Intelligent Repair

I Repair is a web-blog dedicated to bringing quality information to the motoring public. As working as a technician and then service manager. I have seen it all over the years. I am posing a questions many American may be asking today. Should I do my own oil changes and slight car repairs.Years ago many guys ( and some gals) would go down to the auto parts stores and buy there oil filter and oil. Go home and get out the ramps and do the oil change. But is it still that simple? Most car today are very High Tech and require a little more knowledge then most people have or want to have about there cars or trucks. What is the best oil to use, 5-30, 10-30 or 10-40 whats right for my engine. How ofen do I change my oil and what kind of records to I need to keep for my warranty. Do I have the right tools, ie oil filter wrench, socket to remove oil change plug. Are the standard or metric? So many questions to ask, right? Well there is still more questions to ask like, where in the world did they hide the oil filter. Who thought of putting in that location, don't they know I am on my back in my garage here? Still more, how much oil do I put in my engine. Okay, I did it, I changed my oil and filter I am happy. right, well sorta? You see I still need to go to the auto shop anyways, because now I have to get rid of the old oil that came out of my engine! Hey I thought I was going save here? And since we are thinking about "green" and getting the environment healthy we just couldn't dump it somewhere. How bad would you feel!

Now does it make sense (cents) to do our own oil and filter changes. Let's look further.

A repair shop, new car dealership or local shop. Most shops offer a coupon for the oil and filter changes. They are in the range of $20-30 dollars for the service.

Benefits of paying for the service are many. You will have someone trained on your car to do the work.
They are responsible for using the right oil and filter and filling it the proper amounts.

But here are a few things most of us forget about when doing our own work. The dealer or repair shop should
check all the other fluids in the car/truck as well. They know how to check your transmission and brake fluids, power steering and tire pressure too. Another benefit is that they keep good records on your vehicle. If you nave a internal engine problem, and you're doing your own LOF it may be hard to prove that to the manufacturer.

And now that they are all in trouble they will not be so willing to give you a new engine. So go head and feel good about getting your vehicle service locally.

Gary J. Cooper
We Coach Success
Co-Founder of Global Streams of Income
http://www.garycooperlive.com
http://www.wecoachsuccess.info
http://www.g-sig.net
609 384 4881