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Some of us live and breathe cars, and we learned what we know by making every mistake in the book and by just wanting to learn how to do things properly. You do not have to be a full blown car nut to learn some very basic things, and a great source these days is the internet and sites like YouTube. I use YouTube for everything from how to make something for dinner to how to repair my broken washing machine.
Start by doing simple things to your car, like changing the oil, checking the fluids, etc. Buy a good, basic tool set that contains things like a socket set (SAE and metric) combination wrenches, screw drivers, pliers, and tools like that. Skin your knuckles a few times and get comfortable with how the tools work.
I have been playing with cars for the past 60 years, and still learn something every time I build a new one or fix something. That is the fun of working on them.
No formal automotive training, but I am a mechanical engineer and have been working on cars since I was 16. Not much I haven't done by now on a car.
I started off when I was 16 just doing oil changes, and now i'm rebuilding transmissions and engines for fun. I tend to troubleshoot electrical very well since I have an advanced electrical background due to career. So newer electronics in cars don't scare me off.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 09-11-2015 at 06:53 AM..
I have a degree in auto mechanics, but after graduating, decided it really wasnt what I wanted to do, so I have no new training, since 1989. I can do a good bit of stuff myself, and still do, but some stuff I let m dealer do. They can change my oil and rotate my tires faster and cheaper than I can do it myself!!
I learned from my father but not to his depth of knowledge. I mostly do electrical, brakes, oil changes, a/c, coolant changes. Motorcycles I do everything but transmission and engine rebuilds, including mounting and balancing my own tires.
I also like to take things apart to try to fix it rather then just remove and replace.
OP, there's a small group of guys on here that actually know a lot about cars. Probably only about 20 regular posters. Threads like yours come up fairly often, and the advice I generally give is that if you have specific questions about a specific car, you're far better off finding a dedicated forum with plenty of other members with that same car, and chances are, your question has probably already been asked and answered a million times, so no need to put up with people "guessing" on this site, because they're often completely wrong.
This isn't really a proper automotive forum, it's a diversion from the regular real estate/city minded forums.
WOW! Speechless. You guys know a lot about cars than I can imagine. Well thanks for those advices (lookng at Youtube). YouTube don't have all the information you need (that are basic informations instead of COLLEGE VOCAB) so its hard to find good information on both Google and Youtube. Thanks to everyone for replying!
I understand the basic principles of how and why a car works, well enough to know BS when I hear it. When something goes wwrong, I'm not too bad at running through diagnostic options and having a sense of what is involved. I might not have been a good mechanic, though, because I don't have a good sense of tolerances (don't know when a repair is "good enough") So I've never done much of my own work beyond, say, replacing brake pads, or tying up a dragging muffler with a coat hanger. But I'm too conservative to have destroyed a car by tinkering with it.
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