RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 Having progressed through the stages of driving the parents cars, buying my own cheapy POS first car, and now finally owning a car worth caring about, Im wondering what information there is out there for maintenance / car etc? Its a 1994 BMW in amazing condition, which has a full service history with a local garage here, so Ill keep taking it there for its annuall service, but I wouldnt mind learning a bit about them (cars in general). Without wanitng to train as a fully fledged mechanic, I wouldnt mind doing some traning so I get a better understanding of what goes on under the bonnet.. (to be honest, ive never even changed a tyre ;/) Is there any books worth reading? Or are there basic car maintanence courses run? Obviously my location will skew the answers a bit insofar as the most of them wont be relevent for where I am, but it would be good to know what sort of equievelents I could look for.. Would it be worth buying the service manual and just reading that?
rush_tech Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 I'm no expert, but get hold of an Haynes manual for your car and have a read 1
woodham Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 find the online owners club and join that you can usualy join the forums for free. but the first thing i would do is have somebody show you how to change a wheel (just so you dont have to sit for hours waiting for the AA man to do it for you) and work out how to check oil/water levels just the basics 1
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 i can do oil, and water, but thats about my limit Cheers for the advice so far.. All the forums ive browsed so far seem to be boy racers who are trying to out-do themselves with how much theyve pimped their mother an how fast theyve driven in a 30 Zone..
Flakes Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 second the Haynes and the owners club. i would find a friend who is a mechanic and get them to show you the basics, i recently took apart a corsa 1.2 engine with the help of my dad who has been a mechanic for 30 years, best experiance you can get is to get in there and dirty. 1
Admiral208 Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 A lot of colleges do adult courses/evening courses on things like car maintenance. Why not enroll on one of those. 1
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 second the Haynes and the owners club. i would find a friend who is a mechanic and get them to show you the basics, i recently took apart a corsa 1.2 engine with the help of my dad who has been a mechanic for 30 years, best experiance you can get is to get in there and dirty. One of my colleagues in the IT dept here s a mechaniac and has saved me a fortune in repairs etc, by sourcing parts from wreckers etc and fitting them for me, but hes not the most patient of people from what ive gathered so not sure how inclined he would be to spend time teaching a newbie from scratch
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 A lot of colleges do adult courses/evening courses on things like car maintenance. Why not enroll on one of those. Thats a good idea, ill see if theres something that runs local to me, cheers
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 what series BMW? 1, 3, 7? the 1 series were only introduced in about 2006 or something were they not? Its a 323
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 i can do oil, and water, but thats about my limit Cheers for the advice so far.. All the forums ive browsed so far seem to be boy racers who are trying to out-do themselves with how much theyve pimped their mother an how fast theyve driven in a 30 Zone.. that should of course say "pimped their motor" and not what i wrote ;/
MK-2 Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 that should of course say "pimped their motor" and not what i wrote ;/ i thought that was you toning it down and not saying motherf***er
Guest Guest Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 As said owners clubs, For a basic understanding of how the parts work and interact - HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! But the best way is next time you have a problem, fix it yourself. Knowledge means very little in the field when compared to hands on experiance. I could probably tell you how to fix most things, but could I actually do it?... The first major work I did on a car was to swap my suspension for coilovers (racing suspension) which, although daungting at first, turned out to be suprisingly easy. Main things to remember is SAFETY! Whenever working under a car use a trolley jack to lift it, axel stands (and chocks/bricks) to hold it, and a couple of wheels under the sills just incase the axel stands move. And also RUST - 10 minute jobs can turn into hours because of the stuff.
woodham Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 had a quick scan through the 3 series forums and i see what you mean.. Having said that i always wanted a 3 series M3 one of the gen 1/2 versions in white but then i was'nt old enought to drive when they came out. 1
RabbieBurns Posted January 21, 2011 Author Posted January 21, 2011 As said owners clubs, For a basic understanding of how the parts work and interact - HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! But the best way is next time you have a problem, fix it yourself. Knowledge means very little in the field when compared to hands on experiance. I could probably tell you how to fix most things, but could I actually do it?... The first major work I did on a car was to swap my suspension for coilovers (racing suspension) which, although daungting at first, turned out to be suprisingly easy. Main things to remember is SAFETY! Whenever working under a car use a trolley jack to lift it, axel stands (and chocks/bricks) to hold it, and a couple of wheels under the sills just incase the axel stands move. And also RUST - 10 minute jobs can turn into hours because of the stuff. I guess now i understand how teachers feel when we give them instructions how to turn on a computer. I dont know any of those words Time for the textbooks I guess!
K.C.Leblanc Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 The trouble with working on cars is everything always seems to be slightly seized. And if it isn't it's only lulling you into a false sense of security for future occasions. I changed the oil on my old Golf, the filter just unscrewed. It easier then opening a jar of Strawberry Jam. I try the same job about a year later on my Citroen, thinking this will be easy. NOPE! Filter would not come away and I didn't have the special tool. So I had to hammer a screwdriver through the filter. Now the oil pump is next to the suspension pump, so the filter was surrounded by pipes. I ended up having to hammer the screw driver in from underneath the car, so got covered. I was still only able to turn the filter about 5 degrees, so had to repeat the hammering job. Only then would the filter (which now had some lovely sharp edges) unscrew by hand. Any how the oil had drained nicely, so I put the sump plug back in, carefully install the new filter. Fill the beast back up with oil, and check the sump plug for leaks. OH BOTHER, the sump plug was leaking because I'd lost the washer. So I find washer at the bottom of the oil I'd just drained. Since I didn't have much oil and there was no where in town I could buy it on a Sunday, I had to remove the sump plug fit the washer and refit the plug while oil poured out. Thankfully I didn't lose too much.
LeMarchand Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 The trouble with working on cars is everything always seems to be slightly seized. Yep, the "quick" jobs always take an age. If the Haynes manual warns that a part may be stiff/hard to remove it usually means "take it to the garage - don't even go there"! Mind you, since working with computers I've come to be much more sympathetic to the mechanic's frustration when I can't hear what to his ear is an obvious "bad" sound - because I get the same way with "bad" computer sounds!
Sirbendy Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 12v Impact wrench is your friend. Last exhaust I did I used that, a lumphammer and a handsaw. heh. Fishing around in the sump drainings for the washer is half the fun! You want to drop the sump off an automatic gearbox and see it full of aluminium swarf for a brown trousers moment..I ended up stripping that down with 0 knowledge of the box itself and reconditioning the valve chest. Worked perfectly afterwards. Honestly - Haynes are the best, but NOT the new ones..they're all dumbed down and toss, frankly. Older ones are more hands on and less "take it to your dealer". Can also recommend the haynes fuel injection/engine management books - quite good. If you have a friendly dealer, go in and ask for the cost of one of THEIR workshop manuals...I got a full Rover tech workshop manual, like 7 haynes strapped together. Talk about in depth and complete, every nut, bolt, wire, diagram, method...cost me £20, ordered by one of their techs, cash in hand, manual passed out the workshop door. Best. book. EVER. Oh, and in the case of the Astra-F and G manuals, I've rechristened them "Haynes book of making it up". They make hysterical reading if you come across something you need, only to find that in the manual it refers to a MK2!! Useful I don't think. And no, reassembly is never the reverse of removal. Haha!
36Degrees Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Its a 323 So basically engined with the straight 6 2.5L detuned! BMW's from that era are actually surprisingly easy to work on in most instances so the best advice would be get yourself a decent (i.e. not expensive but quite good quality) set of screwdrivers, socket set and spanners, preferably combination, plus a few other basics and work from there. To me basics would be hammer, steel drift, wire brushes, mole grips, hacksaw, junior hacksaw, pliers and a trolley jack. A set of ramps is a good investment as well if you can afford / find them. Buy everything else as you need it. I have to confess that I don't do as much on my cars as I used to. I can't afford to be without my car now as my wife also travels to work, so I can't borrow hers for a few days, and my dad's no longer around to borrow his either. 1
Gibbo Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I had trouble replacing a headlight bulb last week. Lack of space between the engine components and the back of the headlight made it extremely difficult to change the bulb if you had the hand of an adult (no doubt the factories of Peugeot all use tiny hands of child labour!). Anyway, the spring which holds the bulb to the headlight unit fell off and inside the unit. No amount of reaching and poking around would get it, and you have to remove the front bumper if you want to take the headlight off. So I went to get a replacement from the dealers: Dealer: "Yeah, its a common problem, we get loads of people doing that." Me: "So, how much for the clip" Dealer: "Oh sorry, we don't sell them, you have to buy the complete headlight". So off to the scrappy to get one for 50p! 1
Mahem Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 You need a Haynes manual, cars are just like any other mechanical item. 1
bodminman Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Haynes manual and a decent forum has always served me well for car maintenence. DIY - Home Improvement - Do It Yourself - Great place for finding out allsorts, not just home improvements!
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