5 Mechanical Jobs Anyone Can Do (5 That You Should Leave To The Pros)

2022-07-02 01:17:22 By : Mr. Jack Zhang

Get Hotcars Premium. Start your free trial today

If you don't have experience working on cars, there are some repairs you shouldn't attempt on your own.

A vehicle is a really big investment, and we all want to do our very best to protect that investment. All cars need maintenance, it is a big part of car ownership, although we certainly can’t all be mechanics, there are several mechanical jobs we can all do that will improve the reliability and longevity of our cars. Sadly, there is also a lot of misinformation out there, especially on social media where people like spreading half-truths (and sometimes whole lies). What everyone needs to read is their owner's manual, not a random social media post.

Even dealers are guilty of misleading their customers to some extent, exaggerating the difficulty of some jobs to encourage customers to come back and have them do the work. The reality of it is that some jobs do need to be left to the pros, but there are others that we can do ourselves with little to no mechanical experience.

As long as you have an owner's manual, not a shop manual, just an owner's manual, you can do regular maintenance on your car.

The best starting point for any novice is a basic service that will usually entail changing the oil, oil filter, air filter and on a gas engine, spark plugs. You will need to buy at the very least the right size socket for your spark plugs and an oil filter wrench, but both of those items will cost less than half the average labor rate.

Most modern transmissions are now sealed for life, meaning even dealers will simply replace faulty units.

Any work on a transmission is challenging, even changing the gear oil in an old manual transmission might leave garage mechanics frustrated. Modern transmissions all need special tools, so there is no shame in getting a specialist to look at a faulty transmission, even if all it needs is a service.

Related: How To Bleed Brakes Explained And If You Should Do It Yourself

Brake pads are pretty easy to inspect, if they hit the squealer then you don’t even need to inspect them, they are literally telling you to replace them. Even if they are not making a horrible noise, you can check the ridges and see if they are near the end of their lifespan.

Although brakes are obviously a critical safety related component, most will only have one bolt holding the caliper in place, removing that and flipping up the caliper is as easy as it sounds. Clean everything with brake cleaner, switch out the pads and be sure to tighten that bolt to the correct torque spec. New brakes take a couple miles to bed down, so if they are a little noisy at first, don’t be alarmed.

If you are doing your brakes then notice the rotor looks worn out or warped, stop, put everything back together and have a specialist do the work.

Most new vehicles make it pretty easy to change out the rotor, as a rule always replace a rotor, don’t repair it, but some are more complicated. It is also easy to make a small error in installation, which could compromise your safety.

Related: The Difference Between Drums, Discs, And Air Brakes

For cars that don’t have the battery under the hood, you might need to check that owner's manual to find its exact location, it should be found either under the rear seat or in the trunk.

There are a few noteworthy exceptions to this rule, with some manufacturers putting their batteries in the most ridiculous places, but they are very much the exception to the rule. Always just remember to remove the negative terminal first or sparks may fly!

This one does not need much explaining, but even for the truly ambitious garage mechanic, just don’t do it.

All manufacturers have a very specific removal procedure, which includes the most important step of disconnecting the negative battery terminal. But even if you do that and follow the steps in-the-shop-manual, it might still explode on you if you make one wrong move.

Related: This Is How Fast An Airbag Deploys

Replacing a headlight on older cars usually only involves a few screws, newer cars can be slightly more involved but still possible.

The most important thing to do is not force anything, new cars will have at least a couple plastic clips that can break easily, also, don’t forget to calibrate the new headlights afterwards.

Automotive glass is a pretty impressive thing, it breaks in a unique, safe way but remains tremendously resilient.

One thing it is not, is flexible, it will shatter on you very easily while you are trying to remove and/or install it. Even experienced technicians have fallen foul with this.

Related: Tesla Cybertruck's 'Shatterproof' Windows Break In Live Reveal Broadcast

This is one of those jobs anyone can do, but might prefer not to. All cars need this done at some point, even permanent all-wheel drive cars.

This one you need to check that manual for, all tires are different, and all manufacturers have a different recommended rotation pattern and mileage prescribed. If you don’t own a lift, you can easily rotate your tires in your drive/street with your jack and spare wheel, it is just a boring, labor-intensive job.

Although there are some old school techniques, getting it just a little wrong will end up turning into an expensive problem.

Modern computerized systems are way more accurate and considering the amount shops need to invest in them, don’t actually charge much for this service, and for those discerning consumers out there, you might want to get the tire rotation done at the same time, some shops won’t even charge you for the service if you're already getting the wheel alignment done.

Luke Zietsman is an all out automotive enthusiast based in The Philippines. If it has two or four wheels he has either owned it, researched about it or dreamed about it.