In this day and age you don’t need to be an ASE certified Master Tech to fix your own car. With YouTube and Google the average Joe with some basic mechanic skills and abilities can handle a majority of car repairs. The question is what are the mechanic skills and abilities you truly need to fix cars? You’re going to need to know how to be safe, use tools properly, research skills, getting correct parts, and know when you’re over your head.
Safety
The most important part of fixing a car is being safe. This isn’t just knowing not to smoke while pulling out a gas tank. Nor does it mean always wearing safety glasses, gloves, and full safety gear. What this means if you need to always be thinking of safety and what could happen when you are working on a car.
I’ve known a few people who have to forget this, and gotten hurt, or killed when a car fell on them. Always use jack stands, or at least blocks when lifting a vehicle. Never ever trust a jack. Even with jack stands you need to know the proper jack placement. If it looks sketchy don’t do it. There are so many things that can hurt or kill you when working on a car. Spending a few extra minutes to make sure nothing will fall on you when you are under the car it worth your safety.
On top of using jack stands. You also need to always be watching where your hands are. Hitting your hand with a hammer hurts. Many times you will put your hands in places they barely fit. Think about this before you do it. The last thing you need is pulling the last bolt on a part and having the part fall and crush your hand.
On top of your hands also be careful with automotive chemicals. Granted if you live in California everything will give you cancer. However, in the rest of the world, there are still plenty of chemicals you need to be careful of. Read the warnings and follow them. It’s really easy to get to many harmful fumes in a garage. It’s also very easy to get something sprayed into your eyes if you aren’t wearing safety glasses.
Use Tools Properly
If you think a ratchet is an “Ol’ girl with her hoochie-ass clothes too tight an’ her tracks shown’ in her scraggly ass weave with her fake-ass Gucci bag think she cute. She ratchet.” You don’t need to be trying to fix your car. There are basic tools every mechanic needs. Not only do you need these tools you need to know how to use them properly. Granted at some time in your life you will use a flat head screwdriver as a pry bar. It’s just plain a fact of life, but that shouldn’t stop you from using it correctly 99% of the time. Nor does it mean, you should abuse tools, and use them the wrong way. Always know how to properly and safely use a tool.
Research Skills
With car technology changing yearly, and thousands of makes, and models. It’s not possible to know everything about every car. It’s likely you won’t be able to know everything about a single make of cars. Research skills are one of the mechanic skills and abilities that is most commonly overlooked. A few years ago you could just go find the Chiltons or Haynes manual for your vehicle and that’s all you needed. Nowadays you can search YouTube, and Google, to find many basic things. If those don’t work there are sites like ALLDATADIY, and Identafix, you can pay for. These site that will give you most everything you need. Of course in this day and age, the correct search of your problem on Google get some sort of answer. You just need to have the mechanic skills and abilities to take those answers and fix your car.
How to get correct parts
If you’ve been around cars for any length of time, you’ve given the wrong part from a parts store. Not only do you need to be able to know the wrong part. You need to be able to find the correct part. The best thing to do is remove the part you need replaced and take it into the store and match it up. The problem is, that it isn’t always practical. Plus with more and more parts being sold online, it’s not always possible either.
You are going to need to know the correct name of the part you are looking for. If you don’t know what you need to figure out how to find out what it’s called. You can’t look up “thing attached to doohickey” online. Knowing what a VIN number is and where to find it is a must. Being able to understand the type of part you need, and what it’s considered will help greatly. Looking for suspension parts under engine parts isn’t going to get you very far.
Know Your Abilities
Mechanic skills and abilities are all about knowing what your abilities really are. Granted, just because you’ve never swapped a motor before doesn’t mean you can’t. What it does mean is that you have to be honest with yourself. If all you’ve ever done is change your own oil. Replacing a head gasket by yourself, maybe a little more than you can do. Make sure you have someone around to help you. The last thing you want to do is permanently damage your engine while you’re trying to fix it. You’ll never learn without trying it, just don’t get in too deep without someone to help you. Repair shops don’t give discounts for putting your car back together after you’ve taken it apart.
Conclusion
When it fixing your own car you’ll have to be the judge of your mechanic skills and abilities. Make sure before you start any repair or project that you have the knowledge to be safe, know where to gain the information you’ll need to fix your car properly, have found the correct parts, and have the ability to do the job correctly. Otherwise, you’ll regret ever starting. If you don’t have basic mechanic skills and abilities then consider asking for help.