here AND in TX, that I would trust without question to work on my vehicle - and then only when it was something outside my own capabilities to perform, for whatever reason.

And for those shops that have earned my respect and trust, I go out of my way to recommend them to others. Even with all the internet business review sites, word of mouth still goes a long way.

One particular tranny shop here in NC I've used for over 15 years. When I've needed something done that was outside his normal line of work, I'd still call him up and ask for his recommendation as to where to take my vehicle - he hasn't steered me wrong yet.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Nobody will ever take care of your car as well as you. Even the dealer will screw it up sometimes.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

Depending on the make, ESPECIALLY the dealer!! Mine will never see the inside of a dealer service bay again, if I've got any effin choice about it.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

There is a reason it is known as 'the stealership'. This discussion
reinforces what I've believed for a long time; no one will take
care of your car better than you because it is not their car.
If they screw up the brakes or steering, so what? It isn't their car, right?

I enjoy working on my car as often as I can. I do find it good to have a good indy on call whenever things get tough.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

How would you explain the fact that my mechanics do. 2 of them are on this board. I hired one of them to do one thing and they added on another thing while they were at it. It's about the relationship you have with the dealer and to be more specific, the guy working on it.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

What do you guys think about this one. My 2002 clk 320 had tranny problems and I paid $1000 to have it fixed. The shop said that they had replaced the conductor plate, filter and replaced the trans fluid. But when I got my car home the tranny dip stick was locked and had never been removed. I ask the mechanic and he said that the trans fluid was injected from the upper back part of the tranny, is that true?

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

Now we are getting down to Husky's 99/1 rule. For every one great mechanic, there are 99 who will screw up the works. The problem for most of us is the process of screening and vetting out the 99 losers in order to find the one winner. You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince and I have grown tired of kissing frogs.

I didn't go thru 198 mechanics to find those 2. You have to know something about what you want done perhaps. You have to watch the guy a few times. If you say "drop it and forget it", that is about right. You don't have to kiss every frog to find a princess or price, as you prefer but you do have to do your due diligence to know which one to kiss. It's like bribery. Don't bribe everybody. Know which to bribe. After all, a day will come where the repair is more than what you can handle so you best be prepared for that day instead of trying to muddle it thru

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Idk. but if they had both hands on your shoulders I think you might have been screwed on your repair :/

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

Maybe not every time, but you WILL know exactly what was done. And you surely won't being paying for stuff that was not done--not necessary, maybe....but you know the work that was done.

For me, one of the great joys is problem solving. Mechanical repair offers many opportunities for problem solving.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Hmmm.... that would explain why my butt hole hurt and my farts smelled like automotive lube...

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

Getting back to the spirit of your thread title, nothing equals the pleasure and satisfaction of doing your own repairs albeit simple tasks like maintenance and easy parts replacement, to the more skill oriented diagnostics and major repair/overhaul of engine, suspension, electrics and body.

Each car of mine in which I've invested my own time repairing gives me an unequalled bond and understanding of it's strengths and weaknesses.
Those cars upon which I've done major work such as engine and chassis resto/rebuild has increased my confidence as a driver of them combined with an intuitive grasp of the limits to which they can be pushed.
I don't know better how to describe it.

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