I'm pleased with myself this weekend. Managed to change the front brake pads on my 18 year old Corsa, just before they started grinding the discs.
The help I had was, my driveway, a dry Saturday, a borrowed trolley jack from my neighbour and a clip posted by some scouser on Youtube.
All done in around 2 hours.
The fact it was an old car meant i didn't have to cope with electronic gubbins, or having to purchase 'special tools'.

It boosted my confidence a bit, because after watching Wheeler-Dealers and their mechanics get a cushy dry workshop, a complete toobox, a ramp, welding and cleaning stuff, as well as another pair of hands when needed and subbing-out tricky stuff.

The scouser on youtube showed how to use your car wheel as an axle stand, and utilised two sturdy screwdrivers for compressing the brake pistons in the callipers. Really useful tips, which i can use in the future.

Anyone else done similar work on their car, and what are reasonable limitations to doing jobs yourself ?

** incidentally, after finishing installing the brake pads, I took the car for a test drive,..on my own. Safety first.

I disengage, I turn the page.

And the brake pads for comparison. New one at the front. Knackered one at the back. So very lucky not to have scored the brake discs

Attachment: brake pads, new, partworn, and fckd.JPG (5,571.08Kb)

I disengage, I turn the page.

There is a video he does about replacing your car stereo with a new one, all you need is a rusty screwdriver and a brick

I disengage, I turn the page.

surgery & car maintenance are best left to the experts

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

Steeleye, you have similar experiences to me.
A regular oil and filter change is the major ingredient to engine longevity.
The number of variants of oil these days is ridiculous,...for diesel, diesel turbo, high performance petrol, etc, etc. It just gives the retailer a chance to hike the price.
Special tools to remove oil filters and even sump plugs, make it an expensive job for the home mechanic. And having spark plugs of strange sizes and difficult locations also adds to the tool expenditure.

I can see why motorists generally go no further than changing the windscreen wiper blades, or topping up the washer bottle.

I recently had a water pump replaced at my local garage, which necessitated an oil and coolant change. What got me changing my own brake pads was the £30 charge for anti-freeze coolant and the £50 for oil,...for which they charged me for a whole cannister, rather than just the amount I needed. Did I get the leftover oil left in my boot ? No, the robbing b'stard mechanics probably had enough to use on another car, and charged them another £50 too.

MOT on wednesday. Let's see what other problems they find.

Things that they might/will flag are:
discoloured off-side headlight lens
intermittent mis-fire from cylinder No.1 (might cause emissions failure)
wheel arch trim slightly loose on N/S
possible blow from exhaust (still under K?wik Fit guarantee from May this year)---possibly linked to engine mis-fire

Edited by Forest Hillbilly (17 Oct 2021 2.13pm)

I disengage, I turn the page.

Funny that. Normally a Scouser would replace your car wheels with bricks as "axle stands".

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)