Give it to a pro?

[bastille10]

Time to eat some humble pie. Being that this forum has to be (IMO) one of the most "do-it- yourself" orientated car places on the net, I'm posing this question. When have you said "That's it- I'm done" and had to resort to taking it to a guy who does this for a living. Either got into it and coulnd't figure it out, didn't have the one tool that would have made the difference,
ran out of time or just plain ran out of "gas".

[neanderpaul]

Luckily I have lot's of people in my life who are smarter than me when it comes to mechanics. I can really go at it and just have dad or Jack bail me out when I get in over my head. I always try to pull it off with questions here or by text to a bunch of the big brains here.

[FestYboy]

never, i just went out and bought the tool i needed.... can't learn if you don't do the job yourself.




it helps that i do it for a living as well :p

[Grey Vw]

Never! Had any pro do work on my festy, except for the alignment and just about everyone on here has to pay for that.

I just got advice from a mechanic on how to do things when I couldn't figure it out.

[DrMaxwellEdison]

^^^ my shop class lets me do a free alignment..... I'm going to have to do it next week....

[Safety Guy]

I began back in 2002 with my first suspension swap and had to call in a mobile mechanic with a torch and air compressor to get my control arms off. Then when I had finished, I was not yet comfortable with installing and bleeding the brake fluid. I slowly drove it to a nearby shop for that using my ebrake.

On my second swap in 2006 I did it all, except that I took the car in first to a shop to have the tie rod ends loosened. I still have trouble with that.

I do most everything myself now. I will spend the money for help if I really get stuck. For example, I paid another mobile tech about $170 to diagnose why Twinstiva wouldn't start a couple years ago.

Paying that kind of money sounds like a lot, but it still beats a $250 to 400 per month car payment for five or six years!

Eventually I'll have a bigger garage on some land, my own torch, and someday I'll learn to weld, too.

Karl

[Grey Vw]

^^^ my shop class lets me do a free alignment..... I'm going to have to do it next week....

What!! That's awesomedrool

[200KGPGTP]

I'll admit, when I first got it, I paid $30 to have the alt/wp belt replaced, cause it was fuxxored and it was -20 outside, lol. I kind of regret it now.... cause I know how ^%#$% easy it is!

[91blufestiva]

I've been tempted to have someone change my rear struts because I'm' afraid of that bolt in my aspire axle.. haha

[JoDan]

Well since I do this stuff for a living I never get the luxury of sending it to someone else, which sounds really nice because the one thing I've learned is that when you work on cars every day you learn to hate working on your own lol. But since I got access to about every tool I will ever need I don't have any real problems when it comes to my baby.

[boydg1]

.... The Ford dealer I bought my Festie from NEW never saw me again after the sale except at every 100,000 miles or so, as the miles were put on. It got to a point they did NOT appreciate my visit. I think, because I was making others and other cars look bad with so many miles - 480K. And they weren't making any MONEY on me. The updated mileage sign in the back window just broke the camel's back. The comment that was made was "The cheapest car on the lot". Other than buying parts over the counter and keeping my mouth shut and eyes and ears open, because you can't learn if your talking, they never saw me for any repairs. I did have them make me a commitment that I could stop in and use their library (service manuals) before the sale was consummated which I did once or twice. At another Ford DEALERSHIP I wanted to talk to a particular mechanic and the SERVICE manager ran me off, I think three times. I had ducked him once or twice to just talk to this mechanic. Said he couldn't allow it for insurance reasons which was a lot of bunk. .... Just my story.

Time to eat some humble pie. Being that this forum has to be (IMO) one of the most "do-it- yourself" orientated car places on the net, I'm posing this question. When have you said "That's it- I'm done" and had to resort to taking it to a guy who does this for a living. Either got into it and coulnd't figure it out, didn't have the one tool that would have made the difference,
ran out of time or just plain ran out of "gas".

[econoaddict]

Never took a rig to a pro.
I guess becuase I own my own repair shop

[kartracer46]

I can't say I have ever took one to a shop to have work done. I have always done it myself and there are enough minds on here to answer anything I have never experienced.

I even do my own front end alignments, paint and body work, and more.

Been fixing cars for so long I don't trust anyone else to do it for me.

[link5186]

I send alignments off, too, but I do the rest of it myself. I've been doing this stuff since I was a kid. I remember helping my dad do everything from mounting tires (even tube type) to rebuilding engines. Never been afraid to jump right in.

[blkfordsedan]

As much as I hate having anyone else touch my cars, I have given in a few times. 2 times were drivability issues with my 02 Taurus, which was OBDII. I could have fought with it for a couple days and fixed it myself, but I used it every day for work purposes (sales) and the price of having the dealer look at it was well worth the price, considering they have the diagnostic equipment and it was in & out in a day. I'm finally at a point in my life where my time is actually valuable enough to warrant having minor work done, even if I can do it myself.

I've had exhaust work done on several cars because (A) I hate exhaust work & all the broken bolts that go with it, and (B) I no longer enjoy laying under a car for hours due to hard-core acid reflux.

Also, I have taken cars into a body shop for major body work (insurance work).

I have never (and will never) take a car to anyone for serious mechanical work.