On 10 May 2012, at 17:52, Tim Harris wrote: > Sadly, this myth has been well and truly sold to many people, who honestly > believe that you can't work with modern cars at home. > > Routine servicing is much easier than it used to be, spark plugs only have to > be changed once in a blue moon, tappets, never need attention, all you really > have to do is change the oil and check the fluids - and yet strangely the > costs we get charged by the dealer are vastly higher than ever they used to > be.
Snip > > It's a different set of skills, sure, but certainly not beyond an average > enthusiast mechanic. I reckon that adjusting one's fuelling map with a laptop > is a heck of a lot more straightforward than trying to understand the > complexities of twin DCOEs. > > Tim I must wholeheartedly agree with Tim on this one. A code reader and access to Google will get you to about 95% of all the dealer fault information for most cars over 10 years old. The American and EU legislature did us all a favour when they mandated a code set for most emission codes and limited the scope of proprietary codes. There are still advantages with a proper dealer reader like Testbook,but it isn't worth the premium for anyone not in the trade. The quality of my wife's VW cabriolet servicing took a great leap forward when I and my local agricultural engineer starting doing it. Colin showed me how to use a generic code reader, (£90 from eBay), and critically reviewed my results. As my computer skills are as good or better than Colin's, he will sometimes let me loose on the problem children that turn up in his yard; last victim was a Audi TT with a misfire that turned out to be a coil pack AND a dodgy cam position sensor interacting in a very strange manner. Most modern car servicing follows a similar pattern; download any fault codes and sort them out, change or check fluids, change filters or specific components on an elapsed life basis and look around the car carefully looking for things that are going wrong slowly. If, like me, you don't put too high a value on your own time, you will probably do a much better job on most of those stages than some poor soul working for bonus, based on doing everything too quickly to get a decent take home wage. As my local agricultural engineer puts it, I'm too slow for a commercial garage, but I'm thorough. It took me almost a whole day to service and get fit for MOT my Eunos Roadster, but I am confident that it has been done right and with quality oils and filters. -- Jeremy Edwards 1972 Morgan 4/4 2 str Melton Mowbray, England ------------------------------------------- View posts on The Mail Archive http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ [http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/] Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=22459785&id_secret=22459785-4a39ddf8 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
