We’ve been hearing a lot about people performing Do-It-Yourself (DIY) auto repair lately, and here at NARPRO, that’s kind of scary to hear. While we understand that replacing a tire if you get a flat, or re-filling your windshield wiper fluid is a simple, fairly quick task you can perform in your driveway, the situations we’ve been hearing about are on a much bigger scale.
 
Commonly with DIY repair, you might have some idea of how to do the job, but you probably don’t know all the details along the way, or what could go wrong in the process. And if this is the case, consequences could be serious, not to mention expensive. You could try to replace and air filter, but in the process accidentally and maybe unknowingly detach a vacuum line. Or try to perform a brake job and end up breaking a sensor.
 
There are some minor repairs that you probably could do without causing any unknown or unexpected damage, such as replacing cabin and air filters, or replacing wiper blades. However, once there has been a failure, your care has overheated or your check engine light is on, it is best to not try to fix it yourself and instead take it to your neighborhood NARPRO repair shop.
 
So that being said, here are some auto repairs that we suggest you do not do yourself…
 
1) Replacing the timing belt. If you tried to do this yourself, you could take a serious risk of damaging your engine. A couple hundred dollar repair at your auto repair shop could potentially turn into thousands of dollars if you do it on your own.
 
2) Repairing your transmission. Leave this to specialized shops. And allow maintenance like flushes or fluid changes to be left to the mechanic as well. Improper cleaning during transmission flushes that you do yourself could affect your car weeks or months down the road. A small grain of sand in there could wipe out the entire transmission.
 
3) Replacing suspension components. Suspension pieces like struts, arms, and bushings look deceptively easy to replace, but there are plenty of ways this kind of repair can go wrong in the hands of the inexperienced. It’s not practical or cost-prohibitive.
 
However, if you DO decide to take your car’s auto repair matters in your own hands, and you know your way under the hood of your car, it’s probably tempting to spend a little extra time on the weekend doing some of those smaller repairs. So first, you need to get familiar with the repair manual for your car, and we suggest some hands-on training. For the latter, community college classes, evening shop programs, or weekend community education courses will help you understand some troubleshooting and diagnosis basics.
 
But when it comes to DIY auto repair, NARPRO shop owner Jim Garnand, of Hi-Tech Car Care, puts it best, “Working on some systems require special tools for safety, and some require heightened attention and care. One may be handy around the house but the big spring for the garage door is not something they are equipped (even when provided appropriate tools) to deal with.”