Among car owners, everyone's a mechanic.
The best can twitch their noses and detect a bad gasket just by the smell of syrupy corrosion in the air while the worst pop open hoods hoping to see a giant on/off switch, as comedian Jerry Seinfeld once noted.
For the last seven years, Sandy Spicer has been dealing with loose lug nuts, dim headlights, and temperamental transmissions as the owner and operator of Nic's Garage in North Vancouver. For those backyard mechanics who have a general idea of what they're doing, technology can be both a hindrance and a help, says Spicer.
"Even just a simple tune-up on some vehicles is really difficult to do," she says, noting the prevalence of onboard computers in modern cars. "Changing your own air filter is usually relatively easy to do, but on some vehicles it's difficult. Things have to be moved out of the way in order to get to it, and there's lots and lots of plastic now that you have to be careful removing."
While cars may be less user-friendly for mechanics, repair information is more widespread than ever, which can be crucial for fledgling mechanics.
"Start off small," Spicer advises. "There's lots of information on the Internet to show you exactly how to replace these parts."
Steve Kent, a mechanic with 35 years experience who turns wrenches for Johnny's Automotive Services in North Vancouver, advises car owners to be careful when doing their own repairs.
"It's so specialized," he says, noting the dozens of varieties of antifreeze and engine lubricants used, each of them custom-made for a certain kind of car. Backyard mechanics should probably stay away from complex repair jobs, according to Kent.
"There's not much," he replies when asked which repairs weekend mechanics can fix themselves.
Keeping track of fluid levels, doing an oil change, replacing sparkplugs and air filters are a few of the jobs that don't require a professional. A brake job, which might have been fairly straightforward with an older-model car, may now require a scan tool just to retract the brake calipers.
"The older the vehicle is, probably the easier it is to work on it yourself," says Spicer. A little bit of maintenance can make a big difference, she adds. "The cabin air filter is one that is often ignored by a lot of people and
it's really important, especially right now coming into all of the pollens that it actually traps those allergens and keeps them out of the cab of your vehicle," she says.
Frequent inspections where a mechanics looks over the brakes, belts, hoses, and steering components can also be helpful. "Steering components go bad and you can wreck a brand new pair of tires really quickly," says Spicer.
Even if an owner doesn't know much about cars, their senses can help diagnose a problem. A sound that grows louder over time probably signals a trip to the mechanic.
Poor visibility may be attributable to bad windshield wipers. Even a sense of smell can tell you something about what's happening under the hood.
"If you smell anything that's abnormal, it's probably good to get it checked out," says Spicer. "We've seen brand new vehicles having transmission leaks. That can leak onto the exhaust and cause an abnormal smell."
