Image via Complex Original
Before we begin, let's get something straight: When you're working on your car, it's important that you have the proper tools, the proper instruction, and the proper safety gear. Rule No. 1: Don't work on a car when right after you turned it off or when it's running. Pipes are hot, caps and fluids are under a lot of pressure, and liquids aren't at accurate levels for measurement. You'll just end up hurting yourself. Wait for everything to calm down.
I grew up in a fortunate, and, from what I've learned, pretty rare environment. As a teenager and in his '20s, my dad used to fix cars with his best friend for fun. Instead of fiction, he read manuals. Even today, he doesn't even listen to music in his car, because he likes listening to the sound of the engine. How's that for gearhead status? What this meant for me was that I always grew up wondering why people would ever take their cars to somebody else to get them fixed. On some level (until I grew up), I believed that all garages and dads were like mine, meaning we had a garage with two of every tool imaginable and a dad that knew exactly how to use each one.
As I grew, got my own cars, and was forced to deal with car issues of my own, I became his assistant in the garage. I learned what the camshaft was, what the catalytic converter does, and most importantly, that it's always better (and cheaper) to find the source of a problem, buy the parts yourself, and learn how to fix it. Why? Aside from quality control and learning an incredibly useful skill set, you know you won't be bleeding money to an untrustworthy mechanic.
That's why, when I got to high school and saw what my roommates did in college, I was astounded at how afraid they were to go anywhere near their cars and how willing they were to hand it right off to a stranger. Some of them (grown-ass men, mind you) didn't even know how to change a tire. I was basically considered the hero of the house, because I was able to help fix plenty of their car problems, saving them some cash that they could later use for $0.75 triple wells on Thursday night. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not even close to my father's level. He's an electrical engineer and can see and read things about a car that I still could never wrap my head around. However, I've got a pretty decent knowledge of what people should be able to fix themselves.
If you're serious about investing time and effort into this, we suggest purchasing these items:
- Helms' Service Manuals - These essentially tell you how to completely tear your car down and put it back together in excellent visual and textual detail. Extremely useful in trying to figure out how to get to a part or how to take something apart.
- Basic garage tool kit: A car jack, support stands, complete sets of open-end and socket wrenches, complete sets of phillips and flathead screwdrivers, drain pan, and a complete set of pliers.
- A Multimeter - This is an important tool for testing electrical current throughout the car.
- An OBD Code Reader- These might seem expensive, but you plug this into your car, and it will tell you exactly what the problem is, when your "Check Engine" light comes on. There are even types that you plug in and wirelessly connect to your smartphone.
Starting with the easiest and ending with the hardest, I'm going to go through a few "problems" that you should be able to fix in the comfort of your own garage or driveway. Obviously, as has been pointed out to me, not ALL of these issues will be so easy on ALL cars. Many cars have parts like spark plugs that are tucked away and require some serious work and serious tools to even get to them. I understand that. But on most basic cars, these problems should be accessible. Save some cash and learn your car with these 10 Common Car Problems Every Man Should Probably Be Able to Fix Himself.
By Tony Markovich (@T_Marko)
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Flat Tire
Symptoms: Your car is tilting, and there is a loud thumping noise
If you're not strong enough, that's one thing, but this is something any capable human being with common sense should be able to figure out. In your trunk, you have a spare tire. Within that spare tire is usually a small car jack with a built-in lever and lug nut ratchet. Put the jack on a stable part of the frame (no plastic pieces!), pump up the car, remove the lug nuts and put the donut on. Just make sure you adequately tighten the nuts and slowly bring down the jack.
Head or Tail Lights Out
Symptoms: The blinkers blink faster, or you know, you won't see it lighting up.
If you don't want to figure it out yourself, all you have to do is ask which type of bulb you need, based on which make or model you have. If you have a basic vehicle, you DO NOT need he ultra premium lights. Once you have the bulbs, you can usually pop lights out of the back of the housing, and (with the car turned off), unplug the old bulb. Slide the new one in, and you're good to go. Sometimes, annoying plastic covering will make this more difficult, but don't let it frustrate you.
A Dead Battery
Symptoms: Your car won't start
If you don't have a tester or charger at your house, places like Autozone will check it for free to make sure the battery is actually the problem and not the starter or alternator. If there's any corrosion, clean that off with a metal brush. Unbolt the negative terminal first, then the positive. There might also be a ground wire that you'll need to take off. Then, put the new one in. It's that simple.
Faulty Spark Plugs
Symptoms: Hard starts or rough idles
Spark plugs, well, spark the combustion in your engine. If the spark plugs are all gunked up or misfiring, the engine won't be running and starting properly. This is where the deep sockets come into play (even more so, if they're magnetic). Pop off the covers, unscrew those puppies, and put some new, clean ones in there. Unless the engine is extremely far back in the bay to the point where you can't access the plugs without a lot more work, this is something you can do relatively easily.
Side-View Mirror
Symptoms: Your blind spot just got a lot bigger
This one is a little hard to explain without showing you a diagram, so we dug up the image above to show you how minimal the work is for replacing a side-view mirror. We see hanging mirrors, broken mirrors, makeup replacement mirrors, or no mirror at all often. In reality, we should never see it, considering how easy they are to replace on our own.
An Oil Change
Symptoms: You should be doing this every 3,000-5,000 miles, based on the age of your car and the type of oil you use
There are four things you need to know before changing your oil: what type of oil and oil fiter you need (owner's manual or books at the auto shop), where the oil pan bolt is, where the oil filter is, and how much oil your engine holds. When you've got that down, there are three basic steps: Loosen the bolt and drain the old oil, replace the oil filter, and refill the engine with new oil after tightening the bolt back up. Make sure you put a little bit of oil in the filter and lubricate the rubber ring with oil.
Squeaky Belts
Symptoms: An intensly annoying squeak every two seconds, cracks in the belts
A bad belt will usually be pretty easy to spot. You'll see the wear starting to fray and crack. Before you start ripping off your current belt, make sure you have a belt diagram or draw a belt diagram. You're going to want to know the path the belt takes. Once you've got this down, use a ratchet to loosen the tension arm, freeing the belt. With the pulleys exposed, make sure there is no excess rubber, grime or oil that would hasten belt disintegration. Use your diagram to reroute the new belt, lock up the tension arm, and you're ready to go.
Dead Alternator
Symptoms: Your car won't turn over, and the gadgets inside don't even light up
People see something electrical and thing it's automatically complicated. That couldn't be further from the truth. This is going to sound extremely simple, and that's because it is. Remove the electrical connections (there should be power wires and a harness connector), unbolt the brackets, and use the built-in tensioner to free the serpentine belt. That's it. Put the new one back in the way it came out, reconnect the wires, and boom, fire her up.
A Leaky Radiator
Symptoms: You can't see your antifreeze, when you take off the cap (see: puddle under your car)
When your radiator is leaking, it's a better idea just to replace the entire thing, rather than trying to patch it up with welding or sealant. It's only delaying the inevitable. Start by jacking up the car and removing the drain bolt at the bottom of the radiator to remove all coolant. While that's going on, you can start removing the overflow tank, unplugging the cooling fans, removing the top radiator hose, and taking off the top brackets that help hold the radiator in place. If there's room, you can remove the fans right there, or you can wait to remove them after you pull it all out in one big package. If you have an automatic car, you'll also have to remove the transmission cooling line. From there, slide the new radiator in and swap all the tubes and rubber pieces. Finally, fill the car with either premixed fluid or a 50-50 mixture of antifreeze and water.
Bad Brake Pads or Rotors
Symptoms: Unbearable squeaking and squealing
Once you've got the car jacked up and the tire removed, you're ready to take off the caliper and remove the actual pads. You'll first want to remove the slide pins, which hold the caliper in place. Once these are out, you'll be able to separate the caliper, which will only be hanging by the brake line, then. Don't let it rest only on this line, put it on something or use something to hold it up. You'll be able to remove the actual pads now, which, if the car was squealing, will be heavily worn down.
From here, you'll need a c-clamp, in order to compress the piston back down into the caliper. Be careful with this, and you don't want to push the seal back in unevenly. While everything is apart, this is also a great time to check to see if the worn pads did any damage to the rotors. If you run your finger across the rotor, and you feel deep grooves or uneven and warped surfaces, you're going to want to replace the rotors, as well. Now you're ready to slide the pads back across the rotors, re-insert the brake caliper over the pads and tighten up the pins. The final thing you want to do is check your brake fluid. Not so hard, right?