Best resources for learning to wrench?

"way2blu does a rev update" (way2blu) 12/13/2016 at 13:41 • Filed to: wrenching

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Confession time: besides being well read on Jaloppnositelocknik (among other car sites), knowing how to drive manual, and going go-kart racing pretty frequently, I don’t actually know that much about cars. Classes are done for the year, so I’d like to devote my break to car-stuff. Where do I start? Orange Unicorn-spec Montreal for your time

See the unicorn horn??

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Leon711 > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:47

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Got anything that needs to done to your car? do it yourself and consult the intertubes.

TheHondaBro > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:50

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Look for a forum specific to your car and ask questions. I’m on an Accord forum and they’re very helpful whenever I ask a question about my car. Also acquire a Haynes manual for your car. Mine is positively soaked in anti-squeal compound.

That being said, the very best resource for learning how to work on cars is a car. Start out with something simple like an oil change, even if your car doesn’t need one.

Klaus Schmoll > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:52

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Do you want to armchair wrench? Then watch the early episodes of Wheeler Dealers.

If you want to get your hands dirty, why not start with a cheap scooter, moped, whatever? Way cheaper and easier to transport/store/work on than a project car, but you will also learn the basics of spark/fuel/air, get to play around with carbs, do brakes etc... And if it all fails you can still flog it off to the next guy without much of a loss.

E90M3 > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:52

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Having an actual car to work on really helps, even if it’s something simple. Most of the dash lights were out in my Explorer, so I watched a youtube video and then took the dash apart myself.

way2blu does a rev update > Leon711 12/13/2016 at 13:54

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The only work my daily needs is that the little plastic disk with the shift pattern fell off the gear lever and is hiding under the seat somewhere :P

^Not mine but same pattern

Maybe I could learn to remove and re-install the seats?

505Turbeaux > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:55

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I learned by picking up “The Compleat Idiots Guide to Keeping your VW Alive” by John Miur, all these decades ago. Want a sound fundamental basis to working on cars, it is in there. It doesnt touch on cooling systems that are water based, but that is where my roots are from. Entertaining read as well

My bird IS the word > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:55

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There are plenty good youtube channels (eric the car guy), books are also good. Almost everything I have done on my car I did for the first time with little to no help except for books and videos. That being said, it takes a long time to encounter enough problems to get a good working knowledge of cars.

We are here if you need help.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 13:57

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Family helps. I learned a lot from my grandad and he’s a lot of the reason I got into cars.

way2blu does a rev update > TheHondaBro 12/13/2016 at 14:01

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Would I be barking up the wrong tree to start wrenching on my 2006 C-Class? I’ve seen plenty of online documentation for the car but I feel like I’d be getting in over my head with the German tech.

random001 > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:01

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Your best bet? Offer to help. Find local guys, here on oppo, through forums, or the SCCA (this would be perfect) and just offer to lend a hand. Most people would be happy for some company, an extra pair of hands, and an opportunity to share some knowledge. I’ve invited a great many people to help me work on things in my day, and some of them are avid wrenchers now.

Urambo Tauro > Klaus Schmoll 12/13/2016 at 14:03

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I like that idea. Start small with something that’s not your daily driver, and wrench on it in your spare time. When your car needs something, have a service manual ready and check YouTube for videos on that particular repair.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:04

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Just do simple things to start. Oil changes, tire rotation, general maintenance stuff. You could also get and OBDII scanner (or bluetooth connector and an app like Torque) so you could self diagnose things when ever a warning light pops up

Leon711 > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:06

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You could do indeed, I’d be wary if it’s a modern car with airbags in the seats.

A good book I got when I was first learning about cars was “Hilliers fundamentals of motor vehicles” but I’m not sure if it’s available in the US. It explains all the most common systems of cars and how they work.

way2blu does a rev update > E90M3 12/13/2016 at 14:06

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A second car would be nice, I just have my C-Class currently and there isn’t really anything that needs attention on it. Maybe I’ll find a project car sooner then. Youtube does sound like a great resource for learning though...

Urambo Tauro > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:07

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In addition to the other suggestions, start (or continue) building your tool collection. Once you have the basics (wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, etc.) plan on buying one tool every weekend. Maybe skip a week or two to save up for something special (or whatever works for you), but keep adding to your toolbox.

way2blu does a rev update > Leon711 12/13/2016 at 14:10

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Yeah... German tech (even from 2006) is probably out of my league for wrenching as of yet...

I’ll have to look the book up on Amazon, sounds really helpful! Thank you for the advice :)

Wacko > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:10

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you really want to learn how to wrench, buy a Jeep.

an XJ, TJ, YJ, or CJ

note the older they are, the more rust you have to deal with.

they are generally easy to work on, and they will be needed to be worked on.

Leon711 > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:16

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Anytime 

way2blu does a rev update > Urambo Tauro 12/13/2016 at 14:16

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I think I’ll have to get a 2nd vehicle eventually, been craigslist searching for a while. Definitely want something simple to work on compared to my daily (‘06 C-Class)

v8Mike > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:19

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If you can find a good model specific forum that’s a great place to start. I have an e39 bmw which I love, particularly since it’s so old all the problems have been well-documented at this point. A good community is so key. I use bimmerfest.com - it’s amazing and there are so many helpful people there, and literally thousands of threads documenting everything that can go wrong.

Youtube is also great - sometimes you need to see it in a video to really understand what needs to be done - ie, twist and pull this thing to the left, or move this panel and remove this screw and reach around this annoying metal thing in the way. Much easier to see in a video vs. pictures.

Start by changing your oil, wiper blades, bulbs that go out, rotating tires if applicable, etc. Then just tackle stuff as it’s needed like new battery, brakes, suspension components, etc. You have to start somewhere, so short of buying a broken down project car you just have to do stuff as it comes up.

Starting with oil changes actually gives you a pretty good basic foundation; you need to know how to safely secure and jack up the car without killing yourself, how to read instructions properly, buy the right stuff, and not skip steps, how to properly torque things without breaking stuff. And you’ll need some basic tools that you will use over and over again for many years.

diplodicus > Leon711 12/13/2016 at 14:20

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In my experience removing a seat with an airbag is just as easy as removing a seat without an airbag. You just have to disconnect to electrical harness under the seat as well as the bolts.

way2blu does a rev update > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 12/13/2016 at 14:21

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I’m a first-generation enthusiast, though the rest of my family is slowly following my lead in that regard. I’ll have to convince them to come work on cars with me...

Urambo Tauro > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:21

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A second car is a great idea if you can afford it (not just budget-wise, but having room to park it). Being able to make a parts run at a moment’s notice is a huge advantage. I don’t know where I’d be without my truck lol.

way2blu does a rev update > Wacko 12/13/2016 at 14:25

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I’d just been thinking about cars rather than SUVs as projects, but a Jeep sounds like a great idea from the mechanical standpoint. Anywhere I can read about the different types? I’m only mildly familiar with the different model designations.

way2blu does a rev update > 505Turbeaux 12/13/2016 at 14:26

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VW aircooled vehicles are definitely on my potential wrenching list, I’ll check out the book for sure!

Leon711 > diplodicus 12/13/2016 at 14:27

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Absolutely, but as a complete novice you may get into trouble if you come across something you don’t expect, for example if you attempt to pull the seat put but there’s still a connector attached, you might need to solder it back on.

For a first timer that might be a bit much.

BeaterGT > Klaus Schmoll 12/13/2016 at 14:32

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This is what I did, although I’m by no means a great mechanic. Started on small dirtbikes and kept tinkering as the vehicles got bigger.

way2blu does a rev update > Urambo Tauro 12/13/2016 at 14:33

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Looks like I’ll be surfing craigslist for a while to figure out that one haha, thank you for the advice!

Wacko > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:35

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http://www.jeepforum.com/

http://www.wranglerforum.com/

http://www.jeepgarage.org/forums.php

and many more forums

jeep TJs for example will have different engine/gearbox/transfer case/differentials all depending on the trim. 

I owned 2 1997 TJs, and they basically only shared sheet metal.

and the aftermarket is huge, personally I liked Quadratec 

DipodomysDeserti > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:36

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Motorcycles are a good place to learn. The engines work the same, but they’re a lot easier to work on with minimal investment. The first car I had that I got really into wrenching on was a WRX. Despite having a lot of dudebros on their forums, there are some very knowledgable guys who spend a lot of time making detailed writeups.

Tazio, Count Fouroff > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 14:49

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My own suggestion is among your other criteria maybe consider picking a learning car with a good online support base — speaking from BMW experience the online forums pick up where the shop manuals leave off. Everything important I’ve done or fixed on a car has been with reading posts and DIYs from the enthusiast forums. tbh it’s a mystery how driveway mechanics ever did it before the Web lol

Maybe you want a dedicated project car or one that could benefit from remedial ownership, idk, but you may *already* have a great vehicle for learning (see what I did there? haha) in the MBZ. What year is your C-Class and how many miles or kms? Have you considered, or maybe you already joined, an online forum to read up about your C?

If already joined you know you can read others owners’ experiences with maintenance and ownership. Then you can see what’s ahead, watch out for pitfalls, avoid landmines, and ease in with some smaller projects on a car that already runs fine. If you want. Of course if its really new it may be so computerized there’s not a lot one can do at home. If a little older, maybe even if you get another car too the C-Class can help get your feet wet without taking on a big project or financial obligation

Long post, applogies. Hope this is of help :)

Best wishes and keep us posted

Tazio, Count Fouroff > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 15:06

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Whoa there were several posts I didnt see before writing that novel *red faced* apologies

I’m betting most people kinda wonder, “Can I really handle this?” when starting a repair they’ve never done...read about it on a forum and someone, somewhere will walk you through each step. Remember, anything that goes wrong on yout car already went wrong on someone else’s and anything that screws up with yout repair, somebody else already had the same screw-up lol — and posted about it

Of course you wouldn’t begin with a head gasket replacement but I bet you can change a battery, belts, hoses, oil, bulbs, relays, coolant and waaay more, no problem :)

Just read online and get started! Good God my work is so far from auto mechanicals and I have changed water pumps, alternators, valve cover gaskets, every fluid on modern BMWs.

Of course the 06 C-Class is well within your capabilities, just read first then do it! Probably someone already had the same shifter issue and worked out a fix

And remember, keep Oppo along for the adventure! ;-)

ateamfan42 > Leon711 12/13/2016 at 15:12

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You could do indeed, I’d be wary if it’s a modern car with airbags in the seats.

Seat airbags aren’t much of a danger, provided you disconnect the battery first. And never reconnect the battery while the airbags are disconnected. Doing so will generally set an airbag fault light (because the system noticed an airbag disconnected), and those can sometimes require a dealer to reset.

Phatboyphil > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 15:12

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Buy 80s or 90s Honda. Watch eric the car guy on youtube. Your welcome

way2blu does a rev update > Tazio, Count Fouroff 12/13/2016 at 15:15

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Awesome, all the advice is much appreciated! No need to apologize for the long post, can use all the advice I can get :D

Captain of the Enterprise > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 15:48

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You could do what I did and join an FSAE team for a couple years.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 16:25

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If there are any project or ‘weekend’ cars you are intending on getting, you can’t go wrong with a Haynes manual, or another service manual...

Sure, they can be complex, but the Haynes manuals are well-written, lots of detailed pics and they have every spec of info you need to know!

Auto forums specific to make and model are a huge help as well!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 16:26

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4 E12 bolts. tilt the seat up. don’t worry about disconnecting any wires, there’s plenty of slack. super easy, should take about 15 minutes with basic hand tools.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 16:28

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Just ask me. Your car is an excellent one to start on, not too complex to be honest.

For Sweden > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 16:42

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Desperation.

Having a kid who needs to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW works as well.

Fed(oo=[][]=oo)uken > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 17:38

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I started with a Haynes manual and a basic ratchet set, get those and wait for something to break!

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > way2blu does a rev update 12/13/2016 at 21:24

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1. Buy POS entertaining but reasonably not-uncommon car with large online enthusiast following. POS status is critical because you need to not care about breaking it and dumping for not much less than you paid for it, just not so POS that it can’t be safely driven (well, at least not so unsafe people could due).

2. Daily drive POS. Lurk on online community to gain knowledge.

3. When POS breaks, use gained knowledge to repair car. Seek help from said community if unable to fix alone.

4. Profit.

It’ll be a slow process. It took me about two years to go from struggling to diagnose corroded battery cables to pulling a transmission. A year later, I had the engine out.

Eventually you realize even projects that seem monumental are just doing a whole bunch of small things in the correct order.

The difficult tasks are when you break a bolt, when you over tighten a bolt and pull the threads out, when you can’t get a connector apart. The little things where you get impatient and damage things, turning a two-hour project into a two-week nightmare while you struggle to correct something that isn’t as simple as undoing bolts and putting them back.

And you will break things. This is the story of my first large project on my Jeep: I didn’t pay attention when I heard a pop from the front corner, which turned out was the u-joint breaking. Then it came out, and tore up the axle shaft yokes in the process. One trip to the junk yard later I had a “new” axle shaft. First thing to do was remove the wheel, which was made impossible by a stripped lug nut. After trying many “quick fix” things that only made it worse, I drilled out the nut and got the wheel off. (I also learned to avoid chrome-capped lug nuts here.) Then it was time to undo the axle nut... two broken sockets and one broken breaker bar later, I gave up, and cut it off with an angle grinder death wheel. Brake caliber came off easily enough. The next step was removing the hub... Guess what, used the wrong size socket on the first bolt and stripped it. Cut the head off, pulled the other bolts, and was able to remove the cut bolt from the hub, fortunately I’d asked for all the fasteners from the jeep at the yard, so I had extras. (It was January so -30° and there was a time crunch so I paid the yard extra to pull it for me, I recommend pulling parts yourself though because it’s good practise.) I also spent maybe an hour trying to unseat the hub with various hammers and chisels, shortening the life of the wheel bearing, before I went back online and discovered a trick using a carefully positioned bolt and the truck’s power steering to push the hub out in about 30 seconds. After that point, I’m pretty sure everything went reasonably smoothly, but still the total project was two long days’ work. In contrast, this summer when I replaced the ball joints in the same vehicle, three years after that, which requires removing the axle shafts plus more steps to change ball joints, with proper preparation (knowing what to do and what not to do) I did both sides in under 4 hours, even with some improvisation when the shear age of the truck caused a couple issues and the cheap tools I was using weren’t quite adequate and needed some creativity to make everything happen.

The biggest pieces of advice I can offer are to use penetrating oil (PB’Laster is my preference, Kroil, 3-in-one’s product, and others work great, WD-40 is useless and I don’t keep it around), sometimes several days in advance, to avoid breaking bolts. An impact wrench is also less likely to break bolts than heaving on a breaker bar, and one hell of a lot faster, although I realize not everyone can afford air tools (or even electric). Seriously though, avoid breaking things is about the best advice. Prepare properly, read a write-up, watch a video, whatever, make a checklist if you have to, know what you’re doing before you start, and seek clarification if something isn’t obvious. Then be patient and don’t break bolts. Everything goes smoothly when you know what you’re doing and take your time to do a good job and then don’t break anything you don’t intend to break.

Happy wrenching!

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > way2blu does a rev update 12/14/2016 at 04:54

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In that case your best resource is just to get stuck in. Maybe even see if there are any oppos local to you to wrench with.